Individuals and entities that own property are responsible for keeping their premises in a reasonably safe condition at all times.
When premises owners fail to maintain their premises and allow them to become rundown and defective, serious accidents can happen. These accidents, in turn, can lead to significant injuries, pain, suffering, and other consequences. If you sustained an injury on premises belonging to someone else, you have legal options that are available to you in your case.
The skilled team of St. Louis premises liability attorneys at Dixon Injury Firm can explain those options to you and help you decide on the best legal course of action to take in your specific case. In some instances, we can file a personal injury claim with the premises owner’s insurance company or file a lawsuit against the responsible person or entity on your behalf.
When you let us handle your premises liability legal claim, you can rest assured that we will give it all of the time and attention that it deserves-and that we will fight for your right to recover satisfactory monetary compensation and damages for the injuries you suffered.
Please call us today to find out more about how we can assist you with pursuing compensation for your premises liability injuries. We assist clients throughout the St. Louis metro area, including the Metro East, and we know how to seek justice under both Missouri and Illinois premises liability laws.
Where Do Premises Accidents Take Place in St. Louis?
St. Louis premises accidents can take place nearly everywhere, from Lacledes Landing to Soulard, from Grand Avenue in Tower Grove to the University City Loop, from Ballpark Village to the Hill and Dogtown.
We see many accidents at:
- The City Museum
- Grocery stores and shopping centers (from Schnuck’s, Target, and Walmart to Union Station, Westport Plaza, and the Galleria)
- Stadiums and arenas (including Busch Stadium, the Enterprise Center, Chaifetz Arena, and Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre)
- Hotels (Hilton, Hyatt, Drury, Days Inn, and Holiday Inn)
If you were hurt at any of those locations, or anywhere else in the city, call us.
Types of Premises Accidents
Slip and fall accidents are common occurrences on both business and residential premises. These accidents typically happen when a person trips and falls on an indoor or outdoor surface-usually because of a wet or slippery substance that is on the ground. The substance can be water, food, or something else that is slippery. These types of accidents are especially common at restaurants and supermarkets, where foods and liquids routinely spill onto the floor.
The types of injuries that can result from a slip and fall accident depend upon how the accident victim falls to the ground, as well as the force with which the accident victim strikes the ground.
Slip and fall accidents can also occur outdoors, especially in areas that are not maintained properly, such as sidewalks, parking lots, and parking garages. For example, the accident victim may trip and fall over a pothole or a large crack in the concrete, suffering serious injuries as a result.
Although slips and falls are common on business and residential premises, many other types of premises accidents can occur.
Those premises accidents include:
- Swimming pool accidents
- Amusement park accidents
- Falls on stairs
- Electrical accident
- Toxic exposure
- Accidents that occur as a result of negligent security on the premises.
An example of negligent security is when a shopping mall or shopping center lacks proper monitoring, or the necessary security personnel are not on-site and available, and a person suffers an injury as a result of someone else’s intentional act. Then, the premises owner can be fully or partially to blame for the incident and resulting injuries.
If you or a person you love suffered injuries in one of these types of accidents, a knowledgeable St. Louis premises liability lawyer at Dixon Injury Firm can help. We can get to the bottom of exactly how your accident occurred and can pursue the necessary compensation that you need.
Injuries Suffered in Premises Accidents
When premises owners do not take care of and manage their properties adequately, serious injuries and accidents can sometimes happen. When a person injures themselves on property belonging to someone else, the property owner may share in some or all of the legal blame. Injuries can result in medical treatment, surgeries, and physical therapy-all of which costs a significant amount of money.
The responsible premises owner or the owner’s insurance company can be responsible for paying these damages. Common injuries suffered in a premises accident include soft tissue injuries, broken bones, head injuries, back and spinal cord injuries, and others.
If you have suffered one or more of these injuries in an accident that happened on someone else’s premises, a knowledgeable St. Louis premises liability attorney at Dixon Injury Firm can go over your legal options with you and help you pursue the compensation that you deserve for the injuries that you suffered in your premises accident.
Duty of Care Owed by Premises Owners to Property Visitors
Property owners and managers owe a duty of care to individuals who visit their properties. The duty of care owners owe to a property visitor depends upon the visitor’s status on the property. Business invitees, or those who are on the property for a business purpose, deserve the highest duty of care under the law.
A property owner must warn business invitees about or correct known dangerous hazards that exist on the property to protect them from suffering injuries. Property owners are also required to inspect their premises regularly and look for unknown dangers that might be lurking about somewhere. Once the danger is uncovered, the property owner must remedy it or at the very least warn about it.
Licensees, or social guests, are not on someone else’s property to benefit the owner. However, a property owner must still warn about or correct all known dangerous conditions that exist on the property, and that can result in accidents and injuries.
