Premises liability accidents happen all the time. Luckily, most of them only leave the injured party with some minor bumps and bruises and a significant blow to the ego. However, what if these accidents led to something more and left victims having to deal with devastating injuries and debilitating pain that impacted their whole life—physically, emotionally, and financially. Unfortunately, when it comes to premises liability accidents, these situations do happen.
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a San Antonio premises liability accident, you should not have to deal with these challenging repercussions on your own. Fortunately, with the law firm of Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers on your side, you would not have to.
Our San Antonio premises liability lawyers have handled countless premises liability accidents, and we know what it takes to get a successful resolution for our clients. That is why, even though these premises liability claims can be a tedious and complex legal battle, our attorneys are here for you, ready to take on this fight and go after the maximum damages you deserve.
Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA
At the law firm of Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, we understand that when you have been severely hurt in an accident, the pressure to figure out how to pay for your medical treatments begins to mount, and more than ever you need someone you can turn to for help.
Our firm was created to help those injured in an accident get the legal assistance they require by providing them the personal attention they need and the legal services they deserve. That is why when you reach out to us after an accident, we work directly with you to help ensure your case is handled properly and your specific needs are met.
At the Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, our lawyers have always made it a point to aggressively pursue the financial recovery our clients needed. As a result, we have obtained millions of dollars on their behalf through settlement awards and jury verdicts. In fact, some of our most recent judgments have included:
- $939,000 for a rideshare accident.
- $3,200,000 for a semi-truck accident resulting in brain damage.
- $1,400,000 for a motorcycle accident resulting in multiple serious injuries.
- $1,750,000 for a truck accident.
- $1,580,000 for a motor vehicle crash resulting in two herniated discs impinging on the spinal cord.
- $1,000,000 for a wrongful death.
Even though we cannot guarantee your case will see similar results, we can assure you that when you work with Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, we can fight to pursue every last dollar you deserve.
Common Types of Premises Liability Cases in San Antonio
Premises liability is a legal concept that entails the harm that an individual suffered from some defective or unsafe condition on another person's property. As a result, premises liability cases comprise many types of injury cases.
However, the more common ones include:
- Slip and fall accidents
- Defective conditions located on the premises
- Inadequate maintenance on the premises
- Icy conditions
- Escalator accidents
- Elevator accidents
- Swimming pool accidents
- Dog bite accidents
- Inadequate security on the premises that led to an assault or an injury
- Fires
- Amusement park accidents
- Water flooding or leaks
- Construction site injuries
- Toxic chemicals or fumes
As you can see, these cases include a wide range of scenarios that can happen. Consequently, if you have been harmed in one of these accidents, you need legal help to take on these claims. At Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, our San Antonio premises liability lawyers can investigate your case, determine if you have a viable claim, and pursue the compensation you are entitled to.
What Are the Most Common Injuries Following a San Antonio Premises Liability Accident?
Since premises liability accidents are incredibly different from each other and can range from a dog bite incident to a slip and fall, it is no surprise that the injuries that result from these claims are also very different.
Generally, injuries resulting from a premises liability accident can range from relatively minor bumps and bruises to severe and debilitating harm, which can include:
- Traumatic brain damage
- Head and neck injuries
- Spinal cord damage
- Deep lacerations
- Concussions
- Internal organ damage
- Internal bleeding
- Back injuries
- Facial trauma
- Broken bones or fractures
- Soft tissue injuries
- Sprains
- Paralysis
- Death
No matter what types of injuries you incurred in a premises liability accident, it is imperative that you seek legal help from a San Antonio premises liability lawyer. At Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, our legal team can help ensure that you not only get the medical help you need, but that those responsible for your injuries are held accountable for the losses and damages you sustained.
How to Prevail in a San Antonio Premises Liability Case
To bring a successful premises liability case in Texas, you need to establish:
- The wrongful party owed the plaintiff (victim) a duty of care;
- The wrongful party breached this duty;
- The plaintiff suffered an injury because of this breach; and
- The plaintiff's injuries and losses resulted in significant damages.
Typically, the specific duty that a wrongful party may owe the plaintiff in a premises liability case will depend on the plaintiff's classification at the time of their injury.
