Little Rock Premises Liability Lawyers

Arkansas premises liability cases can be among the most difficult injury cases in which to prove liability, and they often result in complex legal arguments disputing fault. The main reason is that in Arkansas, there are generally three classifications of people when they enter another’s property – Trespasser, Licensee, and Invitee. Each classification has its own definition and provides a different duty for the property owner, as a premises liability lawyer in Little Rock can explain. For example, if a loved one is shot and killed during a robbery while purchasing gas inside a convenient store and it is discovered that the owner had notice of criminal activity on the premises but failed to provide adequate security, a wrongful death claim may be asserted. However, if the decedent was a trespasser, a legal duty may not have been owed to that person.

In certain instances, these classifications can merge together. Below are the classifications and their distinctions:

• Trespasser – a trespasser is a person who goes onto the premises of another without express or implied permission or without an invitation. A Little Rock property owner generally only owes a trespasser a duty not to cause the trespasser injury by gross negligence or willful or wanton conduct.
• Licensee – a licensee is a person who enters the premises of another with the consent of the owner – express or implied – but mainly for their own benefit and not for the benefit of the land owner. Social guests can fall into the category of licensee. In Little Rock, a land owner owes no duty to the licensee until his presence is known or reasonably should have been known. Once the presence is known, the land owner owes the licensee a duty not to cause him injury by wanton or willful conduct, to excise ordinary care to avoid injuries to the licensee when he is in a position of danger, and to use ordinary care to make known dangerous conditions safe that are not open and obvious or at least warn the licensee when he would not know or have reason to know about the danger.
• Invitee – an invitee is a person who goes onto the premises of another with express or implied consent for the benefit of the landowner or for the mutual benefit of both parties. Store customers generally fall into this category, for example. Invitees are afforded the most protection under the law. Here, the owner has a duty to maintain the premises in a reasonably safe manner using ordinary care. This duty extends not only to protecting invitees from known dangers, but also from dangers the landowner reasonably should discover. Invitees can be further categorized as public invitees or business invitees.

An experienced premises liability attorney in the Little Rock area can assess the facts of your situation and help devise a strategy to represent your interests if a landowner breached a duty owed to you. Premises liability cases often depend on the specific facts of the incident, meaning you should retain a lawyer who can investigate the accident and conduct discovery in order to identify the proof needed to succeed on your claim. This could allow you to recover damages for medical bills, surgery, lost wages, and pain and suffering, among others.