If the person filing an injury claim against the city of Chattanooga or the county, they will have to file a lawsuit in Tennessee circuit court. With the help from a Chattanooga public property premises liability lawyer, they must provide notice before filing a lawsuit to the court. However, the person does not get a jury in those cases. A judge will decide the outcome of the individual’s case.
If the person is suing the state, they have to file a notice with the state. This case is typically handled in an administrative process called the Tennessee Claims Commission. They should contact an experienced premises liability lawyer before filing a claim with the Tennessee claims commission to properly prepare their evidence and any witnesses they may have.
Liability in Public vs. Private Cases
Public property generally assumes that the general public is welcome. All public property falls into the category where the property owner has to protect it for unknown people to be on the property. Private property is more like a house or a farm or something like that where the general public does not come. A Chattanooga public property premises liability lawyer can help anyone differentiate the laws for both public and private properties.
Presence of an Owner
It is usually only people that the person knows and they would only have access to certain portions of the property and they would normally only have access to the property in the presence of the owner. Whereas on public property, individuals have access to the property without the oversight or presence of an owner or controller of the property. On private property, normally the person would be in the presence of a person who lives or works there.
Because someone on private property would be in the presence of a person who lives or works there, the assumption is that owners would be able to warn and assist visitors to avoid any property dangers that may be unknown to the visitor. Whereas on a public property there is no owner presence that would not be there to help the person avoid unknown dangers. They have a higher duty to deal with those dangers before the person gets there.
Residents’ Duty of Care
Chattanooga does have a duty of care to its residents when residents are on property controlled by the government. Whether it is the city or the county or the state, the government’s duty of care is not under the same duty to inspect or inform of hidden dangers similar to the duty of private owners. Someone will be considered liable if they have caused dangerous conditions on their property such as spilling or doing construction and leaving things out that might cause someone to fall. If they misdesigned something, if they built a stairway wrong or they if they built a sidewalk wrong and it causes somebody to fall and be injured, they are liable for those types of things. Contact a Chattanooga public property premises liability lawyer for any such injuries sustained on public property.
