Premises Liability and Retail Defense

If someone slips, falls and suffers an injury in your business, who’s to blame? That’s the key question in many premises liability cases. It’s also a question that different states interpret in different ways. Understanding the rules for your state is key to mounting...

The Supreme Court recently heard the oral arguments for a First Amendment case that could have far-reaching consequences across a broad spectrum of legal concerns. These could include the duties that shopkeepers and business owners owe to their customers and the...

Most of us learn from a very young age to watch out for danger. Especially any obvious hazards. If you see an open fire, don’t stick your hand in it. If you see a rusty blade, don’t scrape it along your arm. If you see a large sheet of ice on the parking lot, you...

Businesses and property owners in every state must take reasonable steps to keep their premises safe. Typically, these steps include implementing reasonable security measures. But the idea of “reasonable” security can vary from state to state. Indeed, the idea of...

Like property owners, general contractors may have a duty to keep their worksites reasonably safe. The terms of their contracts with subcontractors may shift some of this responsibility, but they may still have general responsibilities that they cannot shake. This was...

How should general contractors think about premises liability? What duties of care do they owe the subcontractors they hire to complete various tasks? These were among the questions addressed by a recent ruling from the Illinois First District Court of Appeals. The...

In a previous blog, we looked at the way the Colorado Court of Appeals explored the idea of causation in premises liability. However, the question of causation was not the only matter under review in the case. In Martinez v. Cast, the plaintiff claimed that a...

The Colorado Court of Appeals recently reviewed and reversed the summary judgment made in favor of a landowner in a premises liability case. The case, Martinez v. Cast, centered around the injuries to two children whose mother had pushed them out of a window to avoid...