The duties home owners and property managers owe to people hurt on their property depend on whether the people hurt are trespassers, licensees or invitees.
A trespasser is one who enters upon the property of another without any right, lawful authority, or express or implied invitation, permission, or license, not in the performance of any duty to the owner or person in charge or on any business of such person, but merely for his own purposes, pleasure, or convenience, or out of curiosity. The owner of premises has no duty to make the premises safe for a trespasser. However, an owner of premises does have a duty to a trespasser, whose presence on the premises is known or reasonably should be known, not to injure him by a willful, wanton, or intentional act.
A licensee is one who is on the premises of another by the permission, express or implied, or tolerance of the owner for purposes in which the owner has no business or commercial interest. The owner of premises has a duty to licensees, whose presence on the premises is known or reasonably should be known, not to injure them by 1) a willful or wanton act, or 2) needlessly exposing them to danger by a failure to warn of any hidden danger on the premises that is known to the owner and that the licensee is not likely to discover by itself. This duty is limited to any hidden danger that the owner actually knows about, and the owner has no duty to inspect the premises for hidden dangers.
An invitee is one who is on the premises at the express or implied invitation of the owner or manager for some purpose in which the owner or manager has some interest of business or commercial significance, which business may be of mutual interest, or in connection with the owner or manager’s business. It is the duty of the owner to use ordinary care to keep the premises in a reasonably safe condition for the use of the invitees. It is the duty of the owner either to remove or warn the invitee of any hidden danger on the premises that the owner either actually knows about, or that it should know about in the exercise of reasonable care, or that was created by its employees who were acting within the scope of their employment. This duty extends to all portions of the premises to which an invitee may reasonably be expected to go.
If you have been injured on another person’s property, you should seek proper medical care and call us to investigate whether the duty owed to you was violated.