Trespassers, on the other hand, are individuals who do not have permission to be or remain on the property. However, if the property owner knows a particular trespasser, then the owner may owe them a duty of care to protect against dangerous conditions and hazards on the property.
For a property owner to be responsible for injuries sustained on their premises, the owner must also know about the defect, and they must have reasonable time to warn about or correct the defect. If the property owner was unaware of the defect, then they might try to use that as a defense against their responsibility for the accident and injuries that resulted on their premises.
In St. Louis and Metro East premises accident cases, the accident victim has the legal burden of proof. A knowledgeable St. Louis premises liability attorney at Dixon Injury Firm can assist you with satisfying this legal burden and pursuing damages from the property owner’s insurance company.
Steps to Take Following a Premises Accident
If you sustained an injury on someone else’s premises, there are several steps that you should take. First of all, you should notify a manager or some other agent of the premises owner about the accident and your injuries. If the accident occurred on business premises, such as in a store or restaurant, a store employee or manager will typically have you fill out a form describing the incident and what happened.
Next, you should make sure that you receive follow-up medical care and treatment for your injuries. You should obtain this medical treatment even if you’re not sure how severe your injuries from the accident are because injury symptoms do not always show up right away. They may take several days, or even weeks, to manifest. Therefore, it is a good idea to receive follow-up treatment at a hospital emergency room or urgent care center as soon as you can. A healthcare provider can ascertain your medical condition and can recommend follow-up care if appropriate.
Lastly, you should reach out to a St. Louis premises liability attorney at Dixon Injury Firm as soon as possible after your accident. Your attorney can take the legal steps necessary to ensure that the premises owner, or the premises owner’s insurance company, is placed on notice of a potential claim. Your lawyer can also gather your medical treatment records and bills to date and can begin the claims-filing process on your behalf-all while you finish your medical treatment and concentrate on recovering from your injuries.
Pursuing a Claim or Lawsuit for Monetary Compensation and Damages
If you have suffered an injury on someone else’s premises, you can file a claim with the property owner’s insurance company. A St. Louis premises liability attorney at Dixon Injury Firm can help you file a claim for compensation by preparing a settlement demand letter and a demand package on your behalf. The demand letter will make a monetary demand for settlement.
In addition to the settlement demand letter, the demand package will include various types of documentation, including your medical records and bills, loss wage documentation if applicable, photographs of the premises where the incident occurred, camera footage of the incident scene (if available), incident reports prepared by management, police reports, and sometimes a victim impact statement. The victim impact statement will describe the effects that the premises accident has had on the accident victim’s life.
A St. Louis premises liability lawyer can then reach out to the insurance company who will assign an adjuster to oversee your case. Once the insurance company adjuster reviews all of the documentation, along with the demand letter, they may make an offer to resolve your case in the event liability is accepted. Sometimes, however, initial settlement offers are inadequate to reasonably compensate the accident victim for their injuries. The accident victim might need to file a lawsuit in the court system for the insurance company to take the case seriously and offer appropriate compensation to settle.
Moreover, just because you or your attorney file a lawsuit in your case, it does not necessarily mean that it will have to go to trial. Many cases resolve at some point along the way. Moreover, alternative dispute resolution options, such as mediation or arbitration, might be available in your case.
Recovering the Compensation That You Deserve for Your Premises Accident Injuries
If you have suffered an injury in a premises accident, a St. Louis premises liability attorney at Dixon Injury Firm can assist you with zealously pursuing the compensation that you need to feel whole again. The damages that you may receive depend upon several factors, including the nature and extent of the injuries that you suffered in the accident, as well as the cost of your medical treatment and other damages.
First of all, following a premises accident, you might be eligible to recover compensation for all of your related medical expenses and treatment bills, including hospital stays and physical therapy. You can also recover compensation for surgery or another medical procedure that you needed, even if your health insurance paid for some or all of that medical treatment. In addition to medical expenses, you can claim lost earnings if you had to miss work after your accident.
In addition to your economic damages, you can also claim non-economic compensation. These damages should compensate premises accident victims for all of their pain, suffering, and inconvenience stemming from their accident. Premises accident victims can also claim loss of enjoyment of life or use of a body part that relates to injuries suffered in the accident.
A knowledgeable and experienced St. Louis premises liability attorney at Dixon Injury Firm can help you pursue and recover these damages through a settlement, jury verdict, or arbitration award.
St. Louis Premises Liability FAQ
Property owners owe their visitors a duty of reasonable care to maintain their premises in a safe condition at all times. When accidents occur on a property owner’s premises, the injured accident victim might file a claim against the property owner’s insurance company, seeking various types of monetary compensation and damages.
