This is a video about the legal classifications of various different types of slip and fall or trip and fall type claims. Generally speaking, there are going to be three different classifications a person is going to have when they are on the property owned by another. And this is one of the initial legal hurdles we have to get over as attorneys in order to help our clients recover. The first classification is pretty simple that have a trespasser. Uh, the duties owed to a trespasser are far less than the duties owed to other type of entrance. And so generally speaking, trespassers don’t have that many rights provided to them by the law because they’re not supposed to be on the property to begin with. And therefore the owners of the property don’t owe as many duties to trespassers, uh, if that trespasser is injured while on the property of another.
The biggest classification that we see and that we like to have our clients fall within is the invite classification. In other words, this is an individual who was supposed to be on the property either by an express invitation, meaning please come into my business or an implied invitation, meaning, uh, the invitation and your presence on the property is allowed by implication, uh, on the surrounding circumstances. That’s going to be a very fact specific issue. However, it’s going to be one that has to be overcome and the box checked to make sure that we can get over that hurdle. Because once we get over that hurdle, the landowner is going to oh invitees. Many more duties to protect against dangerous conditions, warn against dangerous conditions, maintain their property to prevent dangerous conditions. And so this classification is the one that we’d like to have our clients fall into.
Now think of perhaps going into a Publix supermarket or Walmart, uh, to go shopping. That is a, an example of an invite Tia classic invitees scenario because the public is invited in to shop and so you’re allowed to be there. And these landowners, whether it be a Publix or a Walmart or whether it be a convenience store or some other facility where people are expected to be, those owners of property owe certain duties to the people that are coming on to their property, onto the premises and they, those duties involve protecting people invitees from being injured on the property by a dangerous condition. And so those are the two big classifications. And then the lesser known classification besides Trespasser, an invitee is going to be a licensee and the licensee classification falls between invitee and trespassers. And we don’t see that too terribly often. But t idea behind a licensee is that the person may or may not be using the property for their own benefit or there is a very specific reason why the person is using property and if they’re using it in consistent with that specification than they might be considered a licensee.
And whether or not they’re a licensee or a trespasser is a big question for the court to determine. So that those are the hurdles we have to get over from a legal classification standpoint and every trip and fall case. And so it’s imperative that you document and contact your attorneys immediately when something happens on the property of another, so we can solidify and lock in those clouds, that classification. If you have any questions regarding these issues, please contact us immediately at our office.
*The above has been transcribed by a third party service and has not been checked for accuracy
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