Unsafe conditions like faulty wiring, improperly stacked merchandise and loose carpeting cause accidents resulting in serious injury. Businesses and property owners have a vital responsibility to create safe environments for their customers and visitors. This also includes walkways and parking lots, in addition to individuals they employ. Workers are there to serve and sometimes, even protect people who go to their places of business. The attorneys at Drake Law Firm, are experienced in the legal responsibilities and liabilities of companies or organizations that fail to offer these safe environments.

You can easily suffer injury through no fault of your own when you visit property such as a store, office building, motel or apartment complex. If the owner or occupant of the property knew of a dangerous condition or activity that led to your injury and neglected to take timely, practical actions to protect you from it, you might be eligible to recover full compensation for all damage you have suffered. You should immediately get help from an experienced Thousand Oaks premises liability lawyer.

Premises Liability Claims in California

When you work with Drake Law Firm, we will carefully assess the facts of your claim. We will identify and pursue all of your legal options against the owner or occupant of the property where your injury took place. Typically, the issues that we will focus on include:

• Duty-- Did you lawfully visit the property? For example, were you a customer at a store, a visitor at a hotel or a social guest at someone's residence? If so, the property owner or occupant owed a duty to exercise ordinary care to make sure that the property was safe for you. In other words, the owner or occupant needed to take practical measures to protect you from any dangerous condition on the property that the owner or occupier knew or reasonably should have known about and which you would not have been expected to discover on your own.
• Breach-- Did the owner or occupier neglect to fix the hazardous condition in a reasonable, timely manner or, at the very least, to warn you about it? If so, the owner failed to fulfill the duty owed to you and could be held legally responsible for your injuries.
• Causation-- Did the negligence of the owner or occupier contribute to the injuries that you sustained, or did something else-- possibly your own actions-- cause the injuries?
• Damages-- Did you suffer actual harm because of the failure of the property owner or occupier to fulfill the duty owed to you? This means that you have to show that you suffered real physical, emotional and/or financial harm.

It is always important to consider the ways a property owner or occupant will attempt to avoid liability. For example, the owner or occupant might claim that you were a trespasser or claim that you sustained injuries because you walked into an "open and obvious" hazard. The lawyers at Drake Law Firm, will be ready to address those issues and protect your right to full and fair compensation.

Types of Premises Liability Claims in California

A premises liability claim can arise in many different situations. A few of the most common premises liability cases that our law firm handles include:

• Slip and falls-- These accidents often happen because of wet and slippery floors, bad lighting, damaged and uneven walkways, torn or frayed carpeting and icy or snowy sidewalks and parking lots. In addition, many falls occur due to defects such as damaged stairways or handrails.
• Falling objects-- Many people suffer injuries when improperly stacked merchandise falls from store shelves or when employees drop tools, equipment and materials at construction sites.
• Contamination-- Landlords, particularly, subject tenants and their guests to harm when they fail to perform regular inspections and remedy concerns such as mold buildup, lead paint, carbon monoxide or gas leaks. Usually, their negligence violates local building codes.
• Escalator and elevator accidents-- These incidents typically occur when building owners or tenants neglect to routinely inspect and maintain elevators and escalators in stores, shopping centers and office buildings.
• Negligent security-- Numerous assaults take place in shopping centers, office buildings, apartments, hotels and motels because property owners and managers fail to protect guests from known security hazards, or they hire employees without an adequate criminal background check.
• Swimming pool accidents-- Drownings and near-drownings might occur if a property owner or occupant fails to properly maintain a swimming pool and features such as slides and diving boards. Pool owners should also use a fence or locked gate to keep out children and protect against the foreseeable risk of an accident.

Compensation in a California Premises Liability Lawsuit

Our goal at Drake Law Firm, will be to acquire maximum compensation for you in your premises liability case. We understand how dangerous property conditions can cause individuals to suffer serious, life-changing injuries such as traumatic brain injury, back and spine injuries, fractures, burns and soft tissue injuries. We will work hard to pursue damages on your behalf such as:

• Past and future medical expenses
• Lost income (including lost future earning capacity)
• Pain and suffering
• Psychological distress
• Wrongful death damages (if you lost your loved one)
• Punitive damages

We will identify all sources of compensation for you and aggressively challenge any attempts by the property owner or occupant (or its insurance company) to blame you for your injuries and deny or reduce the amount of your claim.

Our Thousand Oaks Premises Liability Lawyers Are Prepared to Help You

At Drake Law Firm, we will move quickly to investigate your claim. We work with skilled investigators who can document the scene of your accident, talk with witnesses and locate other evidence such as surveillance camera footage. We also routinely consult with experts that help us to figure out exactly how a hazardous property condition caused an accident. A major part of our investigation might involve tracking down the identity of the property owner or individual who was otherwise in control of the premises where you or a loved one was injured.