When a business owner is being sued over injuries that happened on the property, it’s important to establish fault. Often, a business owner is liable if they were negligent in some way.
But negligence doesn’t always look exactly the same from one situation to the next. Below are three examples of what could constitute negligence in such a case.
Dangerous conditions
To begin with, if a business owner knew about dangerous conditions and didn’t do anything to rectify them, this is a type of negligence. It can even be argued that an owner is negligent if they haven’t inspected the property frequently enough and if they “should have known” about the dangerous condition. They are obligated to at least take reasonable steps to create a safe space for consumers.
Negligence per se
Next, it is negligence per se if the business owner has violated a local law, leading to injuries. For instance, businesses are required to have wheelchair ramps with the correct slope. If a ramp has too great of a slope, it could cause an accident that injures someone, and it is negligence because the safety regulations were ignored or violated.
Res ipsa loquitur
Finally, this Latin phrase translates to “the thing speaks for itself.” This just means that someone acted carelessly and that the injuries wouldn’t have occurred otherwise, so they are negligent. An example could be a store owner who is making renovations and leaves power tools plugged in where children can access them.
Are you a business owner who is facing allegations of negligence? It’s important to know how the law works and what legal defense options you have.