Daniell, Upton, Anderson, Law & Busby, P.C.: Representing Injured Victims Across Alabama

If you or a loved one has suffered an injury on someone else’s property in Alabama due to an unsafe condition, the attorneys at Daniell, Upton, Anderson, Law & Busby, P.C. are here to help. With decades of combined experience, our firm has successfully represented individuals injured in a wide variety of premises liability cases throughout the state, including in Daphne, Mobile, Baldwin County, and surrounding communities.

We handle claims arising from slip and falls, trip and falls, negligent security leading to assault or injury, dog bites, swimming pool accidents, falling merchandise, and other dangerous property conditions. Our team possesses a thorough understanding of Alabama premises liability law, including the critical distinctions in duty of care based on visitor status and the significant impact of the state's contributory negligence rule. We are committed to holding negligent property owners and managers accountable for failing to maintain safe premises.

Don't bear the burden of medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering alone after being injured due to a property owner's negligence. Contact Daniell, Upton, Anderson, Law & Busby, P.C. for a free consultation to discuss your premises liability case. Call our Daphne office at (251) 625-0046 or reach out via our website. Let us put our experience to work fighting for the compensation you deserve. We serve clients across Alabama and are also licensed in Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas.

An ordinary day can take an unexpected turn when an injury occurs on someone else’s property. Whether it’s a slip on a wet floor in a Daphne grocery store, a fall due to a broken step at a Mobile apartment complex, or an injury resulting from inadequate security measures, accidents on property owned or managed by others happen frequently across Alabama. When these incidents result from unsafe conditions, the legal principle of premises liability comes into play. Alabama law dictates that property owners and possessors have a responsibility to maintain their premises in a reasonably safe condition for lawful visitors.

Personal Injury Lawyer - Baldwin County Alabama

The Foundation of Premises Liability: Duty of Care in Alabama

The central idea behind premises liability is that those who own or control property have a legal duty of care towards people who enter that property. However, the extent of this duty is not uniform; under Alabama law, it significantly depends on the legal status of the person who was injured while on the property. Visitors generally fall into one of three categories:

Invitee:

This category receives the highest level of protection. An invitee is someone invited onto the property, either expressly or implicitly, for the property owner's benefit or for a purpose related to the owner's business. Common examples include customers in retail stores, diners in restaurants, clients visiting an office, or attendees at a ticketed event. Property owners owe invitees a duty to exercise reasonable care to keep the premises in a reasonably safe condition. This includes not only warning invitees about dangerous conditions the owner knows about, but also actively inspecting the property to discover hidden dangers and then either repairing those dangers or providing adequate warnings.

Licensee:

Trespasser:

A trespasser enters the property without any legal right or permission from the owner. They are owed the lowest duty of care. Under Alabama law (specifically § 6-5-345 of the Code of Alabama), a property owner generally owes no duty of care to a trespasser except to refrain from intentionally or wantonly injuring them. This includes not setting traps designed to harm trespassers. An important exception exists for child trespassers. If a property owner knows or should know that children are likely to trespass and there is an artificial condition on the property that poses an unreasonable risk of serious harm to children who might not appreciate the danger (an "attractive nuisance," like an unfenced swimming pool), the owner may have a higher duty to exercise reasonable care to protect them.

Determining the injured person's status – invitee, licensee, or trespasser – is often a critical first step in evaluating an Alabama premises liability case, as it defines the legal standard the property owner must meet.

Proving a Premises Liability Claim in Alabama

Successfully pursuing compensation for an injury on someone else's property requires proving several key elements, generally aligning with the principles of negligence, but tailored to the premises liability context:

Duty: Establishing the property owner owed the injured person a specific duty of care based on their status as an invitee, licensee, or (in limited cases) trespasser.
Breach: Demonstrating that the property owner failed to meet that duty. This means showing their actions (or lack thereof) fell below the standard of reasonable care expected under the circumstances (e.g., failing to clean a spill promptly, not repairing a broken railing, failing to warn of a known hidden danger, not providing adequate security where crime was foreseeable).
Notice (Often Key in Slip/Fall): Proving the property owner had actual notice (knew about the hazard) or constructive notice (should have known about the hazard through reasonable diligence or because it existed for a sufficient length of time).
Causation: Showing a direct link between the property owner's breach of duty (the dangerous condition) and the injuries sustained. The injury must be a foreseeable consequence of the hazard.
Damages: Providing evidence of the actual harm suffered, including physical injuries, medical expenses, lost income, pain, suffering, and other related losses.

Gathering strong evidence is vital. This includes photographs or videos of the dangerous condition taken as soon as possible after the incident, incident reports filed with the property owner or manager, contact information for any witnesses, detailed medical records documenting the injuries and treatment, and potentially expert testimony from engineers, safety consultants, or security experts to establish the standard of care and how it was breached.

Common Types of Premises Liability Claims in Alabama

Injuries on unsafe property can arise from numerous hazards. Some of the most frequent types of premises liability claims encountered in Alabama include:

Slip and Fall / Trip and Fall:

These are perhaps the most common premises liability cases. They occur when someone slips or trips due to a hazardous condition on the floor or ground. Common causes include:

Wet or slippery floors from spills, mopping, tracked-in rain or snow, or leaks.
Uneven or damaged walking surfaces like cracked pavement, potholes, torn carpeting, or loose floorboards.
Poor lighting in stairwells, hallways, or parking lots obscuring hazards.
Obstacles or clutter left in walkways.
Defective stairs or missing/broken handrails. A key element in proving these cases is demonstrating that the property owner had actual or constructive notice of the dangerous condition. Actual notice means they knew about the specific hazard (e.g., an employee saw the spill). Constructive notice means the condition existed long enough that the owner should have discovered it through reasonable inspection and addressed it.

