Personal Injury — Premises Liability
Colorado Slip and Fall Attorney
Property owners have a legal duty to maintain safe conditions for visitors. If you were injured in a slip, trip, or fall caused by a dangerous condition on someone else's property, you may be entitled to compensation. Call Jason Savela for a free consultation.
Premises Liability: When a Property Owner's Negligence Injures You
Injuries incurred on another's property may be the legal responsibility of the owners or occupiers of that property. Depending on the rules and principles in the jurisdiction where the injury occurred, liability for damages — including lost wages, medical bills, and pain and suffering — may be recovered. Slip and fall cases are usually complex. There are several legal issues and complications that need to be addressed, and personal injury attorneys with premises liability experience are best qualified to advise you on your rights.
Common Causes of Slip and Fall Injuries
Ice and Snow
Icy sidewalks, parking lots, and entryways — especially in front of businesses — are among the most common causes of serious slip and fall injuries in Colorado.
Spilled Liquids
Wet floors in grocery stores, restaurants, and retail spaces cause thousands of injuries each year. Owners must clean up spills promptly or post adequate warnings.
Uneven or Broken Surfaces
Cracked sidewalks, broken steps, uneven flooring, and damaged pavement create tripping hazards that property owners are obligated to repair or warn about.
Poor Lighting
Inadequate lighting in stairwells, parking garages, hallways, and outdoor areas makes it impossible for visitors to see and avoid hazards.
Missing or Defective Handrails
Stairways without proper handrails, or with loose or broken rails, are a leading cause of fall injuries in both residential and commercial settings.
Cluttered Walkways
Merchandise, cords, debris, or other obstructions left in walkways create foreseeable tripping hazards that owners have a duty to remove.
Who Is Liable — and Why It Depends on Your Status
Colorado premises liability law considers the legal status of the visitor on the property when determining the duty of care owed by the owner.
Invitees
An invitee is someone invited onto the property for the owner's benefit — customers in a store, patients in a medical office, guests at a hotel. Owners owe invitees the highest duty of care: they must regularly inspect the property, repair dangerous conditions, and warn of hazards they know about or should have discovered through reasonable inspection.
Licensees
A licensee enters with the owner's permission but for their own purposes — a social guest, for example. Owners must warn licensees of known hidden dangers but are not necessarily required to inspect for or repair all conditions.
Trespassers
Even trespassers may recover damages in some circumstances. Owners must warn of dangers they know about if they have reason to believe someone is likely to trespass. Children who trespass are given special protection — the attractive nuisance doctrine may apply, increasing the owner's duty to secure hazards that could attract children.
What You Must Prove to Win
A dangerous condition existed
You must show that a hazardous condition was present on the property — a wet floor, broken step, icy walkway, or other danger.
The owner knew or should have known
The owner must have had actual knowledge of the danger, or the condition must have existed long enough that a reasonable owner conducting regular inspections would have discovered it.
The owner failed to act
Despite knowing about the danger, the owner failed to repair it, remove it, or post adequate warnings within a reasonable time.
The condition caused your injury
There must be a direct causal link between the dangerous condition and the injuries you suffered.
You exercised reasonable care
The injured party must also show they took reasonable care for their own safety. A person who ignores obvious hazards or acts recklessly may have their recovery reduced or eliminated.
How Property Owners Defend These Cases
Property owners and their insurers commonly argue that the dangerous condition was open and obvious — that a reasonable person should have seen and avoided it. They may also argue the hazard arose so recently that there was no reasonable opportunity to discover and fix it before the injury occurred. They may claim the injured person was not paying attention, was wearing inappropriate footwear, or was in an area they were not permitted to be. An experienced premises liability attorney anticipates these defenses and builds the evidence to counter them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Practice Areas
Injured in a Slip or Fall in Colorado?
Premises liability cases require prompt investigation — surveillance footage is deleted, conditions are repaired, and witnesses forget. Call Jason Savela today for a free consultation. No fee unless we recover for you.
Call (720) 821-1001