By law, property owners have a legal duty to exercise reasonable care for the safety of their visitors. Depending on the circumstances of your accident, you could be owed compensation for your pain and suffering.

If you’ve been injured due to a safety hazard or premises defect on someone else’s property, your rights (and the legal options available to you) fall under what’s called premises liability law. In general, any person who’s injured on another person’s property may pursue a negligence-based premises liability claim against the owner of the property or tenant in possession. Whether or not the claim will be successful depends upon a number of factors, including why you were on the property and how the injury occurred.

Slip and fall accidents are some of the most common types of premises liability claims, and falls alone are said to account for more than 8 million ER visits in the US every single year. However, the truth is that any type of personal injury claim (if it occurs on someone else’s property) may ultimately hinge upon this relatively-obscure area of civil law.

Is the Property Owner Liable for My Injury?

While it may be obvious to you that the property owner’s negligence directly led to your injuries, the truth is that premises liability law is often quite complex. Before we get any further, let’s first determine your “status” as a visitor. Legally speaking, every visitor is classified as either an invitee, a licensee, or a trespasser.

• Invitees are those who are on the property with the owner’s knowledge, and for the mutual benefit of both parties. Customers at a restaurant or store would be considered invitees.
• Licensees are those who are invited onto someone’s property for reasons other than commercial or business intents. A friend or family member invited into someone’s home would be considered a licensee.
• Trespassers, as you probably know, are those who access someone’s property without the knowledge or consent of the owner/controller of the property.

Invitees (i.e., customers) are rightfully owed the highest duty of care. Businesses and property owners alike have a legal duty to remedy (or adequately warn of) any risks that are known — or should have been discoverable upon routine inspection.

Licensees (i.e., social guests) are also owed a fairly standard duty of care. Property owners are required to warn visitors of any known risks or conditions that could cause harm but aren’t necessarily expected to routinely inspect the property for hazards. Trespassers are generally owed the lowest duty of care, but property owners even owe a duty to warn trespassers of “unnatural hazards” such as traps or snares.

Filing a Claim and Seeking Compensation

Before you worry about anything related to your claim, your first priority should be on your health and well-being. Do not delay medical treatment, as many soft-tissue injuries can get worse with time. Additionally, doing so could have a detrimental effect on your ability to prove your case later down the line.

As soon as you’re able to, it’s important to make the incident known to the business or property owner. When it comes to a slip and fall in a store, an accident report will usually be made, and any resulting claims will be referred to the company’s insurance provider.

Many people are reluctant to seek compensation for an injury that occurs at a friend or family member’s property, but it’s important to remember that this is one of the very reasons that homeowner’s insurance exists. Whether you were injured at a friend’s house or a Waffle House, you’re ultimately going to be seeking compensation from an insurance company.

Unfortunately, these types of claims are often handled with little to no priority. The insurance company’s ultimate goal is to find a reason to deny your claim, or to delay at every turn in an attempt to frustrate you into giving up or accepting an insultingly-low settlement offer.

If you fail to act quickly to preserve vital evidence (or simply expect the insurance company to act fairly in their investigation), you’re putting yourself at a severe disadvantage. Many premises liability claims are denied simply because the insurance company — rightfully or not — eventually decides to point the finger at someone else.

For example, the insurance company could claim that your injury occurred in a parking lot or “common area” which is maintained by the property owner and thus not covered by the tenant’s liability policy. More-likely though, they will point the finger back at you and simply claim that the injury was entirely avoidable.

How Can You Prove Liability?

There are four elements you must satisfy in order to prevail in any premises liability claim.

1. First, you must demonstrate that the property owner owed you a legal duty of care. If you were legally on the property as an invitee or licensee, then you have likely already satisfied this element of the case.
2. Second, you must be able to prove that the property owner breached that duty by negligently failing to remedy (or adequately warn of) the hazard.
3. Third, you must also be able to show that the property owner’s negligence was the proximate cause of your injury.
4. And finally, you must be able to reliably prove up (valuate) your total related damages using evidence and/or expert witness testimony.

