In the state of Ohio, residential homeowners are duty-bound to ensure the safety of certain people who enter their homes or come onto their properties. When a homeowner breaches that duty—known as the duty of care—and a person becomes injured, the homeowner can be held liable for damages that result. These are the basic tenets of premises liability law. If you sustained a serious injury due to the negligence of a homeowner—and the homeowner owed you a duty of care, then you may be entitled to collect damages. See a Columbus slip and fall on residential property accident attorney to discuss the merits of your case.
Slip and fall accidents on residential properties are quite common. In fact, slip and fall events are among the most common falls when it comes to personal injury claims across the United States, including Ohio.
In most personal injury claims, the duty of care is a straightforward determination. For instance, in a car wreck, it is predetermined that every driver on the road has a duty to exercise caution when driving. When that duty of care is breached by a reckless driver, the driver and his insurance company may be asked to pony up for the damages that are caused as a result. But with residential slip and fall claims, the duty of care is not as cut and dry.
The state of Ohio operates on a somewhat dated notion when defining the duty of care. And specifically, the reason for you being on the person’s residential property when you became injured largely determines if you have a claim. In Ohio, visitors to a property are either invitees, licensees, or trespassers.
You are an invitee if you were invited to the property for a purpose that benefits the owner. For example, the owner hires you to build an addition on a home or mow the grass. Ordinary care must be given for your protection and safety, and you must be warned in advance of any dangers that you might not reasonably discover yourself and protect yourself from—known as open and obvious dangers.
You are a licensee if you are invited to the homeowner’s premises for your own benefit or pleasure. For example, you are a social guest at an outdoor picnic. The homeowner owes licensees only the duty of care to prevent and refrain from causing willful, reckless, or wanton injury to the person.
You are a trespasser if you enter the homeowner’s property absent the homeowner’s consent. Homeowners generally owe trespassers the same duty of care as licensees, with some narrow exceptions. One such exception is the attractive nuisance doctrine. This doctrine gives added protection for trespassing children and applies when an artificial condition draws the child to the property, such as a swimming pool with no gate or lock.
Premises law and residential slip and fall claims can be complex. Reach out to Paulozzi LPA Injury Lawyers Columbus slip and fall on residential property attorney to learn more about your rights as an accident victim. You can contact us for a free consultation by clicking here or calling us at 888-710-0040.
