Premises Liability Lawyers

St. Louis Premises Liability Attorneys Serving Missouri and Illinois 

Dangerous conditions on all kinds of properties result in serious accidents every day in Missouri and Illinois. Laws in both states allow injured people to recover compensation from property owners, lessees, businesses, governmental bodies or other responsible parties under certain circumstances. The area of law that deals with accidents related to property hazards is often called premises liability. If you got hurt because a property owner or other responsible party failed to fix or warn about a hazard, you could be entitled to compensation. The St. Louis premises liability attorneys at The Cagle Law Firm can help you make the financial recovery you deserve.

Although premises liability laws are somewhat different in Missouri and Illinois, both states require property owners and other responsible parties to take steps to make their premises safe from certain hazards. Some common types of premises liability cases involve:

  • Slip and falls or trip and falls (including sidewalks, parking lots and stairs)
  • Inadequate security
  • Construction accidents
  • Playground and park injuries
  • Swimming pool accidents
  • Falling objects
  • Dog bites
  • Elevator and escalator accidents

Get Help from Our Missouri and Illinois Premises Liability Lawyers

At The Cagle Law Firm, our personal injury attorneys are ready to evaluate your premises liability accident claim free of charge and explain your legal options for obtaining financial compensation. Call our St. Louis premises liability lawyers today at 800.685.3302 for a free consultation or fill out our online contact form.

Time is a critical issue with any premises liability case, but it is particularly important if a governmental body or municipality owned or controlled the site where you got hurt. There could be a very short notice period required if you are planning to make a claim against a government agency. To make sure you don’t get shut out from recovering compensation, get in touch with our lawyers today.

Click on the following links to find out more information about particular issues with Missouri and Illinois premises liability cases:

Premises Liability Laws in Missouri and Illinois 

A successful premises liability case requires showing that whoever owned or controlled the property where the accident happened failed to meet a duty owed to you, and you got hurt because of it. Laws in Missouri and Illinois put different types of duties on property owners and other responsible parties. These differences can affect whether you are able to recover for your accident depending on whether you were injured in Missouri or Illinois.

In Missouri, your relationship with the property owner or other responsible party is key to determining whether you have a valid premises liability claim. There are three categories of potential plaintiffs in Missouri premises liability cases: invitees, licensees and trespassers. The highest duty is owed to invitees, which include customers in stores and restaurants, business visitors in offices, hotel guests, delivery people, moviegoers and people in many other similar situations. When dealing with an invitee, a responsible party must inspect the premises for hazards and either fix them or warn about them if they are not obvious.

A licensee in a Missouri premises liability case is someone like a social guest who is on the property with the consent of the owner or other responsible party, but not there for business purposes. The owner must warn licensees about any known hazards, but there is generally no duty to seek them out or fix them. When dealing with a trespasser in Missouri, a property owner generally owes no duty unless he or she discovers the trespasser. Then there is a general duty to exercise ordinary care and warn them about hidden dangers. The duty owed to trespassers can be much greater if the trespassers are children.

Illinois law has done away with the distinction between invitees and licensees. Instead, the Illinois Premises Liability Act requires property owners and other responsible parties to use reasonable care under the circumstances to make their properties reasonably safe. That duty can involve using reasonable care to inspect, discover and fix hazards on the property. It can also involve warning guests and visitors about dangers that are not obvious. As for trespassers in Illinois, property owners have a general duty not to willfully injure them.

The St. Louis premises liability attorneys at The Cagle Law Firm can help you better understand your rights and the potential for a recovery against the owner or controller of the property where you were injured. Our lawyers are ready to analyze the facts of your case and advise you about how best to proceed in order to secure all of the compensation you deserve.                                                                      

Talk to Our Premises Liability Lawyers Now

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured due to the negligence of a property owner, manager or other responsible party, contact our St. Louis premises liability lawyers. At The Cagle Law Firm, we are prepared to evaluate your accident free of charge and explain your legal options for obtaining financial compensation.

Call The Cagle Law Firm today at 800.685.3302 for a free consultation or use our online contact form.

We represent clients in St. Louis and the greater St. Louis metropolitan area, including the Missouri and southern Illinois communities of Ballwin, Belleville, Chesterfield, Collinsville, East St. Louis, Edwardsville, Kirkwood, Mehlville, Oakville and University City, Arnold, Columbia, Florissant, O’Fallon, St. Charles, St. Peters and Wildwood.