Whether you visit a hotel, a retail establishment, or a private property, you have a reasonable expectation of a safe experience, including a property that does not have unexpected or unnecessary dangers that can cause serious injuries. Unfortunately, not every property owner exercises this duty of care when it comes to protecting visitors. If you suffer a serious accident on someone else’s property, you may find yourself struggling with severe injuries and financial costs that come along with your injuries.
Steven A. Bagen & Associates can help you learn more about your right to compensation after a Gainesville premises liability accident. Contact us today at (800) BAGEN-LAW to learn more about your right to compensation.
Steven A. Bagen & Associates: Gainesville Premises Liability Attorneys
After a premises liability accident, you may have a lot of questions about everything from your legal right to compensation to how you should file a personal injury claim against the party that caused your accident. Steven A. Bagan & Associates, P.A., has successfully helped many past clients recover compensation for serious injuries, including injuries in premises liability accidents.
Our attorneys bring dedication and passion to the table with every claim.
We offer compassionate service dedicated to helping the victims of serious premises liability accidents in Gainesville recover maximum compensation for those injuries. Our team of personal injury attorneys wants to help victims throughout the Gainesville area learn more about their rights, pursue justice, and seek much-needed compensation for the injuries they sustained due to the negligence of premises owners and the businesses that operate on those premises.
We make sure our clients have a solid understanding of their rights.
Dealing with big insurance companies, including the property insurance companies that often provide compensation for serious accidents on someone else’s property, can leave you feeling overwhelmed and pressured to accept an offer that simply does not reflect your true needs. Often, insurance companies will try to issue low settlement offers that do not provide their victims with compensation to cover the full cost of their injuries.
Other times, accident victims may find themselves dealing with an insurance company that refuses to accept its insured party’s liability for the accident. At Steven A. Bagen & Associates, we help our Gainesville premises liability clients understand their rights, including how to more effectively deal with aggressive, pushy, or otherwise demanding insurance companies that do not want to provide compensation that reflects the true value of a case.
We have the experience needed to help our clients navigate premises liability claims.
With more than three decades of experience in the Gainesville area, we have the tools needed to help you successfully navigate the premises liability claim process as you pursue maximum compensation for your injuries. Our attorneys know how to navigate the local court system, what to expect when dealing with Gainesville insurance companies, and how to help your claim progress as quickly as possible so that you can secure the funds you need to move forward after a serious accident.
Common Gainesville Premises Liability Claims
Gainesville, Florida, sees a reasonable amount of tourist traffic each year. As home to the University of Florida, it offers plenty of opportunities for football fans to come together to enjoy the experience. However, small businesses throughout the area may have more trouble maintaining the safety standards that visitors expect from big businesses, which can increase the risk of several types of accidents.
Slip and Fall Accidents
Premises owners, including both public and private premises owners, must take care to remove hazards that could pose a serious injury risk for visitors. Sip and fall accidents can occur because of slick floors, poor maintenance, or cords and other items on the floor.
While Gainesville sees plenty of sunny weather, it also sees multiple days of heavy rain each year. During heavy rainfall, businesses may have a harder time keeping up with wet floors and other hazards, which can raise the risk of a serious slip and fall accident when visitors fail to take those potential hazards into account. Gainesville also sees several annual conventions, where vendors may set up complex arrays of cords and other hazards that can increase the risk of several types of accidents.
Falling Objects
Many Gainesville stores have a great deal of inventory that they must keep up with. Often, that inventory rests on high shelves. When the employees who put those items in place fail to balance them properly, they may fall. Objects also often fall because construction or maintenance workers fail to properly store those items.
Swimming Pool Accidents
Thanks to Florida’s hot temperatures, Gainesville has swimming pools at both private residences and hotels. Swimming pools may offer a great opportunity to cool off, but they can also pose a potential hazard when their owners do not maintain them properly. Uncovered drains can catch unwary swimmers as they pass over the bottom of the pool, while improper depth labels can cause visitors to jump in without taking adequate precautions.
In addition to making sure that swimming pools offer a safe experience to visitors, Gainesville pool owners may need to properly secure those pools to ensure that children cannot access them without permission. Pools present an attractive hazard to many children, who may lack the skills needed to reason through why they should not jump into a pool or play around it without an adult present. Failure to properly secure those pools can lead to serious injuries or drowning deaths.
Elevator and Escalator Incidents
While elevators and escalators offer a convenient way to get from one floor to the next, they can also pose a serious hazard when the owner of the property does not maintain them properly. Elevator and escalator accidents can result in severe injuries, including multiple broken bones or severe lacerations.
