Baton Rouge Premises Liability Lawyer

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Premises Liability Attorney in Baton Rouge, LA

Premises liability encompasses many types of serious accidents, injuries, and wrongful death cases. Any injury caused by a property owner’s negligence is considered a premises liability case under Louisiana law. Also considered premises liability cases are injuries involving intentional acts of violence, such as murder, rape, and assault. If you are injured on another’s property, you deserve the help of a Baton Rouge premises liability lawyer.

At Dué Guidry Andrews Courrege, our team is dedicated to serving the needs of our clients, guided by our extensive knowledge and experience of the law. As active members of the Louisiana Association for Justice, we frequently present on various areas of the law, solidifying our commitment to ensuring we remain at the forefront of the legal system. We can help

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Holding Property Owners Liable for Assaults

The experienced Baton Rouge, premises liability attorneys at Dué Guidry Andrews Courrege have handled a large number of serious premises liability cases, including the watershed case of Holliday v. State of Louisiana, involving a pregnant woman held hostage and then shot to death by her estranged husband at a state office building with inadequate security, which case led to new and improved security measures at state office buildings throughout Louisiana.

We have also represented many rape and assault victims who fell prey to perpetrators at poorly lit parking lots and parking garages, and at buildings and stores with inadequate security.

To hold a property owner liable for an assault that occurred on their property, you’ll need to show several things:

Inadequate security. You’ll first need to show that there was inadequate security in the store or elsewhere on the property, which could include a lack of security protocols, insufficient staffing, or a failure to respond to security concerns.
Knowledge of the problem. You’ll also need to show that the property owner was aware of the potential for an assault to occur on their property. Past criminal activity or being in a high-crime area can constitute a compelling reason to take further security measures.
Your injuries. The assault must lead to substantial personal injuries for you to be able to file a successful premises liability claim. You’ll need to prove that you suffered because of the property owner’s failure to provide adequate security.

An attorney can help you establish all these elements of a premises liability case. Your attorney can leverage premises liability laws to show that you’re owed fair compensation for the injuries you sustained because of the attack.

Proving Negligence

As with cases related to assaults, one of the primary elements that must be proven in accident-related premises liability cases is negligence. To show that a property owner was negligent, you need to prove that they:

Owed a duty of care to you as someone invited to their property
Breached the duty by failing to provide adequate maintenance for the property
Caused your injury directly because of their breach of duty

Your premises liability lawyer can help you come up with the evidence required to prove these and other aspects of the case. That evidence could include photographs, videos, surveillance footage, witness statements, maintenance records, medical documentation, or even expert witness testimony.

To hold a merchant liable for an injury on the premises, the victim must prove that the merchant failed to exercise reasonable care and that the condition that caused the injury presented a foreseeable and unreasonable risk of harm, of which the merchant had actual knowledge or should have had actual knowledge. Because of this heavy burden, our Louisiana accident and injury attorneys are very selective in the premises liability cases that we will agree to handle.

Merchant Claims Are Different in Louisiana

There are three primary elements you’ll need to prove in a property liability case that occurred on a merchant’s property:

The condition posed an unreasonable risk that was reasonably foreseeable.
The merchant either created the risk or had constructive notice of it before you fell or were otherwise injured.
The merchant failed to exercise reasonable care by addressing the risk or warning visitors of it.

Constructive notice usually refers to the fact that the hazard had been in existence for long enough that it should have been discovered prior to your accident. An employee being nearby is not enough to prove that the merchant had constructive notice. This same standard applies whether you were at a local supermarket or the Mall of Louisiana. All merchants owe a duty of care to shoppers and other visitors to their stores.

Louisiana Premises Liability Law – What Must Be Proven?

As with any personal injury claim, there are certain elements of a premises liability case that you must prove to show you have a valid claim. Those elements include:

Property condition. The property must have been in a state of ruin or defect that caused your accident to occur.
Knowledge. The owner or custodian of the property must have known or have been reasonably expected to know about the defect.
Possible prevention. Your accident must have been preventable had the property owner exercised a reasonable amount of care by either resolving the problem or warning visitors to the property about it.
Failure to meet duty. The property owner must have failed to meet their duty of care to you as a visitor, directly causing your injury, which must have led to actual damages.

It’s not just property owners who can be held responsible for injuries that occur on publicly accessible private properties. Custodians and property managers also hold a share of responsibility for keeping these properties in a state of good repair. They can be held accountable for their failure to do so.

It’s also important to note that you don’t need to prove the responsible party was aware of the dangerous conditions. It’s enough to show that a responsible property owner would have been aware of them had they been in the same position.

Hire a Premises Liability Lawyer

In 2023, 1,715 assaults occurred in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, many of them on private property. Add to that alarming number all the negligent accidents, dog attacks, and other premises liability cases that occurred throughout the year, and it’s clear that the Capital City has a problem.

If you’ve been injured on another person’s property, you don’t have to quietly accept becoming just another statistic. You can hold the property owner accountable when you hire a premises liability lawyer to help with your case. Your lawyer will be able to analyze the details of your accident to determine liability, come up with a narrative of the events that shows who was to blame, and help you collect evidence to support your claim.

Working with a Baton Rouge premises liability attorney is the most effective way to increase your chances of success while simultaneously taking some of the stress off your plate during a difficult time. Let your lawyer focus on the specifics of your claim while you focus on what’s most important: healing from your injuries.

FAQs

Are Premises Liability Cases Hard to Prove?

Premises liability cases can be hard to prove because they require demonstrating negligence on the part of the property owner and that they were aware of the potential hazard, to begin with. You can improve your chances of winning your case by working with a skilled Baton Rouge premises liability attorney.

What Is the Premises Liability Law in Louisiana?

The premises liability law in Louisiana assigns responsibility to property owners for any injuries caused by dangerous conditions on their grounds if they were aware of or should have been aware of the hazard and failed to either fix it or warn visitors. Victims must show that the condition was unreasonably dangerous, and that’s what caused their injuries to have a viable claim.

How Long Does It Take to Settle a Premises Liability Case?

Settling a premises liability case takes time, but it varies depending on the specifics of your case. A simple case where liability is clear can usually be resolved quickly outside of court in negotiations with the property owner’s liability insurance company. More complex cases that wind up having to go to court for resolution can take far longer to settle.

What Four Things Usually Need to Be Proven to Prove Negligence?

The four things that usually need to be proven to prove neglect are that the defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care, that they failed to meet the standards of that duty, that it directly caused the plaintiff an injury, and that the accident caused actual damages. Your lawyer can help you collect the evidence required to support these four elements of a negligence case.