Someone Injured on Your Property? How to Know if You’re Liable.

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By: Bill Henry
PublishedAug 31, 2020
2 minute read

If someone is hurt on your property in Colorado, are you liable?

Litigation Attorney discusses how these personal injury cases work in Colorado. Find out if you will be liable if someone is hurt on your property.

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Good morning, everyone. My name is Robert Harper. I’m an attorney here at Robinson & Henry, I wanted to quickly touch on what happens if someone slips at your property. How does the law look at that type of situation, and some of the different classifications that go along with that type of law.

What Happens if Someone is Hurt on Your Property?

Now generally in Colorado, obviously you most likely heard of the word negligence. Now in the state of Colorado, if someone was hurt on your property, there’s only really one avenue that you can take. It’s called the Premises Liability Act.

If someone charges you with slipping on your property and they were hurt, they, through litigation should not be able to bring both a negligence claim and a Premises Liability Act claim.

Premises liability act only encompasses when someone is hurt on your property or someone else’s.

What Makes A Case?

There are three classifications the law looks at for this kind of case:

Invitee

Is the invitee there for your benefit?

Think of King Soopers as an example. People who go to a grocery store are there for business. These individuals are afforded the highest care.

If you happen to be at a grocery store and slip on water or something that wasn’t cleaned up, the grocery store either knew or should have known the floor needed to be cleaned, and they should have corrected the problem.

That is a high standard to meet, especially when they have to prove they were unaware of the hazard on the floor.

Licensee

What is the standard if someone comes to your home? 

A friend at your home is what is called a licensee. These individuals, under the law, are not technically not there for your benefit, though many people and attorneys have made that argument.

In this case, if there is a problem on your property that could be dangerous to someone else you should correct it if you know about it.

The “you should have known about it” standard does not apply to you as a homeowner. There is a lesser standard for property owners, giving them some benefit of the doubt that they would have fixed an issue had they been aware of it.

Trespasser

Was the individual considered a trespasser?

The law doesn’t really afford trespassers any type of protection. There is, however, an exception for man-made traps.

If you construct a trap on your property, such as a large hole that is covered so people are unaware it’s there, and a trespasser falls into the hole and is injured, you could be liable. Why? The trap was hidden and it could be potentially deadly.

Questions about Liability?

Call 303-688-0944 to start a case assessment.

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