As many commercial real estate property owners in the state of Michigan are already aware, there are certain legal responsibilities that you must adhere to by state law. One such responsibility is that of providing a safe premise. If a person slips and falls on your property, you could be held liable for any injury that person receives.
This could very well be the case for a housing authority in Louisiana this month who has found themselves in the middle of a premises liability case of their own. As bizarre as it may read, some Michigan property owners could be second guessing what constitutes as negligence and what does not.
According to the complaint, a woman is suing the local housing authority after a chair rolled out from underneath her while she was signing a lease agreement. She claims that because of the fall, she suffered injury to her lower back and neck that would not have occurred had the chair not been resting on a tile floor. She says that it is because of this negligence that the chair rolled out from underneath her and caused her injuries.
Although laws differ from state to state, even here in Michigan negligence is defined as failing to exercise the amount of care expected of a person in order to prevent others from experiencing foreseeable danger.
Like we said earlier, if you own a property then premises liability comes with the territory. It’s important to remember that not all accidents can be resolved without legal assistance. In instances where this is the case, a good real estate attorney may make the difference between a lawsuit and a dismissed complaint.
Source: The Louisiana Record, “Housing authority sued after chair rolls out from under resident while signing rental agreement,” Kyle Barnett, Feb. 13, 2013
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