(864) 582-0416 If you own a South Carolina property and allow others to lawfully visit it, you have a “duty of care” toward every visitor. This is called “premises liability law” because it sets the guidelines for holding irresponsible property owners accountable for injuries. It means you must do certain things to keep your land or business reasonably free of dangerous conditions. Any landowner or business who fails to fulfill their duty of care and allows a visitor to get injured as a direct result can be held civilly liable for any and all losses that the visitor suffers because of their injuries—but only if that visitor understands and can effectively enforce their rights under civil law.
If a hazard on someone else’s property you weren’t properly warned about injures you, you should call a Spartanburg premises liability lawyer for help. These types of claims can be challenging compared to other kinds of personal injury litigation, but a seasoned injury attorney from Holland & Usry can streamline the legal process and give you a solid chance of getting a positive case result.
One very important thing to understand about premises liability law in the Palmetto State is that the specific duty of care that a landowner owes to a visitor changes based on why that visitor is on the property. For example, property owners have basically no duty to protect illegal trespassers from getting hurt on their property. However, there are a few exceptions to that, which a Spartanburg property liability attorney can explain more about.
Landowners and businesses must provide lawful visitors with an advance warning of all hazards that the owner is already aware of. They’re also expected to fix or restrict access to those hazards reasonably quickly after discovering them.
Furthermore, if a visitor is there specifically for the landowner’s financial benefit—such as a customer in a retail store—the landowner must also regularly inspect their property, either personally or through an employee, so they are aware of and can fix new hazards reasonably quickly after they appear.
Even if the danger is obvious, that’s not necessarily much of a defense. South Carolina landowners and businesses can still be liable for obvious hazards, mainly because stores expect customers to focus on the shelves, not floors. If you’re focused on the shelves, you might never see the danger on the floor. The store has the best chance to prevent your injury.
If you can prove a landowner or business failed to abide by the duty of care they owed you based on your visitor status, you can demand compensation for every economic and non-economic form of harm you’ve already suffered and can expect to suffer in the future because of that breach of duty. These can include but aren’t strictly limited to things such as:
A premises liability attorney in Spartanburg can identify all the damages for which you’ll need to seek restitution, assign them fair financial values, and work them effectively into a comprehensive lawsuit or settlement demand.
There’s no shortage of ways that poor property maintenance can lead to a visitor in a retail store, a private residence, or even a public park suffering serious physical harm. Most of those ways have in common that they can serve as grounds for civil litigation if you, as the injured person, know your rights under South Carolina state law.
A Spartanburg premises liability lawyer from Holland & Usry can ensure you understand all your options and can take full advantage of them to receive the compensation you deserve. Call today to schedule a free* case review.
