Franklin Premises Liability Lawyer

Being injured while on the premises of another property can be confusing, especially when you are trying to determine how you are going to pay for mounting medical expenses and figure out who is accountable for your pain and suffering.

A Franklin premises liability lawyer has significant experience to help you address these questions and get you back to enjoying your life. Unfortunately, compensation will not erase the mental anguish that you have suffered but can begin to make you feel whole again. Contact an experienced personal injury attorney today.

Tennessee law regarding premises liability is based on a visitor’s status on while on the property. This status dictates the level of duty of care owed to the visitor. There are three categories of a visitor’s status while on the property, invitee, licensee, and trespasser.

An invitee is formally or informally welcome to be on the property. This person is on the premises because of an economic or social benefit to either the landowner or invitee. For example, if the property is a public park, individuals are welcome to enter the premises to enjoy the benefits of the open space. Another example would be visiting a friend or relative’s home with or without a formal invitation. Because an invitee is a welcome person, they are owed the highest level of a duty of care. Here, the landowner must repair known dangerous conditions on the property or warn the invitee if the condition is not immediately repairable. Slip and fall injuries are common accidents for invitees.

A licensee is a person who has the legal authority or consent of the landowner to be on the premises. A landowner still owes a licensee a duty of care to fix any dangerous conditions or to warn, but the duty of care is not as high as that for an invitee. A licensee can be a police officer or utility worker on the property to perform a specific task.

A trespasser is someone who enters the property without the landowner’s knowledge or consent. This person has no rights to be on the property and is not owed a duty of care by the landowner. The landowner does not have to warn them or fix any dangerous conditions on the property and does not have to make the trespasser aware of these conditions. However, once the trespasser’s presence is known, the landowner cannot purposely set traps or endanger them while they are on the property. If it is found that the landowner purposely injured a trespasser, they can become liable for the trespasser’s injuries.

To successfully prove the landowner’s negligence contributed to the person’s harm, they must show that they are the legal owner of the property, they were invited to be on the property and not a trespasser, and the owner’s negligence caused their injuries.

Further, the claimant should be able to provide evidence of that there is a dangerous condition on the property, the landowner knows or should reasonably know it exists, the landowner is aware the dangerous condition is not obvious or open to invitees, and the landowner did not use ordinary to fix or warn invitees of the risk.

A Franklin premises liability attorney has the experience to gather evidence to establish a negligence claim against the landowner.

In Franklin, a plaintiff may be awarded compensation for economic and non-economic damages. Economic or compensatory damages are those that stem from the individual’s injuries because of the accident. Economic damages can include medical bills and expenses (past and future), loss of wages and earning capacity, and damage to real and personal property.

Non-economic damages are those that cannot be quantified but are intangible injuries stemming from physical injuries. These injuries may include physical pain, mental suffering, emotional distress, and loss of consortium. Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-39-102, usually does not allow the award of non-economic damages to exceed $750,000 per plaintiff.

Tennessee statute of limitations gives plaintiffs one year from the time of the accident to file a negligence claim. A skilled lawyer can alleviate the stress associated with the negotiation of your settlement, paying medical bills and dealing with the defendant’s insurance company. Consulting with a Franklin premises liability lawyer can help you regain control of your life and understand your rights under Tennessee pedestrian laws.