Visitor Legal Status in Nanuet Premises Liability Claims

One of the unique aspects of premises liability claims is that your ability to recover damages could be determined by your status at the time of the incident. Depending on whether you are an invitee, licensee, or trespasser, your level of legal difficulty may be different. You need to get help from a personal injury attorney at StolzenbergCortelli, LLP who could explain visitor legal status in Nanuet premises liability claims.

What Are the Visitor Status Types?

An invitee is the status given to someone who is on in the premises to conduct some type of business, such as a customer at a store. The owner needs to actively inspect and fix hazards that might put the invitee at risk.

A licensee is someone who has an invitation or is otherwise generally allowed to be on the property, such as friends coming to a house for social gathering. The property owner only needs to protect the person from known dangers, but they are not required to actively inspect.

If someone is a trespasser, the owner will owe them a much lower duty for keeping safe on the property. An exception might be if the owner knows their neighbor crosses through their property every day to get to work, then they may owe them a duty to fix hazards. They also cannot actively hurt someone who is trespassing, as that might open them up to a claim.

Factors that Visitors Should Know About Premises Claims

Three things that a person should do after getting hurt on someone’s land is to immediately notify the premises owner that they are injured, get immediate medical treatment, and contact a personal injury attorney from StolzenbergCortelli, LLP.

A plaintiff could recover damages for pain and suffering, possibly pecuniary loss (economic loss) if they had to miss work, and any medical bills they incurred. The more severe the injuries, the more money they could recover.

In order for there to be liability, the property owner would have needed actual or constructive notice. Actual notice means they knew for a fact that there was a defect or a hazard. Constructive notice means they have information that should lead them to reasonably expect a hazard. An example of constructive notice would be that their awareness of a cold winter storm should lead them to presume there are icy conditions outside, which they need to fix. Notice is one of the key factors in a successful liability claim.

How an Attorney Could Help

A Nanuet attorney from StolzenbergCortelli, LLP could assist someone helping them confirm their visitor legal status, which will play a part in the direction of their premises liability claim. They will need to know why the plaintiff was on the property, who owns the property, the activity they were doing on the property, what they were doing at the time when they were injured, how they were injured, and the extent of their injuries.

A lawyer could also help by making sure the visitor gets the right medical treatment, pays their medical bills, and properly identifies the person responsible for the accident to recover any damages.

Work with a Nanuet Premises Claim Attorney and Determine Your Visitor Legal Status

Dangerous property claims can operate differently from other types of personal injury lawsuits and require careful planning. Place a call to our law firm and set up a free consultation. Your Nanuet premises liability claim hinges on an accurate understanding of your legal status as a visitor.