Premises Liability Cases: Owner vs. Occupier Liability in Colorado

A Denver injury attorney can help determine accountability in a premises liability claim if you have been injured on someone else’s property. Responsibility may lie with an owner or an occupier, depending on the circumstances. An attorney can help determine the types of damages you may be entitled to seek.

Owner vs. Occupier Premises Liability Claims

In order to file a claim, you will need to establish that negligence caused your injuries, but you also will need to prove who is the negligent party.

Owners are at fault most times for injuries sustained on their premises; failure to maintain their property properly is a common reason for injuries.

You and your Denver injury attorney will need to prove several things in order to find an owner liable in a premises liability claim, such as:

• the owner was responsible for maintaining the area where the accident occurred;
• the owner didn’t take the right steps to prevent the accident;
• the owner didn’t provide adequate warnings of risks or didn’t fix the problem;
• the consequence of the owner failing to take action likely would lead to serious injuries;
• the owner’s negligence caused an accident to happen; and
• as a result, someone was seriously hurt.

An example would be a stairwell in an apartment building — the owner would be responsible for upkeep. If the stairs were crumbling and in disrepair, and the owner failed to put up a warning sign to avoid that area or didn’t fix the steps, it would be foreseeable that an accident could occur. If an accident did indeed occur and it resulted in injuries, the owner would be held liable in a premises liability claim.

Occupiers also can be held liable for injuries. An occupier the person who has paid rent to an owner in order to live on that property.

If the owner was not aware of a hazardous condition inside the occupier’s residence, and it led to an individual being injured, liability likely would lie with the occupier. However, there may be situations in which an owner was aware or should have been aware of a hazard, and both parties could be found negligent.

Consulting a Denver Injury Attorney

Premises liability cases can be very complicated. Don’t delay in seeking legal counsel. Contact D.J. Banovitz at 303-300-5060 as soon as possible to get your case moving. You may also order our free injury guide, 7 Costly Mistakes that Can Ruin Your Colorado Injury Case.