Premises Liability Attorney in Louisiana

Whenever you visit a business, someone’s home, or other private property, you expect that the owners have taken a certain level of care in its upkeep. For example, when staying at a hotel you expect safe stairwells, a security system, and strong banisters to keep from falling. Likewise, in a grocery store you expect wet floors to be marked and the rest of your shopping trip to be reasonably safe.

Unfortunately, life doesn’t always work out that way. Neglectful property owners and managers indirectly cause electrocutions, drownings, slips and falls, and other serious injuries from hazards they fail to fix.

If you’ve suffered a serious injury due to a property owner’s negligence, an experienced Louisiana premises liability lawyer can help you determine whether you’re eligible to seek compensation. Contact Gordon McKernan Injury Attorneys today to learn more about your legal right to hold those responsible for your injuries accountable.

Common Louisiana Premises Liability Injuries

Premises liability accidents often result in serious, long-lasting injuries that can affect every aspect of the victim’s life. Recovering from these injuries can take weeks, months, or even years, and can require expensive medical interventions and ongoing treatment. Sometimes, a victim never fully recovers from their accident.

Slips and Falls

Slip-and-fall injuries form the most common basis of premises liability claims, claiming more than 30,000 victims a year. Even a fall from standing can lead to serious injuries, especially in older victims. Injuries can range from relatively minor bruising or cuts, all the way to catastrophic injuries like the following:

Broken Hips

Elderly people in particular are prone to broken hips due to slip and fall accidents. Not only do hip fractures cause pain, they can lead to decreased mobility, an increased risk of infection, and an increased mortality rate.

Hip replacements can help some victims regain mobility and quality-of-life. However, it’s an expensive surgery that carries its own risks, and some patients never recover full mobility after a hip replacement.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

When a victim of a slip and fall hits their head on the ground or on the way to the ground, they can suffer a traumatic brain injury or other form of head injury. TBIs can cause significant and ongoing problems in cognition, mood regulation, focus, concentration, and other areas. Some victims, even with a minor TBI, have reported continuing symptoms after more than a year.

Some victims of traumatic brain injury require round-the-clock care to keep them safe, and others need help doing even basic tasks. In some cases, traumatic brain injury victims experience a profound change in their personality, affecting their personal relationships and ability to work.

Neck and Back Injuries

When a slip-and-fall accident affects the spinal cord, the victim can be left partially or totally paralyzed. While some of these injuries can be treated with therapy, some are untreatable and leave the victim with a permanent disability.

Even when they don’t result in paralysis, back and neck injuries can involve substantial, ongoing pain or discomfort. They can prevent victims from returning to work or participating in their favorite activities, especially if they were active before their injury.

Electrocution Injuries

Electrical shock injuries can present in a number of ways. Sometimes, they cause burns on the victim’s skin. Other times, electrocution may leave no visible sign, but still cause extreme internal trauma.

Electric shocks often cause difficulties breathing, heart arrhythmia, seizures, and a loss of consciousness. Victims of electric shock often require extensive treatment and rehabilitation before being able to return to their lives, and many never fully recover.

Electrical shocks can be caused by any exposed wiring in a building, even if it’s fairly far away from the victim—water, metal, and other materials are excellent conductors of electricity.

Drowning

Whether in a private or hotel swimming pool, in the ocean, or another body of water, drowning is a tragic way to suffer serious brain or lung damage, or more likely, death. Swimming pools can pose a particular risk for drowning, and are the cause of most premises liability drowning accidents.

An unfenced pool on someone’s personal property can attract children and animals who may not know how to swim. Poorly-maintained hotel pools can also be a drowning risk. Many drowning accidents happen as a result of slipping and falling unconscious into a pool or getting stuck under a ledge.

Tragically, the majority of drowning victims do not survive their ordeal. Even those that do tend to suffer major, long-lasting injuries that forever impact their lives.

Burns

Hazardous premises can also lead to severe burns. For example, a tenant could be burned by a water heater that’s been improperly regulated by the landlord. A building without an adequate fire detection or suppression system, or without proper fire exits, can lead to severe burns or even death when people can’t escape the blaze.

Not only do burn injuries cause severe pain and suffering—they can cause major scarring as well. Most burn victims spend a long time in recovery, especially if their burns lead to infection or require multiple skin grafts to heal.

Proving Liability in Your Premises Liability Case

Even with the extreme injuries possible in premises injuries, proving liability can be complicated and difficult. Basically, the plaintiff must prove that the property owner or an employee either:

• Created the condition—that is, caused the spill, torn the carpet, or something similar
• Knew about the condition and did nothing to mitigate or repair it
• Should have known about the danger, because a “reasonable” person would have discovered it and repaired it

If you’ve been injured on someone else’s property, you will need competent legal counsel to ensure you recover the maximum compensation you’re entitled to. The Louisiana personal injury lawyers with Gordon McKernan Injury Attorneys have 679+ years of combined legal experience helping people just like you get the help they need.

Give us a call today at 888.501.7888 for a free consultation. A dedicated premises injury lawyer will listen to your case and offer advice for your next steps.