Duty of Care in Tampa Premises Liability Cases

The duty of the property owner in Tampa premises liability cases is to maintain the premises in a reasonably safe condition. This means simply keeping the property safe, and does not mean that the floor will never be wet when it is raining, that no one will ever drop anything on the floor, or that there will never be a dangerous condition. It is meant to ensure the property is kept generally safe.

To determine the role of duty of care in your Tampa premises liability case, it is important to contact an attorney as soon as possible. An experienced premises liability lawyer in Tampa can build a case around the assumed duty of care and help to produce a positive outcome on your behalf.

Remedying the Condition

The duty of care in a Tampa premises liability case enforces that as soon as a person finds out about a dangerous condition, they will a fix it or remedy it as quickly as possible. If they cannot fix it right away, the individual must have warning signs to warn the patrons that are around that there may be some dangerous condition that they should be extra careful around.

The reasonable standard proclaims that a person’s property does not have to be in perfect condition, but that a person should do their best to keep the property reasonably safe. If a person finds something that is not reasonably safe, then the person should fix it immediately.

Being Unaware of the Hazard

A property owner does not have to be aware of their obligation to keep the property safe in a Tampa premises liability case. They do not even have to be aware of the dangerous condition – it is a knew or should known standard.

If there is water on a property owner’s floor for two days and they did not know about it, they are still liable because they should have known about it. They should have somebody either cleaning the floors or at least inspecting them to make sure that the premises is in a safe condition. If an individual just has an open building, they never check it to make sure it is safe, and let people come in and out to buy groceries, for example, then they are going to be liable when a dangerous condition comes up. They do not have to know about their obligation because it is a knew or should have known standard.

Even if the owner does not know that they must keep their property in a safe condition, they can still be liable for injuries that occur. The duty of care in a Tampa premises liability case still applies no matter whether or not they are aware of the hazard.

Landlord Liability

For business invitees at certain commercial properties, a person has a duty as a landlord to protect them from criminal acts of third parties. That means a person should have some type of security, some type of security cameras, or somebody that would prevent somebody from coming on the property and committing a crime that injures their business invitees.

A person does have a duty to protect from even some unforeseen criminal act. To best understand the duty of care in an individual’s premises liability case, it is imperative to consult with an experienced attorney as soon as possible.