Property accidents are not limited to just slip and falls. Some premises accidents stem from faulty equipment and defective components on the premises (including railings and stairwells)-or even negligent or non-existent security on the premises.
Suppose you have suffered one or more injuries in an accident that occurred on someone else’s property. In that case, you must consult with an experienced St. Louis premises accident attorney at Dixon Injury Firm as soon as possible. When you consult with us, our legal team will immediately begin to investigate how your accident occurred, and if necessary, can retain a qualified expert to assist during that investigation.
If you can file a claim, our legal team can take care of that process for you and will do everything possible to maximize the compensation you deserve to recover for your injuries. If the property owner’s insurance company refuses to adequately compensate you for everything that you went through following your accident, our legal team welcomes the opportunity to pursue a favorable recovery for you.
What Is Premises Liability, and What Accidents Does It Involve?
Property owners, managers, and occupiers must ensure that their premises are safe at all times. When accidents occur on their properties, they might be liable for any injuries that result. This is especially true if the property owner or manager knew the defective situation or condition yet failed to warn about or remedy it within a reasonable amount of time.
Slip and fall accidents and injuries that occur indoors or outdoors can lead to a St. Louis premises liability claim. However, other potential premises liability claims can arise from property owner negligence. These include claims arising from swimming pool accidents, amusement park accidents, defective railings, poorly maintained staircases, and accidents because of poor lighting on the premises.
Additionally, some premises injuries occur when insufficient security personnel were on duty at the time of the accident. These types of situations can arise in bars, restaurants, nightclubs, and parking lots, where there is an insufficient amount of security personnel on duty at a given time, or where security cameras or recording devices are not present. If a third-party assaults a person on the premises, for example, the premises owner might be liable for any injuries due to inadequate lighting or security available on the property at that time.
If you have suffered an injury in any of these types of premises incidents, you might have a right to obtain monetary compensation for your injuries and their aftermath. The knowledgeable and skilled St. Louis premises liability attorneys at Dixon Injury Firm will determine if you have a case and if so, can begin the claims-filing process with the property owner’s insurance company on your behalf. We can then set to work on negotiating a favorable settlement offer that fully compensates you for your injuries.
What Are Common Injuries in St. Louis Premises Accidents?
The injuries that a person may suffer in a premises accident will depend largely upon the accident itself and how it occurred. For example, in a slip-and-fall-type accident, the injuries that a person sustains will depend upon how he or she fell to the ground.
For example, if the accident victim strikes his or her head on the ground, the accident victim might sustain a concussion or other traumatic head and brain injury.
In contrast, if the accident victim falls to the ground and lands on his or her neck or back, the accident victim can suffer a spinal cord or paralysis injury. Other common injuries that occur during accidents include soft tissue injuries, cuts, scrapes, and abrasions.
Some of these injuries might even wind up being permanent and can impact the accident victim for the remainder of his or her life. For a determination on permanency, a qualified medical provider will need to examine the premises accident victim.
The provider must also state in writing, and to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, that the accident victim suffered a permanent injury to some part of his or her body in the accident. The provider must also state that there is a causal relationship between the accident and the permanent injury the accident victim suffered.
If you have suffered an injury in a premises accident, there are certain steps that you should always take. First of all, you must notify the premises owner or manager about what happened and any injuries you suffered. If there were one or more witnesses to the occurrence, you should obtain the contact information for those individuals. You should also make sure that you fill out an incident report and that you obtain a copy of the report for your records.
In addition to reporting the premises accident, it is essential that you receive follow-up medical care and treatment as soon as possible after your incident, and preferably on the same date as the incident.
If you fail to seek prompt medical treatment following the incident, or if there are significant lengthy gaps in your medical treatment, the insurance company handling your claim will likely become skeptical. For example, the insurance company adjuster who is assigned to handle your case might assume that you were not injured all that seriously in the premises accident or that you are not taking your medical treatment seriously.
Either way, failing to treat continuously for your injuries, and failing to seek proper medical treatment after your accident, can have negative consequences for your case.
If you have suffered one or more of these injuries in a St. Louis premises accident, it is crucial to have a qualified personal injury attorney on board throughout your case. A knowledgeable St. Louis premises accident lawyer at Dixon Injury Firm can begin handling the legal aspects of your claim while you focus on treating your injuries and getting better.
Your lawyer, for example, can start gathering up all of your medical treatment records and bills, witness statements, and incident reports and compile them into a demand package for the insurance company adjuster’s review. The sooner that you contact an experienced lawyer to assist you with your premises accident case, the sooner he or she can get started zealously advocating for and representing you in your legal matter.
What is a St. Louis Premises Owner’s Legal Duty of Care?