These classifications include:
- Licensee: This is an individual who received consent from the property owner to enter their property. However, this person is on the property for their own benefit (such as a social guest). As a result, the owner only must warn the licensee of any dangerous conditions that the owner knows about but the licensee might not, such as loose steps or holes in the ground. Additionally, the property owner can also make these hazardous conditions safe.
- Invitee: An individual who enters the land with the property owner's permission and knowledge, and the purpose of entering the land is a mutual benefit of both parties, is an invitee (store customers). These invitees need to be offered the utmost duty of care by the property or landowner. This means that the property owner must warn them of any dangerous conditions that they know about or could have reasonably discovered upon inspection. Alternatively, the owner can make these hazardous conditions safe.
- Trespassers: A trespasser is an individual who enters another person's property without the owner's permission or knowledge. The only duty that these owners owe to a trespasser is a duty not to cause them any injury wantonly, willfully, or through gross negligence.
Determining what your specific classification was at the time of your injury can sometimes get quite complicated. For this reason, you should contact the law firm of Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers as quickly as possible after you suffered harm in a premises liability accident. Our San Antonio premises liability lawyers can help determine your classification at the time of your accident and whether you have a viable legal claim that you can pursue.
Actions to Take Following a San Antonio Premises Liability Accident
If you have been involved in a premises liability accident, you must understand that the actions you take following this incident can not only be crucial to your health and safety but your legal rights as well. That is why, if you are involved in an accident on someone else's property in San Antonio, you should:
Contact 911
Depending on the circumstances of the accident, it may be necessary to contact 911. Not only is this the quickest way to let emergency services know you need immediate medical help, but it is also the fastest way to get your accident on record.
When the police arrive, they will investigate the incident and write down their findings in their police report. If you decide to pursue an injury claim, this police report can provide you with critical evidence regarding what happened and who may be at fault.
Take Pictures and Videos of the Scene
If possible, you need to make sure you take as many pictures and videos of the accident scene as you can. This should include photos of the dangerous condition that led to your injury, your visible injuries, and any other details from the scene that can help show what happened. If you are too injured to take these pictures, have a witness, family member, or a friend take them for you.
Get Witness Information
If there were witnesses at the scene who saw what happened, make sure to get their names, addresses, and phone numbers. Witness statements can often provide you with necessary details regarding the accident while also backing up your claims. However, if these witnesses do not want to give you this information, do not try to force them. When you work with a San Antonio premises liability lawyer, these attorneys can attempt to obtain this information for you.
Get Medical Help
Even if you feel that your injuries are not that serious, you still need to get examined by a doctor. Quite often, severe injuries such as head and brain trauma can take days to even weeks to manifest. Yet, the longer you wait to get these issues checked out, the more deadly they can become. For these reasons, it can be critical to have your doctor check you over following a premises liability accident.
In addition, getting prompt medical treatment can be vital for your injury case. The insurance company may be looking for any reason to deny your claim. When you do not seek medical attention right after your accident, the insurance company could argue that your injuries are not that serious or resulted from a subsequent event. Fortunately, when your doctor examines you, they will write down their assessment of your injuries in their medical report—potentially providing you with evidence of a direct link between your injuries and the accident.
Document Everything You Can About the Accident
Following the accident, you will want to keep track of everything, including all of your bills and reports (police and medical) related to your San Antonio premises liability incident. Additionally, you will want to write down everything that happened in a journal. Over time memories of the accident can fade. Luckily, you could preserve critical details from the incident by jotting down what happened as soon as possible following the accident, when your memory is still fresh.
Just make sure that as you are writing in this journal, you include information regarding how you feel, the medical treatments you now need, how this injury has affected your ability to live life normally, and the extent of the pain and suffering you now have to endure.
Be Careful What You Say to Others
You must be careful what you say to others following a premises liability accident. This means you will want to avoid making definitive statements about the incident, taking the blame for anything that happened, or apologizing. These types of messages can end up coming back and hurting your claim and the amount of money you can potentially receive.
San Antonio Premises Liability FAQs
Unfortunately, premises liability accidents happen all the time in San Antonio. Whether you are shopping at the grocery store and you slip and fall, or you are visiting a friend's house and their dog bites you, these accidents can result in devastating injuries and extensive medical expenses that can impact not only you but your whole family as well.