Inadequate Security
Business owners in Gainesville need to provide enough security to keep visitors to those premises as safe as possible. When Gainesville business owners fail to maintain proper security in their locations, it can increase the odds of a serious incident.
Suppose, for example, that you have visited a Gainesville hotel, and someone breaks into your hotel room; or that you suffer injuries in a parking garage where you should have reasonable expectations of cameras or security personnel to help provide an extra level of protection. If negligent security caused the incident or you suffered more serious injuries because of the lack of security, you may have grounds to file a claim against the property owner.
Dog Bites
Florida has a strict liability policy as it pertains to dog bites. Accordingly, any time a dog bites someone on public property or private property where the victim reasonably has the right to visit, the dog owner bears liability for any costs that come from those injuries. Dog owners must take steps to protect people around their dogs, even when dogs do not have a history of biting or attacks.
Property owner negligence can lead to a wide range of potential injuries for visitors and residents throughout the Gainesville area. If you suffered injuries due to the negligence of a property owner in Gainesville, regardless of the type of injury you suffered, contact Steven A. Bagen & Associates, P.A., as soon as possible to learn more about your next steps and your right to compensation.
How Much Compensation Can I Recover for My Gainesville Premises Liability Accident Injuries?
For many people, compensation for premises liability injuries can take top priority. You may have expenses to deal with and little idea of how to manage them, especially if you lost your income due to your injuries. How much compensation can you expect to recover?
At Steven A. Bagen & Associates, P.A., we cannot guarantee how much compensation you will recover for your premises liability accident injuries; however, we can work with you to evaluate the insurance policy that covers the liable party as well as the damages you sustained due to the accident, which can provide you with a better idea of how much compensation you might recover.
Calculating Your Medical Costs
Your medical costs may represent some of the highest bills you have to deal with after your premises liability accident. Severe injuries, including back and neck injuries, burns, or severe lacerations, may require careful medical observation and ongoing treatment to maximize your odds of making a full recovery.
Those medical bills can feel extreme. Fortunately, you can claim compensation for your medical bills through your premises liability claim. Track all relevant medical expenses: emergency care and transport, hospitalization, follow-up visits, and physical or occupational therapy. You can also claim compensation for things like the cost of home health care or durable medical equipment, which may help make you more independent after your accident.
Factoring in Lost Wages
Many premises liability accidents can result in injuries that prevent you from going back to work immediately after the accident. For example, if you broke bones in your hands and arms, it may prove difficult for you to work in a warehouse, handle customers as a cashier, or even sit behind a computer screen.
If you suffered a traumatic brain injury in your premises liability accident, you may have a hard time taking care of any work responsibilities at all, since traumatic brain injury can interfere with everything from your memory to your ability to focus on a task.
You can claim compensation for wages lost as a direct result of your injuries as well as time lost at work because you had to attend follow-up appointments or therapy. Furthermore, you may have the right to claim compensation for vacation time you had to use to provide you with a source of income while out of work.
Adding Pain and Suffering
Your premises liability claim may include pain and suffering and the direct financial costs of your accident. Many premises liability victims suffer immense pain or considerable emotional distress because of their accidents. Working with an attorney can help give you a better idea of how to calculate pain and suffering and include it as part of your claim.
Who Bears Liability for Gainesville Premises Liability Accidents?
To determine who bears liability for your Gainesville premises liability accident, an experienced attorney will look over several key elements. First, the attorney will want to know who owed you a duty of care at the time of the accident. That might include property owners, businesses operating on specific premises, or vendors operating out of that property.
Next, the attorney will look at how the liable party failed to uphold that duty of care. For example, a property owner that failed to properly cover and secure a swimming pool may bear liability for an accident in which a child falls in and drowns, while a property owner who failed to properly maintain the premises may bear liability for allowing a hazard to stand that led to your injuries.
Finally, the attorney will consider how the liable party’s negligence led to your injuries, including what injuries you sustained in the accident and what impact they have had on you. The more serious the impact of those injuries, including injuries that may result in long-term limitations in your life, the more compensation you may pursue for your injuries.
Often, the premises owner will bear liability for injuries sustained on that property, whether public or private. However, a business or vendor operating on that property, or a construction company that failed to take care of repairs as requested, may share liability for the incident.
Did You Suffer Serious Injuries in a Gainesville Premises Liability Accident?
If you suffered serious injuries in a Gainesville premises liability accident, you need an experienced attorney to help you learn more about your right to compensation. Contact Steven A. Bagen & Associates, P.A., online today or by calling (800) BAGEN-LAW to schedule your free consultation.