Negligent Security (Inadequate Security):

Property owners, particularly those operating businesses like apartment complexes, hotels, shopping malls, parking garages, bars, or gas stations, may have a duty to provide reasonable security measures to protect lawful visitors from foreseeable criminal acts by third parties (assaults, robberies, etc.). A claim for negligent security arises when:

Criminal activity on or near the property was reasonably foreseeable (based on prior incidents, location, nature of the business).
The property owner failed to implement reasonable security measures (e.g., inadequate lighting, broken locks or gates, lack of security cameras or personnel, failure to warn of known risks).
This failure was a direct cause of the victim being injured by a criminal act.

Dog Bites and Animal Attacks:

Alabama law addresses dog bites specifically. While negligence principles can apply, Alabama also has a statute that often imposes strict liability on a dog owner if their dog bites someone, provided the victim was lawfully on the owner's property or was chased off the property by the dog before being bitten. Under this statute, the owner can potentially be held liable even if the dog had never shown aggression before. Proving the elements required by the statute is key, though certain defenses might apply.

Swimming Pool Accidents:

Drowning and other serious injuries frequently occur in swimming pools, especially involving children. Liability can arise from inadequate fencing or self-latching gates around the pool, lack of proper supervision (where required), defective drain covers causing entrapment, or failure to maintain the pool area safely (e.g., slippery surfaces, broken diving boards).

Falling Objects/Merchandise:

In retail environments like grocery stores or big-box stores, customers can be injured by items falling from high shelves due to improper stacking or unstable displays. Construction sites also pose risks from falling tools or materials.

Elevator and Escalator Malfunctions:

Property owners are generally responsible for ensuring elevators and escalators are properly maintained. Injuries caused by sudden stops, door malfunctions, misleveling, or entrapment can lead to liability if negligent maintenance is proven.

Toxic Exposure/Hazardous Substances:

Liability can arise if occupants or visitors are harmed by exposure to dangerous substances like mold (often resulting from unaddressed water intrusion), lead paint (especially in older buildings), asbestos, or chemical spills due to the property owner's negligence in maintaining the property or warning of the hazard.

Defenses in Alabama Premises Liability Cases

Property owners and their insurance companies often raise defenses to avoid liability in premises liability claims. Common defenses in Alabama include:

Contributory Negligence: This remains a significant hurdle in Alabama. If the defense can prove the injured person was even slightly negligent (e.g., not paying attention to where they were walking, ignoring warning signs, running in an inappropriate area) and that this negligence contributed to the accident, the injured person can be completely barred from recovering any compensation.
Open and Obvious Doctrine: The defense may argue that the dangerous condition was so open and obvious that any reasonably careful person should have recognized the risk and avoided it. If successful, this can negate the property owner's duty to warn. However, the application of this doctrine is highly fact-specific and may not apply if, despite being obvious, the owner should have anticipated that harm could still occur.
Lack of Notice: The property owner may claim they neither knew (actual notice) nor reasonably could have known (constructive notice) about the dangerous condition before the injury occurred, thus arguing they had no opportunity to remedy it or warn about it.
Disputing Visitor Status: The owner might argue the injured person was a licensee or trespasser owed a lower duty of care, rather than an invitee owed the highest duty.

Damages Recoverable in Alabama Premises Liability Claims

If a premises liability claim is successful, the injured person may be entitled to recover compensation (damages) for the harm they suffered. These damages typically fall into two categories:

Economic Damages

These cover tangible financial losses that can be calculated, such as:

Past and future medical expenses (hospital bills, doctor visits, surgery, medication, physical therapy).
Lost wages and loss of future earning capacity if the injury impacts ability to work.
Costs of rehabilitation and necessary assistive devices.

Non-Economic Damages:

These compensate for intangible harms that don't have a precise price tag, including:

Physical pain and suffering.
Emotional distress and mental anguish (anxiety, depression).
Permanent impairment, disability, or disfigurement.
Loss of enjoyment of life.

Punitive Damages:

These are intended to punish the defendant for egregious conduct (wantonness, malice) and deter similar behavior. They are rarely awarded in typical premises liability cases based on simple negligence but might be possible in extreme situations involving intentional disregard for safety.

Alabama Premises Liability Attorneys

Daniell, Upton, Anderson, Law & Busby, P.C.: Representing Injured Victims Across Alabama

The Foundation of Premises Liability: Duty of Care in Alabama

Proving a Premises Liability Claim in Alabama

Common Types of Premises Liability Claims in Alabama

Slip and Fall / Trip and Fall:

Negligent Security (Inadequate Security):

Dog Bites and Animal Attacks:

Swimming Pool Accidents:

Falling Objects/Merchandise:

Elevator and Escalator Malfunctions:

Toxic Exposure/Hazardous Substances:

Defenses in Alabama Premises Liability Cases

Damages Recoverable in Alabama Premises Liability Claims

Economic Damages

Non-Economic Damages:

Punitive Damages:

Statute of Limitations for Premises Liability in Alabama

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