Injured Because of Inadequate Lighting
Property owners are required to keep their property safe from hazards and dangers that can cause accidents. They are responsible for providing a reasonably safe environment for those people who reside, visit, or work on their premises.
Unfortunately, this obligation is often unmet, resulting in injuries and accidents. One of the most common ways that owners breach this duty is by failing to provide adequate lighting in all parts of their property at all times.
Inadequate Lighting Accidents
Accidents are frequently the result of improper lighting. For example, if a person is walking in a store, apartment, office building, parking lot, or other public place that is without light, he may not be able to tell where to place his or her foot next, leading to a fall. In addition thereto, inadequate lighting often leads to criminal activity on the premises. These cases are known as negligent or inadequate security cases.
While as a society we have become accustomed to thinking of falls as funny, they are no joke, and these accidents are not minor. Falls are a common cause of injury and even death in the United States. According to statistics provided by the National Safety Council.
Slip and fall accidents contribute to 8.9 million visits to the emergency room each year.
Legal Liability
Inadequate lighting premises liability claims may be filed against property owners, small businesses, large corporations, individual employers, governmental entities, municipalities, and landlords. In Florida, an owner or occupier of a premise has two basic duties to someone invited on to the property:
- to use reasonable or ordinary care in keeping the premises in a reasonably safe condition; and
- to warn of latent or concealed perils that are known or should be known to the owner or occupant, of which the visitor is unaware and cannot discover through the exercise of reasonable care.
Failure to fulfill these obligations may lead to a lawsuit to pay for the consequences of the error.
Proper Lighting Requirements
Business owners and landlords have a duty to make sure that their property is reasonably safe. This duty extends to common areas, parking lots and other areas open to the public including playgrounds, offices and storefronts. The duty includes not only maintaining the physical structure of the property in a safe manner, but also to provide appropriate lighting and security to protect guests and visitors from dangers that might exist from third parties.
In order to prevail in such a claim, it must be shown that:
- The owner knew or should have known of the dangerous condition;
- The owner failed to remedy the condition;
- The claimant’s injuries were a result of the negligent condition; and
- The claimant suffered damages.
Contact a Liability Attorney
Anyone who suffered injuries that may have been avoided by proper lighting may have a claim against the property owner for causing or allowing an unsafe condition to exist. Under Florida law, victims who are injured as a result of inadequate lighting may obtain money damages from the owner and/or operator of the property. These money damages include pain and suffering, lost wages, medical expenses, and long-term medical care needs.
If you are injured as a result of an assault on someone’s property, you will have the burden of showing that the property owner had reason to suspect a danger and was lax in taking protective steps to prevent that danger, such as providing better security or better lighting of the parking lot area. An experienced premises liability attorney can assist you in meeting this burden and help you to receive the compensation you deserve. Contact the legal professionals at Kaire & Heffernan, LLC today to see how we can help.