Property owners owe a duty of reasonable care to their visitors, whether those visitors are business invitees who are on the property for a commercial reason or social guests who may be present at a person’s residence at the property owner’s invitation.
Business invitees, such as customers at a store, shopping center, or grocery store, deserve the highest legal duty of care from premises owners and managers. Specifically, premises owners must make sure that they warn about or correct known dangerous hazards that exist on the premises at a given time.
In addition, these individuals are responsible for inspecting their properties regularly and checking for unknown dangerous conditions that might exist there.
Suppose someone discovers a previously unknown hazardous condition. In that case, they should promptly remedy it or place a warning placard in the vicinity to warn the property visitors of the potential dangers associated with the defect.
When a premises accident victim can demonstrate that the property owner or manager acted unreasonably under the circumstances, such as by failing to promptly warn about or correct a dangerous condition, the accident victim might be eligible to recover damages.
An experienced St. Louis premises accident lawyer at Dixon Injury Firm can help you meet your legal burden of proof in a personal injury case and assist you with satisfying all of the legal elements necessary to get you compensated for your injuries. In addition, your attorney can retain the necessary experts who can help you meet your burden of proof in the case.
How do I File an Insurance Company Claim Arising from a St. Louis Premises Accident?
If you have suffered injuries in a St. Louis premises accident, an attorney can help you file a claim with the property owner’s insurance company, seeking monetary recovery in the form of damages. The settlement demand package that your lawyer prepares will include a demand letter that makes a formal settlement demand. In addition, the accident victim’s lawyer will include various pieces of documentation in the demand package. That documentation will usually include copies of all incident reports, witness statements, and any other documentation prepared immediately following the premises accident.
The demand package will also contain all of the accident victim’s medical records and bills, along with any lost wage documentation. They should also include photographs of the accident victim’s injuries and pictures of the incident scene. Finally, if the premises accident victim prepared a victim impact statement, the insurer can include that statement along with this other documentation for the insurance company adjuster’s review.
Once the insurance company adjuster reviews the settlement demand letter and all of the enclosed documents, he or she might make an offer to settle the case if liability for the accident is accepted. The initial settlement offer is unlikely to compensate the accident victim for all of his or her injuries and damages. However, a knowledgeable St. Louis premises accident attorney at Dixon Injury Firm can assist you by negotiating your claim with the insurance company adjuster until you reach a favorable settlement.
If a reasonable offer is not forthcoming from the insurance company, your lawyer can file a lawsuit on your behalf with the Missouri state court system and pursue a favorable result there. In addition, you might explore alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in your case, such as arbitration or mediation. Your lawyer will help you decide on the best course of action to maximize your monetary recovery in your premises liability legal action.
What Types of Monetary Compensation Can I Recover in a St. Louis Premises Accident Case?
If you have suffered injuries on someone else’s premises, and the accident resulted from the property owner’s irresponsibility or negligence, you can be eligible to pursue and recover various damages. First of all, your attorney can pursue the cost of your medical expenses, as well as lost earnings that resulted from your injuries.
For example, after many premises accidents, individuals are injured to such an extent that they can no longer work. At other times, the worker might have to switch jobs, often for less pay, because of an injury or injuries suffered in a premises accident. Premises accident victims can also pursue other out-of-pocket costs related to the accident and their resulting injuries.
In addition to these economic damages, premises accident victims can file a claim for pain and suffering, inconvenience, and emotional distress resulting from the accident and subsequent injuries. Finally, premises accident victims may assert a claim for loss of the ability to use an injured body part and for loss of quality of life.
A St. Louis, Missouri premises accident attorney at Dixon Injury Firm can explore your eligibility for these various types of damages. Assuming the property owner’s insurance company accepted liability in your premises accident case, your attorney can pursue damages on your behalf and work to maximize the monetary recovery that you receive in your case.
Do not sit on your rights or wait too long to take legal action. Seek the compensation you deserve with the right legal representation today.
Talk With an Experienced St. Louis Premises Liability Lawyer Today
The experienced legal team at Dixon Injury Firm can assist you with every aspect of your premises accident legal matter-from filing a claim, to pursuing litigation, to trying your case to a favorable conclusion in the Missouri state court system. Our zealous team of attorneys will advocate for your legal interests with the premises owner’s insurance company, and if necessary, in court, to pursue and recover the compensation that you deserve for all of your injuries.
For a free legal consultation and case evaluation with a knowledgeable St. Louis premises liability attorney, please call us today at (314) 208-2808 or contact us online for more information about how we can assist.
The Dixon Injury Firm
9666 Olive Blvd #202,
St. Louis, MO 63132
Phone:(314) 208-2808