That is why if you or a loved one has been injured in a San Antonio premises liability accident, you deserve information regarding your legal remedies. For these reasons, the law firm of Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers has prepared answers to some of our client's most common premises liability questions. For more specific information and answers to your questions, contact us today for the guidance you need to pursue the justice you want and the compensation you deserve.
1. What are some of the more common slip and fall accidents that occur in San Antonio?
Slip and fall cases are considered one of the more straightforward premises liability cases, as they happen when an individual slips, trips, and falls on another person's property.
However, numerous causes can result in this accident, including:
- Wet or oily floors
- Broken or defective staircases
- Accumulation of ice on roads, sidewalks, and driveways
- Unsecured carpets
- Hidden cords
- Broken sidewalks, steps, floors, or stairs
If you were injured in a slip and fall accident, you should contact the law firm of Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers as soon as possible. Our San Antonio premises liability lawyers can promptly investigate your accident and determine the cause of your slip and fall and who was responsible.
2. If my child trespassed on another person's property and was injured, can they pursue legal action against the property owner?
Under the Texas law of attractive nuisance, property owners may be liable for injuries to children harmed on their land, even if they were trespassing. Generally, these property owners are responsible for injuries if they resulted from a dangerous object or a condition on the land that is likely to attract a child who cannot appreciate the risk posed by the condition of the object. These conditions can include such things as construction equipment, gravel pits, and swimming pools.
According to the attractive nuisance doctrine:
- Children do not understand the dangers of hazardous conditions.
- An individual can understand that a child may trespass onto their property.
- Property and landowners may be liable for harm children sustained on their property because of a failure to follow these concepts.
As a result, owners must take necessary steps to keep children away from these conditions or objects, including putting up barriers or locking doors, so children cannot get in.
However, it is essential to note that numerous factors go into a Texas attractive nuisance claim. Consequently, if your child was injured while trespassing on another person's land, you should discuss your case with a San Antonio premises liability lawyer. When you work with the law firm of Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, our legal team can review your child's accident, help determine if they have a viable claim, and fight for the maximum damages they deserve.
3. If I was working on a house in San Antonio and was hurt, can I pursue legal action against the homeowner?
Under Texas laws, a property owner is not liable for injuries sustained by an independent contractor that arise from a failure to provide a safe workplace unless:
- The land or property owner is somehow in control of the work to be performed, other than allowing the work to start and stop or to inspect the progress of the work; and
- The land or property owner had actual knowledge of the danger or the condition that resulted in the injury and failed to adequately warn the independent contractor of it.
If you are an independent contractor and were injured while working on a home in San Antonio, contact Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers today and let our premises liability lawyers determine if you may have a viable claim against the property owners and what legal options you can pursue.
4. What damages do I deserve after suffering a premises liability accident in San Antonio?
If you have been injured in a San Antonio premises liability accident due to the wrongful actions of another party, you may be entitled to certain types of compensation. In Texas, this compensation includes:
Economic damages: These damages are actual and verifiable losses that result from an accident, such as:
- Medical bills including past, present, and future expenses such as doctor visits, emergency room visits, hospital stay, prescription medications, and surgery.
- Lost wages.
- Lost earning capacity.
- Personal property repairs.
- At-home replacement services.
- At-home nursing care.
- Other out-of-pocket expenses.
Non-economic damages: These damages include rather subjective losses that are not easily quantified, including:
- Pain and suffering.
- Emotional anguish.
- Loss of companionship.
- Loss of consortium.
- Loss of enjoyment of life.
- Loss of reputation.
- Loss of a limb.
- Disfigurement.
- Scarring.
Punitive damages: Unlike the other damages which compensate the victim for their losses, punitive damages punish the defendant for their wrongful and egregious actions and deter them and others from committing these acts again in the future. However, in Texas, punitive damages could only be awarded by the court if the victim can show with clear and convincing evidence that the defendant's actions were grossly negligent or their harm resulted from the defendant's fraud or malice. As a result, courts only award these damages in exceptional cases.
5. Who may file a premises liability claim in San Antonio?
Generally, any individual who is harmed on another person's property can file a premises liability claim if they believe their injuries resulted from the defendant's wrongful or negligent actions. The only exception to this is if the individual injured was a trespasser at the time of their injury. These trespassers cannot file a premises liability claim unless the landowner injured the trespasser through gross negligence or intentional wrongful actions.
