A premises liability case would cover any case where a property owner or occupier could be considered responsible for someone's injuries that were caused by the property's condition. A property owner will have varying levels of responsibility for someone who is on their property, depending on whether they are an invitee, a licensee, or a trespasser. Keep reading to learn more about these crucial terms in a premises liability claim.

The first category is type of person to whom a property owner has the highest responsibility (or duty of care), and that is the invitee. As the term suggests, this is someone who the owner or occupier has invited onto the property for their personal benefit. This type of relationship is most often seen at a store, where the customer is the invitee of the store owner. The store owner has the legal duty to keep the store in reasonably good repair and safe condition. Even if an invitee is injured while at the store, as long as the owner fulfilled their duty of reasonable care, the owner cannot be held responsible for that injury. An invitee could be owed compensation, however, if it turns out that the owner did not provide this reasonable care.

The next term is licensee, someone who was not invited but who is allowed to be on the property. While a licensee usually does not have an invitation, relatives are licensees and not invitees. In fact, people who are at your house for a party are not invitees, but licensees. The difference between a licensee and an invitee can sometimes be hazy. The difference does matter, because a property owner has less of a responsibility to keep licensees safe. Their duty is to give warnings to licensees if there are hazards that are not obvious, and that is all, in most states anyway. There are some states where an owner can be held responsible for activities that jeopardize the safety of a licensee.

Finally, a property owner owes no duty of care to a trespasser, except that they cannot purposefully inflict harm on a trespasser unless it is in self-defense. That being said, an owner could be held liable if a trespasser is injured AND that trespasser happens to be a child who could not know any better. This could be the case if there was a dangerous item on someone's property that would draw a kid over and make them want to play with it. This type of case is called an "attractive nuisance" case, and it is basically in the hands of the court to decide whether or not a property owner could be held responsible in this case.

The really tricky thing is when someone changes statuses during their stay. For example, let's say that a house owner sets up a garage sale. The people out in front of her house would be considered invitees, customers that she has invited over. Now, if the house is off limits, and someone at the sale tries to break in, then they turned into a trespasser. So while the owner could be responsible for a dislocated knee caused by a gopher hole out front, she would not be responsible for someone breaking their foot on her stairs. However, this scenario could get even trickier.

Let's say that an invitee who is checking out the garage sale needs to use the bathroom. That invitee asks the owner if they could use their restroom. If the owner says yes, and that person goes into the house and breaks their ankle on a broken step inside, then is that person an invitee or a licensee? The step was probably an obvious hazard, so if that person was a licensee, then the owner cannot be faulted. If the owner gave that person a heads up about the step, then she would definitely not be liable. But depending on the court, they may decide that the injured person was there for the garage sale and would still be an invitee. In that case, the home owner would be held liable for the injury, even if she warned the person.

Any premises liability case will hinge on the laws in your state, such as the numerous factors that would determine whether you were an invitee or licensee, for example. These are complex cases, one that will require the expertise of a skilled personal injury lawyer. Find out how strong your case is when you contact a personal injury attorney from our directory today!