Friday, May 6, 2011

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF MY PERSONAL INJURY CASE? What is the responsibility of a landlord?


A landlord who has reserved certain "common" areas of his or her building [ e.g. exterior stairways, hallways and the like] owes the tenants, and those on the property with the permission of the tenants, a duty of reasonable care to keep the property safe. Note that this responsibility does not extend to activities or conditions within the individual unit possessed or leases by the tenant. All  Baltimore personalinjury lawyers know, that
of course, the landlord must know of the dangerous condition in order to be charged with responsibility. The law charges landlord with knowledge of what could have been discovered through the exercise of ordinary care.

It is difficult, and sometimes impossible to prove that a landowner, possessor or manager of land or a building had knowledge of the dangerous, defective or unsafe condition. Experienced Baltimore personalinjury lawyers know every insurance company or their defense attorney is guaranteed to argue that the defendant had "no notice" of the dangerous condition, and hence had no time to repair or warn.  Of course the personal injury plaintiff always has the burden of proof, so if they can't prove the owner had notice, there is no liability. However, the law charges a landowner, possessor or manager of land or a building with knowledge of what could have been discovered through the exercise of ordinary care. So, if an area of a building should been cleaned, or inspected, or maintained at given intervals, but was not, an experienced Baltimore personal injuryattorney may be successful in arguing that the landowner could have discovered the unsafe condition, but failed to do so. If they landowner could have discovered the defect, but failed to use ordinary care in their maintenance or cleaning processes, a personal injury attorney can be successful in arguing there is liability even if the absence of actual knowledge of the defect.

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