Common Nashville Premises Liability Cases

Premises liability cases can be difficult because the plaintiff and their lawyer must establish the liability of the property owner. By looking at common Nashville premises liability cases, a capable personal injury lawyer can use their previous knowledge and experience to build your case. If you have sustained an injury due to a negligent property owner, get in contact with a skilled premises liability attorney who can seek justice for you.

Types of Cases Handled By a Premises Liability Lawyer

The most common Nashville premises liability cases are slip and fall cases. These occur when someone is at a store, a restaurant, a grocery, a market, and they slip on something, some type of liquid or whatever, and injure themselves. Also, there are cases where children or toddlers are injured or drown in swimming pools that were not properly fenced or protected. Those would be categorized as attractive nuisances and are premises liability cases. Dog bite cases are also pretty common due to the fact that there are a lot of dog attacks in Nashville, and some people are not responsible pet owners.

Dram Shop Cases

An attorney can also handle Dram Shop Act cases which could also probably be a premises liability case. A dram shop case occurs when a bar or a restaurant continues to serve alcohol to someone who is obviously intoxicated. Then that person goes out and gets in their car and hits somebody, making them a drunk driver who has hit and killed an innocent person or people.

Inadequate Security Cases

Another example is inadequate security cases. These cases appear at apartment complexes, hotels, and shopping malls. If there is a known history of violence, whether it is robbery or assault, and it is a dangerous area and the commercial property owner does not adequately protect the people that are coming there to spend their money, the owner would be liable. If there is not enough lighting, they probably need security guards and do not have them. If they do not have fencing or other things that would normally be provided to protect people, the property owner(s)would be liable. These inadequate security cases would probably be another premise liability case.

Common Locations Where Premises Liability Cases Occur

Nashville has a very large tourist population that comes in all year around and frequent the many restaurants, bars, shopping, and honky tonks down the whole stretch of streets like Broadway and over by Vanderbilt or Hillsboro Village. That is where most of the premises liability cases occur because that is where most of the people are.

There are a lot of premises liability cases that occur at apartment complexes and hotels here as well as shopping malls and grocery stores. They also happen at people’s residence, but they are much less common. There are a lot of dog bite cases at people’s residence which might pop up, but for the most part, the most common premises liability cases in Nashville are going to be commercial places like restaurants, bars, grocery stores, malls, and apartments in Nashville.

How Premises Liability Cases Are Handled

Not all common Nashville premises liability cases are handled the same way. If someone was injured because of a physical defect at the store, like a slip and fall case or trip case, it is mandatory to find what created that physical problem at the store. There are certain questions an attorney might ask, such as:

  • Did the owner know about it?
  • Is there a history of danger on this property?
  • Did other people trip here before?
  • Have other people fallen here before?

In an inadequate security case or dram shop case, there would be research into the history of that facility before this incident occurred. If the business has been in trouble before for over serving people or serving minors, it is a dram shop case.

If it is somebody who gets robbed or attacked at an apartment, an experienced attorney would check with local police for prior calls about that residence or apartment complex and find out whether they had a lot of crime before this incident.

These statistics regarding the property, whether the owner should have known about it, and whether they took action once they found out, can be instrumental in building their case. These are not as much of the physical problems, but the historic problems of what the owner knew, the potential dangers that could arise, and what did the owner did about it.

Factors That Qualify the Severity of Premises Liability Cases

One factor that can qualify the severity of a case would be the severity of the injuries themselves. The more severe the injury, the more damages there are going to be. Hospital and medical bills are going to be higher, lost wages may be higher, pain and suffering is going to be higher, and other factors that will determine the severity of a premises liability case would be the culpability of the owner of the property.

If a property accident occurs and it is ascertained that this same accident has happened multiple times and the property owner did nothing about it, then a jury is probably going treat that property owner more harshly. The jury would find that the first time something happened it is unfortunate, but if something continues to happen and the owner does not protect the people that are coming on this property, then it becomes more of a deliberate choice, putting people in danger.

Contacting an Attorney

If you have been injured on a premises due to a negligent property owner, contact a qualified Nashville premises liability lawyer. An experienced lawyer will have experience working on the most common Nashville premises liability cases, and will be equipped to handle your case as well. Get in touch with a local personal injury attorney who can fight tirelessly to to help you recover damages.

Author Bio

Jim Higgins, founder of the Higgins Firm, is a seasoned personal injury attorney with deep roots in Nashville, Tennessee. A 4th generation Nashvillian, Jim carries on the legal legacy of his father, a judge for over 30 years. After graduating from the University of Memphis School of Law, Jim’s career began on the other side of the courtroom, defending insurance companies and learning their tactics for minimizing settlements. However, he soon realized his true calling was fighting for the rights of the injured, and for the past several years, he has exclusively represented plaintiffs in personal injury cases.

Since then, his dedication and skill have earned him membership in the prestigious Million Dollar Advocates Forum, an organization limited to attorneys who have secured million and multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements for their clients. Licensed to practice in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Georgia, Jim focuses on personal injury, product liability, medical malpractice, and workers’ compensation cases. His exceptional work has been recognized by his peers, earning him a spot on the Super Lawyers list from 2021 to 2024, a distinction awarded to only a select group of accomplished attorneys in each state.

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