People like to think about the future and how they will achieve all of their ambitions and goals. They may imagine the careers that they will reach or the amazing homes or cars that they will buy when they are more financially stable. When looking ahead, though, Connecticut residents rarely anticipate the harm their actions may cause others or the difficulties they may encounter.
Looking ahead, however, is often a component that courts consider in personal injury cases. For example, in premises liability cases, it is not uncommon for claims to turn on whether it was foreseeable for a property owner to expect that a particular visitor on their land would be harmed in a particular way. The foreseeability of an injury-causing accident may be an important part of a victim’s case for their damages.
Readers are asked to consider a property owner who invites friends over to their home for dinner. The property owner cleans and declutters their home to make it safe and presentable to their guests. In the process of doing so they notice that there is a tear in their hallway rug but due to a lack of time they elect not to do anything about it.
When their guests arrive and walk down the hall one of their guests catches a toe on the tear and takes a bad fall, breaking an arm and suffering a concussion as they hit the ground. The victim may be able to argue that it was foreseeable that such an accident could occur and due to the property owner’s lack of repair or warning regarding the tear they should be held liable for the victim’s harm.
Foreseeability, reasonableness of repairs and the legal status of the injured party may all be important elements in a premises liability case. To learn more about foreseeability and how to craft a premises liability lawsuit, readers are asked to contact their personal injury attorneys as this post offers no legal advice.
