Chattanooga Premises Liability Lawyers

How Premises Liability Works in Tennessee

Premises liability is the area of law that holds property owners responsible when an unsafe condition on their property hurts someone. If you own or control a space where the public or guests come and go, you have a duty to keep it reasonably safe. That applies to a Hamilton Place retailer, a Northshore restaurant, an apartment complex in East Brainerd, and even a private home.

Being injured on someone’s property does not automatically make them liable. You have to prove the owner was negligent. The question that decides most cases is whether the owner knew, or should have known, about the hazard and failed to fix it or warn you about it. A puddle a store manager walked past for an hour is very different from a spill that happened seconds before you slipped.

When Is a Property Owner Liable? Visitor Status and Duty of Care

Why you were on the property still matters in Tennessee, though not the way it once did. The state used to sort lawful visitors into classes that set how much protection each received. The Tennessee Supreme Court ended that in Hudson v. Gaitan. Owners now owe the same reasonable care to everyone who enters with permission, and what reasonable care requires changes with the circumstances. Trespassers are the exception.

Invitees

Invitees are people on the property for business, like customers at a store, restaurant, or hotel. Their presence is expected, so reasonable care usually means inspecting for hazards regularly and either fixing what turns up or warning about it. Most premises claims start here.

Licensees

Licensees are social guests, such as a friend visiting your home. Since Hudson v. Gaitan, they are owed the same reasonable care as an invitee. The difference is practical: a homeowner is not expected to run the routine inspections a business does, but still has to fix or warn about known dangers.

Trespassers

Property owners owe trespassers no duty of reasonable care. The only obligation is to avoid willfully, intentionally, or wantonly causing injury. Children are the exception. Tennessee’s attractive nuisance statute makes an owner liable when a manmade hazard likely to draw kids, such as an unfenced swimming pool, injures a trespassing child, provided the owner knew or should have known about both the danger and the likelihood of children coming onto the property, and failed to take reasonable steps.

Common Types of Premises Liability Cases We Handle

Premises liability covers far more than a wet floor at the supermarket. Our team handles claims involving:

If your injury was caused by a condition the owner should have corrected, you may have a claim. Two of the most common, slip and fall accidents and negligent security cases, have dedicated pages with more detail. When you are ready, contact our team for a free review.

Common Injuries in Premises Liability Cases

Falls and other property accidents can cause far more than bruises. A hard landing on a tile floor or a tumble down a flight of stairs often leads to serious, lasting harm.

Common premises liability injuries include:

Serious falls in and around Chattanooga often send people to Erlanger Baroness Hospital, the region’s only Level I trauma center. The cost of that care, and the time it takes to recover, is exactly what a premises liability claim is meant to address.

Proving Negligence: The Owner’s Duty and “Notice”

To win a premises liability claim, you and your lawyer have to prove four things:

The hardest of these to prove is usually the breach, and it almost always comes down to notice. How long was the hazard there? A spill left on the floor for an hour or a broken stair left unrepaired for weeks shows the owner had time to find and fix the problem.

A hazard that appeared moments before your fall is much harder to pin on the owner. Proving notice takes evidence, and that evidence disappears fast. Incident reports, surveillance footage, inspection and maintenance logs, prior complaints, and witness accounts all help establish how long a danger existed and what the owner knew.

Common Defenses Property Owners Use

Insurance companies rarely accept blame without a fight. They tend to lean on a few familiar arguments:

Because Gary Massey once built these same defenses for insurers, our team knows how they are put together and how to take them apart.

How Tennessee’s Comparative Fault Rule Affects Your Claim

Tennessee follows a rule called modified comparative fault. You can still recover compensation as long as you are less than 50% at fault for your own injury, and your award is reduced by your share of the blame. If a jury decides your damages are $100,000 but finds you 20% at fault, you receive $80,000.

There is a hard cutoff, though. If you are found 50% or more at fault, you recover nothing. That is stricter than the rule in some neighboring states, and it is exactly why insurers push the open and obvious argument so hard. Keeping your share of fault as low as the facts allow is one of the most important things your lawyer does.

What to Do After an Injury on Someone Else’s Property

What you do in the hours and days after an injury can make or break your claim. If you are hurt on someone else’s property in Chattanooga, take these steps when you are able:

The sooner you act, the more evidence your lawyer can preserve before it is gone.

Filing Deadlines and Compensation You May Recover

Tennessee gives you very little time to act. Under Tennessee Code Annotated Section 28-3-104, you generally have just one year from the date of your injury to file a premises liability lawsuit. That is one of the shortest deadlines in the country.

The clock is usually paused for minors, and it can stretch to two years when the injury involved a crime and criminal charges are filed. Miss the deadline, and you almost always lose the right to recover anything.

If your claim succeeds, you may be entitled to compensation in two broad categories. Economic damages cover your financial losses, including medical bills, future care, lost wages, and reduced earning capacity.

Non-economic damages cover the human cost, such as pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. Most premises lawsuits in this area are filed in Hamilton County Circuit Court.

Frequently Asked Questions