CALIFORNIA PREMISES LIABILITY ATTORNEYS

At Walkup, our premises liability lawyers have over 40 years of experience in representing clients who have been injured through the fault of property owners, property managers, and commercial business owners. When property owners fail to protect visitors and guests from injury, you need attorneys who have experience in the field. Walkup attorneys have just such experience. Our team of premises liability professionals has successfully prosecuted claims for adults and children against the owners of both commercial and private property. Our premises liability team works with safety engineers, property management experts, industrial hygienists, architects and engineers to identify and prove fault, and to secure compensation on your behalf.

We provide a comprehensive premises liability practice in which we represent clients with premises liability claims involving:

• Slip & Fall Injuries
• Falling Objects
• Dog Bites
• Inadequate Security

Securing financial compensation in premises liability cases can be difficult because of confusing issues of ownership, responsibility, and causation. However, we have developed a successful record of representing clients in premises liability cases. Working with an experienced slip and fall lawyer can mean the difference between a favorable result and devastating one.  

You have a right to be safe when you are in public and commercial places. Crime prevention and security, or lack thereof, plays an important role in cases where someone is the victim of a crime in a public or commercial place.

Premises liability claims can arise out of injuries on most any type of property, including:

• Supermarkets
• Parking Lots & Ramps
• Stadiums
• Amusement Parks
• Shopping Malls
• Hotels & Motels
• Bars & Restaurants

All of these places invite the public to be present, and often to spend money, and you have a right to be safe from injury while on the property.

EXAMPLES OF OUR SUCCESS

Trip and Fall On Sidewalk Defect - $875,000 settlement

Our trip and fall injury specialists obtained a mediated resolution of this fall case in the amount of $875,000 on behalf of a 62-year-old gynecologist, who fell at a city parking lot, which was under renovation. The defendant city had contracted with a private contractor to perform construction work at a downtown location. The work included installation of in-ground planting containers adjacent to the pedestrian walkway, which gave egress for the parking area. In-ground excavated planting areas, which incorporated a three-and-a-half inch drop off, were left unfilled and unplanted during the last phase of construction. Neither of the defendants (Contractor/City) protected against the hazard. At the time of his injury, plaintiff was walking toward a restaurant for dinner. In the darkness of evening, there was no warning of the change in elevation. He fell and fractured his right wrist, preventing him from performing standard obstetrical procedures. Past Medical bills and lost wages were approximately $200,000. Retired Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Richard Flier mediated the matter.

Residential Fire – $1,500,000 Settlement

Our premises liability team represented the mother and father of a 23-year-old college student who needlessly and tragically died when the rented apartment in which he slept, owned by a Bay Area landlord, burned because the landlord negligently left a sofa over a floor furnace and failed to equip the home with functioning smoke detectors. Our attorneys proved that the landlord, who owned more than 60 properties, had failed to make required and proper inspections, and to make certain that smoke detectors were in working order. After the fire, our attorneys, through investigators, demonstrated that not a single operational smoke detector was present on the second floor of the dwelling unit where our clients’ son perished. The settlement, in the amount of $1,500,000, was paid by the insurance company for the property owner.

Defective Apartment Heater - $1,000,000 Carbon Monoxide Settlement

Our premises liability attorneys prosecuted an action against a residential landlord for cognitive impairment suffered by a mother and her adolescent son when they suffered chronic carbon monoxide exposure in their rented apartment. Our clients experienced daily exposure at injury producing levels of CO as a result of a malfunctioning gas-fired apartment wall heater. The landlord of the rental dwelling failed to regularly inspect, maintain and repair the heater in the Oakland apartment. The apartment did not have a carbon monoxide detector. While the heater continuously emitted carbon monoxide and soot, the mother and son developed headaches and nausea. Upon discovery of the presence of elevated levels of carbon monoxide by PG&E, medical providers checked the boy's carboxyhemoglobin level and found that it was excessively high. As a result of the chronic carbon monoxide exposure, our clients suffered mild irreversible brain damage, including deterioration in executive function, concentration, and emotional liability. Walkup Melodia lawyers settled the action prior to trial in the full amount of the landlord's liability insurance of $1,000,000.

Slip & Fall – $500,000 Settlement

Our premises team successfully concluded an action against Mervyn’s Department Stores on behalf of a 47-year-old woman who slipped and fell at a Mervyn’s Store on a piece of discarded cardboard The packaging, which had been negligently left on the floor in violation of store rules and guidelines, was the same color as the carpeting, and could not been seen by patrons shopping at the facility. Our premises liability team demonstrated that Mervyn’s personnel, responsible for supervising the area, had violated store policy by not making routine and periodic inspections of the sales floor. The settlement, in the amount of $500,000, compensated our client for a herniated lumbar disc, and her resulting inability to continue in her occupation.

Falling Store Merchandise – $200,000 Settlement

Our premises liability team negotiated a settlement with a value in excess of $200,000 on behalf of a 3-year-old child who was seriously injured when a display fell on her at the defendant’s home center. The child was at the store shopping with her parents when the accident occurred. The managers of the store attempted to claim that the display collapse was the fault of the child, or the parents, for not supervising the youngster. Our team was able to successfully argue that in California, a child under the age of 5 is incapable of contributory fault. The display, which incorporated a door jamb and was advertising the availability of replacement home doors, weighed over 100 lbs. The child’s injuries included severe lacerations which resulted in permanent scarring notwithstanding plastic surgery.

Defective Restaurant Chair – Back Injury

Our premises team obtained a settlement exceeding $125,000 on behalf of a 36-year-old woman injured at a Lyon’s Restaurant when the seat she was sitting on failed, causing her to spill forward onto the floor. As a result of the fall, our client developed chronic back pain which was ultimately diagnosed as a herniated disc. The herniation was treated with minimally invasive surgery. The defendant restaurant claimed, originally, that the accident had never occurred since it had not been reported. After extensive investigation, our team was able to identify a former waitress who confirmed that the bench from which our client fell had been broken for an extended period of time before the injury. Our client’s medical bills exceeded $12,000.

Contact Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger for a FREE CONSULTATION with an experienced premises liability lawyer.