If you believe you have a San Antonio premises liability claim, reach out to the law firm of Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers. Let our legal team help you determine if your claim is viable and discuss the legal actions you can take.
6. What legal remedies do I have if my loved one died on another person's property in San Antonio?
In Texas, when an individual is killed on another person's property, the deceased's family members could file a wrongful death claim to pursue compensation for certain damages such as burial and funeral expenses, loss of companionship, loss of future earnings, and other losses. However, certain elements need to be met to bring a successful wrongful death claim. That is why if you lost a loved one in a San Antonio premises liability accident, you should work with a premises liability attorney. These lawyers can not only help determine what happened and who was at fault for the death, but they can also fight to secure the financial recovery your family deserves.
7. How much time Do I have to bring a claim following my San Antonio premises liability accident?
Every state has a statute of limitations law that dictates the amount of time an individual has to file a claim following an alleged offense. If these individuals do not file a lawsuit within this allotted amount of time, they cannot collect compensation for their injuries.
In Texas, the statute of limitations to file an injury claim is two years from the date of the injury. However, there are several exceptions to this law that can lengthen or shorten the appropriate time to file a case. That is why you should contact an attorney to help protect your legal rights. Contact the law firm of Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers as soon as possible. Our premises liability attorneys can determine how much time you have to file your claim while helping to ensure that all of your legal motions and paperwork are prepared correctly and filed before time runs out.
8. Who is responsible for a premises liability accident in San Antonio?
If you were harmed in San Antonio premises liability accidents, you could hold various parties liable for your incident. In general, property owners must maintain their property in a reasonably safe condition for their guests and visitors.
Because of this, these property owners could be held liable for accidents that occur on their land or property:
- Homeowners
- Store owners
- Governmental entities, such as those who own a city pool
- Tenants, property managers, and even renters depending on the situation
9. If I was injured in a San Antonio premises liability accident, and the property owner's insurance company is calling, should I talk to them?
Do not talk to the owner's insurance company before talking to a knowledgeable premises liability attorney. Unfortunately, insurance companies are not necessarily here to help you. They are a business, and like other businesses, they want to make money. Their main concern may be to get you to say something that will hurt your case so that they can deny your insurance claim or justify paying you less than you deserve.
For these reasons, before you take any calls from the property owner's insurance company, make sure you speak with a lawyer. Or better yet, let an attorney handle these conversations for you. When you hire the Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, our premises liability accident lawyers can take over the discussions with the insurance company and help ensure that you do not say anything that can impact the value of your claim while going after the fair resolution you deserve.
10. If I was involved in a premises liability accident in San Antonio, how can the law firm of Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers help me and my claim?
To be successful in a premises liability accident claim, you need to have a solid understanding of the state's law and provide detailed evidence and sound legal arguments that can prove what happened and who was at fault for your accident. Fortunately, you do not have to tackle this complicated legal battle on your own.
When you retain the legal team at Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers to take on your San Antonio premises liability accident, our attorneys can:
- Go over your premises liability accident in detail, determine if you have a viable claim, and explain your legal options.
- Discuss all of your concerns and questions and walk you through the whole legal process so you know what to expect.
- Investigate your San Antonio premises liability accident thoroughly and help ensure we secure the evidence needed to show fault and damages.
- Handle all the discussions with the insurance company and go after a fair settlement on your behalf.
- Bring in the experts such as causation experts, liability experts, and damage experts to substantiate your claims.
- Take your case to trial if the other side is unwilling to negotiate fairly and fight hard to bring a successful resolution to your premises liability claim.
Contact a San Antonio Premises Liability Lawyer
Premises liability cases can be confusing, tedious, and challenging to prove. Thankfully, with a San Antonio premises liability lawyer on your side, you can get the legal help you need to protect your rights and fight for the maximum possible recovery you deserve. When you contact these lawyers and they determine you have a viable claim, they can investigate your accident, secure the evidence needed to show fault and damages, and build the strongest case on your behalf—pursuing the money and justice you deserve.
If you or a family member has been harmed in a San Antonio premises liability accident, do not wait to get the legal help you need. Contact Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers today or call our office at 833-552-7274 for a free case review, and let our team show you how we can fight for you and your rights and pursue the financial recovery you need.
San Antonio Office
921 S St Mary's St #2
San Antonio, TX 78205
Phone: (210) 361-2039