When Ohio residents shop in grocery stores, visit movie theaters or stay in hotels, they usually don’t expect that they will be injured. That’s because commercial business owners owe their customers and anyone visiting their facilities a duty of care. Business owners are obligated to keep their premises safe and correct any hazardous conditions in a reasonable amount of time.
A person who is injured while visiting a commercial property may choose to file a premises liability claim against the business owner. The property owner, if it is different from the business owner, is usually not liable for accidents on the premises thanks to provisions in the commercial lease.
It must be demonstrated that a hazardous condition existed on the property which was the cause of the injury. It must also be demonstrated that the business owner knew or reasonably should have known about the dangerous property condition and failed to take steps to correct it.
A typical premises liability claim is when a person is injured after slipping and falling. For example, if a grocery store owner failed to clean up a spill in an aisle and a shopper slipped and was subsequently injured, the owner could be held responsible. There are other types of claims as well, such as a person who is assaulted in a company’s parking lot due to negligent or inadequate security. An attorney who has experience with these types of matters can often be of assistance who is injured as a result of hazardous conditions or other negligence on the part of a business owner.