Home What Is a Premises Liability Case? How Much Can You Earn?

What Is a Premises Liability Case? How Much Can You Earn?

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October 17, 2025Briana Seftel

Premises liability holds property owners and occupiers legally responsible when someone gets hurt on their property due to unsafe conditions. If you’ve been injured because a property owner failed to maintain safe premises, you have the right to seek compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

The concept is straightforward. Property owners owe visitors a duty of care. When they breach that duty through negligence and someone suffers damages as a result, they’re liable. But proving this in court? That requires evidence, strategy, and an understanding of how the law actually works.

Who’s Responsible When You Get Hurt?

Property owners and occupiers carry the legal burden. It doesn’t matter if it’s Walmart, your landlord, or a construction company. Whoever controls the property must keep it reasonably safe for visitors.

While some states recognize different visitor categories, California law abolished these distinctions. Most states still differentiate between invitees (customers), licensees (social guests), and trespassers. Property owners owe the highest duty to invitees, less to licensees, and a minimal duty to trespassers.

Here’s the catch. Most states use modified comparative negligence. If you’re texting while walking and trip on a broken step, your compensation gets reduced. Found 30% at fault? Your settlement drops 30%.

Insurance companies exploit this ruthlessly. They’ll argue you weren’t watching, wore inappropriate footwear, or ignored obvious hazards. Your behavior matters as much as the property condition.

What Damages Can You Actually Recover?

Average premises liability settlements hit around $55,000, but that includes everything from minor bruises to paralysis. Moderate injuries typically settle between $200,000 and $600,000. Catastrophic cases exceed $2 million. Remember, about 95% of personal injury cases settle before trial, so these numbers reflect negotiated settlements, not jury verdicts.

Economic damages cover measurable losses. Medical expenses, both current and future. If you need surgery six months from now, that counts. Lost wages during recovery. Future lost earnings if you can’t return to your job. Some victims need home modifications for wheelchairs, specialized equipment, or even complete job retraining. All recoverable.
Non-economic damages compensate for pain and suffering. Insurance companies use two methods here. The multiplier method takes your medical bills and multiplies them by 1.5 to 5 based on injury severity. So $50,000 in medical bills with serious injuries might yield $150,000 in pain and suffering. The per diem method assigns a daily rate for your suffering, multiplied by the number of recovery days.

How Long Do Premises Liability Cases Take?

Most people want this over fast. But legal matters take time.

Simple cases with clear liability resolve in 3 to 6 months. You slipped on an unmarked spill, have surveillance footage, and moderate injuries. The property owner’s insurance knows they’ll lose at trial. They’ll want to settle quickly.

Complex cases can drag on for one to two years, sometimes longer. Severe injuries mean waiting for maximum medical improvement (MMI). That’s when your doctor says you won’t get significantly better. Settling before MMI is a massive mistake. One client took $100,000 early, then needed unexpected surgery. Could’ve gotten $400,000 if they’d waited.

Timeline factors include: disputed liability requiring investigation, injury severity and recovery time, insurance company delay tactics, and court scheduling backlogs. Going to trial can add months or years.

Watch Out for Insurance Company Tactics

Insurance adjusters have one job: minimize payouts. They’re not evil. Just doing their job. But their job conflicts with your interests.

They call immediately after accidents. You’re hurt, stressed, maybe on pain medication. They offer quick cash, typically 25-50% below actual claim value. They create fake urgency. “This offer expires tomorrow.” “We can only help if you accept now.”

They twist your words. You say “I’m feeling better today” to be polite. That becomes “victim admitted recovery” in their notes. They request all medical records, hunting for pre-existing conditions. Old back injury from a decade ago? Suddenly that caused your fall, not their client’s broken stairs.

Delay tactics pressure desperate victims. Bills pile up. Landlords threaten eviction. Creditors call constantly. That lowball offer starts looking acceptable. Exactly what they want.

Document every interaction. Record calls if your state allows it. Never accept the first offer. Get everything in writing. Better yet, hire an attorney who works on contingency. There are no upfront costs, and they know every insurance trick.

When Property Owners Aren’t Liable

Not every injury equals a payout. Property owners have legitimate defenses.

Open and obvious hazards provide strong protection. Massive pothole in broad daylight? You should’ve seen it. Natural ice accumulation in winter? Often not liable. But if they created the hazard through improper snow removal, that’s different.
Trespassing usually bars recovery, with one major exception. The attractive nuisance doctrine protects children. Swimming pools, trampolines, and construction equipment. If kids predictably trespass and get hurt, owners face liability regardless of “no trespassing” signs.
Warning signs help but aren’t shields. A “wet floor” sign doesn’t eliminate liability if the spill sat there for hours. Property owners must actually fix hazards, not just warn about them. Signs give them reasonable time to remedy the situation, not immunity.
Lack of notice defeats many claims. If someone spills juice and you slip thirty seconds later, the owner likely isn’t liable. They need reasonable time to discover and fix hazards. But if employees walked past that spill for an hour? That’s negligence.

Real Examples of Premises Liability Cases

The Drive-Through Scalding Case

Picture this: a delivery driver pulls up to a drive-through window and gets handed coffee. The lid fails, and liquid scalds him severely enough to require surgery.

He won $50 million.

You might think he wasn’t even inside the restaurant, but it doesn’t matter. The business controlled the transaction and handed him a dangerously hot product through their window. Premises liability extends beyond physical boundaries when the property owner maintains control.

Negligent Security and Active Shooters

Here’s a sobering reality. Active shooter incidents have jumped 60% since 2019. Property owners now face liability for inadequate security measures.

Think about it. Broken security cameras that haven’t worked in months. No guards despite previous violent incidents. Poor lighting in parking garages where assaults happen. If crime is foreseeable based on location and history, property owners must provide reasonable security. When they don’t, and someone gets hurt, that’s premises liability.

One apartment complex ignored multiple break-ins and refused to fix broken locks or add lighting. A tenant was assaulted. The complex paid millions. Foreseeable plus preventable equals liable.

Traditional Slip-and-Fall Cases

Don’t dismiss slip-and-fall cases as minor. Virginia just saw its largest verdict ever: $12.2 million for a “mild” traumatic brain injury. Mild doesn’t mean minor when it comes to brain damage. Falls remain the second leading cause of unintentional injury death in America.

An Ohio construction worker shattered his kneecap on an unmarked hazard. Settlement: $1.3 million. Another case involved brain damage from an asphalt truck incident, settling for $14.4 million.

These aren’t lottery tickets. They’re compensation for life-altering injuries caused by preventable negligence.

Take Action Before Time Runs Out

California gives you two years to file. The clock starts ticking on your accident date, not when you realize the severity.

But here’s what catches people: if a government agency is responsible, you must file within 6 months. Slipped at the DMV? Fell in a public park? Six months. Miss that deadline, lose your right to sue.

Get medical treatment immediately and document injuries. Take photos of the hazard before it’s fixed and file an incident report. Request surveillance footage in writing today, not next week.

Don’t let insurance companies take advantage of your situation. DK Law handles premises liability cases on contingency, meaning no upfront costs, and we only get paid if you win. Call today for a free consultation and protect your rights before time runs out.

About the Author

Briana Seftel

Web Content Manager

Briana manages digital content at DK Law, combining her journalism background and legal expertise to create clear, client-focused articles and resources.