As one might expect, liability in a case like this is closely tied to foreseeability and reasonability. Is it foreseeable that a spill on the floor could lead to a slip and fall accident? Of course. Is it reasonable to expect a spill to be discovered and cleaned up immediately? Of course not… But when does it become an unreasonable amount of time? After ten minutes? Thirty minutes?

Unfortunately, these kind of “gray area” cases are often the most contentious. Without an attorney on your side who’s ready and willing to back your claims up with a lawsuit, you’re often simply at the mercy of the insurance company.

The bottom line is that if you’ve been injured on someone else’s property, you need to understand your rights and legal options. There’s no risk in seeking out a free consultation or two before making an informed decision about how to move forward.

Many people die from car accidents each day. While you may not think this can happen to you, each time you enter your vehicle, you’re at risk of dying in a car accident. The simple act of one negligent driver checking their phone, for example, can abruptly end in a fatal accident. 

If you’re lucky enough to survive your car accident, you may walk away with your life, but it won’t be the same. You may have serious losses and legal fees to handle. Along with your physical trauma, you’ll likely experience mental trauma as well. While everyone handles traumatic experiences in different ways, there’s always a high chance that you’ll suffer from some form of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

You should never experience this level of emotional distress because of someone’s reckless actions. You deserve compensation for your damages, including the impact to your mental health. Contacting a car accident attorney in Detroit can kickstart your case for compensation.

You May Suffer from PTSD

For many accident victims, every detail surrounding their accident will replay itself over and over inside of their heads. They’ll constantly relive the exact moment that the accident occurred. They might even dream about their accident. The sound of crunching metal and the smell of burnt rubber will never leave their senses while they suffer from PTSD caused by a car accident. 

When someone least expects it, they’ll always think of their car accident. The experience will remain deep inside of their minds, and various triggers will begin to form for them. No matter how much they may want their PTSD to stop, it’ll feel almost impossible to move on from this experience.

If this sounds like you, this may even discourage you from driving in the future or even entering another vehicle as a passenger. Certain sounds could trigger flashbacks to a traumatic experience. Everyone copes with trauma in unique ways, but your healthiest option is to attend therapy, even though it can be expensive. 

How Does Counseling Help Your Mental Health?

The best way to help your trauma is to seek counseling for your PTSD. Similar to if you were to break your arm, you must get the proper help you need if you feel like your mental and emotional health is damaged. Without treating your depression, anxiety, and PTSD, you open yourself up, losing your way of life, and you must always take care of your mental health. 

There is no shame in seeking help for any issues you may have with your mental health. You’re not “crazy” for feeling like there’s something wrong with your mental health. Remember, you almost lost your life during your car accident, and this experience is not something that anyone can brush off. 

Visiting a therapist will allow you to process your mental and emotional trauma. You’ll have the opportunity to discuss your feelings with a licensed therapist who will listen to how you feel about your accident. A therapist will also help you create ways to cope and move on from your experiences following your accident. 

The perfect thing about therapy is that it’s never too late to work on your mental health. No matter when your accident happened, you’ll always have psychological baggage that you can sort through by talking to a therapist.

You’ll Be Faced with Your Mortality 

Having a near-death experience isn’t something that you easily forget. Any number of factors could have increased your chances of dying in a car accident. Being faced with this reality will often change your outlook on life. The concept of never seeing your loved ones again or experiencing the things that truly make you happy is a terrifying thought.

Whenever you experience a car accident, this concept can become your reality. Many more thoughts and emotions run through your head as you suffer from damages caused by a negligent driver. For this reason, car accidents are just as traumatizing to your mental health as they are to your physical health. 

Never take your life for granted. The unfortunate reality of car accidents is that they can occur at any moment. No matter how careful you drive and how modern your vehicle, there’s always a chance of another driver taking your life away. 

Many car accidents that happen are the result of irresponsible drivers who are either drunk or texting on their cellular devices while operating a potentially dangerous vehicle. You must always live your life to the fullest and anticipate anything happening to you. However, you shouldn’t live your life in fear; instead, you should enjoy it and embrace every opportunity that comes your way.