How Your Status as Visitor Matters to Your Slip & Fall Case
March 7, 2016
Florida Slip and Fall Case
When a person is injured or dies as a result of a hazardous condition encountered on someone else’s property, this could give rise to a Florida slip and fall case.
However, several factors must be carefully considered before deciding to litigate. One of the most important factors is the victim’s visitor status; to put it another way, their purpose for being there.
This is important because Florida personal injury law will assign different levels of liability to the owner of the property depending on whether the victim was:
- A public invitee,
- A business invitee,
- A licensee by invitation,
- An uninvited licensee, or
- A trespasser.
Public and Business Invitees
Business owners owe the greatest level of liability to visitors who are public or business invitees.
A public invitee is an individual who has been invited onto the property, as a member of the public and to enjoy the property for the purpose for which it exists, with no intent to do business with the owner. A person who visits a public park is a public invitee.
A business invitee is a person who is invited on the basis of business or trade that they will conduct with the owner of the property while they are visiting. A shopper at a grocery store, a person in a movie theatre, or a visitor at an amusement park are all business invitees because each has been invited to serve the business interests of the property owner.
Business invitees are responsible for the vast majority of slip and fall claims.
Property owners are required to provide a safe environment for all public and business invitees and to correct, repair, or warn of any hazardous conditions that they know of, or that they should reasonably know of, and of which the invitees do not know or cannot reasonably be expected to know.
Licensees
There are two categories of licensees:
- Licensee by invitation
- Uninvited licensee
A licensee by invitation is a person who has been specifically invited to visit the property, typically as a social guest of the owner. These visitors enjoy the same level of protection as do public and business invitees, meaning that the owner of the property has a duty to keep the premises safe for them and to warn them of any potential hazards.
An uninvited licensee is a person who visits for their own convenience without a specific invitation (expressed or implied), such as a door-to-door salesman who comes onto your property to ring your doorbell. Generally, the only duty owed to these individuals is to refrain from wantonly or willfully endangering or injuring them.
Trespassers
Trespassers are owed the lowest duty of care. Trespassers have no right to be on your property, as they have neither been extended license nor been invited to visit. They enter for their own convenience, purpose or curiosity.
Trespassers are also owed no duty of care except to refrain from willfully or wantonly causing them injury.
However, if the trespasser happens to be a child, and the owner knows of his presence or has anticipated the likelihood of child trespassers, he has an obligation to use reasonable care with them, to warn them of any known or knowable hazards, and to keep them safe from harm.
Schedule a Free Consultation about Your Florida Slip & Fall Injury
If you have been injured in a Florida slip and fall accident, the experienced personal injury attorneys at Jodat Law Group can help you fight for just compensation. To schedule a free, no-obligation consultation, please visit one of our offices in Bradenton, Sarasota, Tampa or Venice or contact us today or at (877) 563 2852.
