Call Us Today The property owner’s insurance company already has a plan for your injury, and it does not involve paying you what your claim is worth. That’s worth knowing before you accept a quick check or sign anything.
Getting hurt on someone else’s property, whether it’s a slip on a wet floor or an injury in a poorly lit garage, often comes down to a simple question: was the owner careless?
A premises liability lawyer in Boca Raton can answer that for you. The Boca Raton personal injury lawyers at Viles & Beckman have spent over 30 years fighting for injured people across Florida, recovering more than $118 million along the way. No case is too small, and every one gets our full attention.
What Counts as a Premises Liability Case
These cases show up in many everyday places. When neglect leads to a real injury, the owner, and usually their insurance company, can be held responsible for what it cost you.
Some of the more common cases our premises liability attorneys in Boca Raton see include:
- Slip and fall accidents: Wet floors, spilled liquids, and freshly mopped surfaces with no warning sign are among the most frequent causes of injury on commercial property.
- Negligent security: When a property in a high-crime area has broken locks, no lighting, or no security presence, and someone gets assaulted, the owner may share responsibility.
- Swimming pool accidents: Missing fences, broken drain covers, and no posted depth markings turn a pool into a serious danger, especially for children. These accidents also happen in waterparks, and the owner may be liable.
- Falling objects: Poorly stacked merchandise in a store or unsecured items on a shelf can cause head and back injuries.
- Inadequate maintenance: Broken handrails, collapsing decks, and crumbling stairs point to an owner who ignored upkeep.
The type of premises liability accident matters, but the core question stays the same. Did the owner know about the danger, or should they have, and did they fail to deal with it?
Expect More, Receive More: Legal Support That Feels Like Family
Why the First Insurance Offer Is Rarely the Real Number
After a premises injury, you may hear from the property owner’s insurance company fairly quickly. An adjuster might sound friendly and even offer you money within days. That offer is not a favor. It’s a business decision meant to close your claim for as little as possible before you know the full extent of your injuries.
A lawyer looks at the full picture before anyone talks numbers. That means your current bills, your future treatment, the wages you lost, and the way the injury affects your daily life. The first offer almost never accounts for all of that, which is exactly why it comes so fast.
(239) 334-3933 Recoverable Damages in a Premises Liability Claim
Damages are the different types of losses you can be compensated for. In a Florida premises liability case, they usually fall into a few categories, and many injured people are surprised by how much can be included.
You could get compensation for:
- Medical expenses: Emergency care and any future treatment your injury will require
- Lost wages: The income you missed while recovering, including time spent at follow-up appointments
- Lost earning capacity: If your injury keeps you from returning to the same work or earning the same pay, that long-term loss counts too
- Pain and suffering: The physical pain and emotional strain that come with a serious injury and a long recovery
- Out-of-pocket costs: Smaller expenses that add up, like transportation to appointments or medical equipment you had to buy
Every case is different, and the value depends on how serious the injury is and how it changed your life. Putting an accurate number on all of this is one of the biggest reasons injured people work with a lawyer instead of guessing on their own.
Click To ContactChallenges You Can Expect in a Florida Premises Liability Claim
These cases are rarely as simple as pointing at a hazard and collecting a check. Property owners and their insurers fight back, and Florida law gives them a few specific ways to do it.
One common tactic is shifting blame onto you. Florida uses a modified comparative negligence rule, which means your compensation can be reduced by the percentage of fault assigned to you. Under this rule, if you are found more than 50% at fault, you cannot recover anything at all.
The insurance company has a strong incentive to argue you weren’t watching where you were going, or that the danger was obvious enough that you should have avoided it. There’s also a deadline. Florida generally gives you two years from the date of the injury to file a personal injury lawsuit. Miss it, and you lose the right to pursue the claim no matter how strong it is.
How to Know You Might Need a Lawyer
You may not need a lawyer for every accident that happens. Here are clear signs that a case is worth a closer look:
- Your injuries required more than basic first aid. Anything involving surgery, a hospital stay, or ongoing treatment usually points to real damages.
- You’ve been contacted by an insurance adjuster. If they’re calling you, there’s money at stake, and they want to settle it on their terms.
- The property owner is denying responsibility. When they refuse to acknowledge the hazard, you need someone who can prove it.
- You’re being blamed for the accident. Comparative negligence arguments can quietly shrink your compensation, and a lawyer knows how to push back.
- Your bills are piling up. If the cost of the injury is affecting your finances, a free consultation costs you nothing to find out where you stand.
Talk to a Boca Raton Premises Liability Lawyer Today
Getting hurt on someone else’s property leaves you with questions, bills, and an insurance company that is already working against you. You do not have to sort through it alone, and you do not have to accept the first number they put in front of you.
Viles & Beckman offers free consultations, and there’s no fee unless we recover money for you. Still wondering when to contact a premises liability lawyer? Reach out today and speak with a Boca Raton premises liability lawyer who will treat your case like it belongs to family.
