Poor facility management can result in accidents or other incidents that can lead to injury or even death. Many property managers may believe that they are not directly responsible for the injury or death, but the law might indicate otherwise. The truth is that their action or inaction could result in culpability for the accident. A good premises liability attorney can look at all the facts and determine if the facility management team may have partial or complete premises liability.
What is Negligence?
Negligence is defined by Black’s Law Dictionary as “the failure to exercise the standard of care that a reasonably prudent person would have exercised in a similar situation.” Basically, this means that negligence is not doing something in a situation that a normal person would do. When negligence is combined with a loss of some sort, there is a potential cause for legal action.
What Kinds of Things Count as Negligent in Property Management?
In property management, there is a myriad of things that would classify as negligence. One of the major areas of property management negligence is the area of code violations and building maintenance issues. Imagine if a step is broken and the property manager is notified about the need to repair it. If the property manager doesn’t repair the step in a timely manner and someone is injured because of it, then the property manager will likely be responsible for the injury. It’s important to know that there has to be an actual loss for there to be premises liability. In other words, you can’t bring suit for a possible hazard that has not yet resulted in an actual injury.
Another major area of property management negligence is the area of safety hazards. Generally, a property manager must ensure that the building is free from safety hazards. While many issues are addressed in building maintenance issues, safety hazards can extend to security issues. If an area has a high crime rate and tenants are complaining about the crime in their complex, then the property manager should probably hire nighttime security. Failure to do so could result in negligence if someone is injured or even killed.
Another area of safety negligence would be not properly conducting background checks. For example, suppose a property manager normally does a background check on each tenant but doesn’t perform one for one reason or another. Now imagine that the tenant turns out to be a violent criminal with a record on file with the police. Guess what? If that tenant attacks another tenant, the property manager may be culpable.
Why should a person sue for negligence when it comes to an accident caused by poor facility management?
Many tenants are slow to take legal action against poor facility management because they are fearful of reprisals or just feel like it’s not that big of a deal. That’s the wrong approach. While many property managers will correct errors quickly and appreciate the feedback, some do not. Some put profit above safety. Suing these dangerous facility managers for premises liability is a way to ensure that they understand the severity of their inaction and inattentiveness. It helps to protect others from future problems.
How a Personal Injury Lawsuit Works
You’ll contact an attorney who will listen to what you have to say, gather the facts about the case, and then help you determine if you should proceed with a lawsuit. You deserve to be compensated for your injury and personal loss, and there is usually a punitive side to any award you may receive. You deserve to have your medical bills compensated and to be compensated for lost wages. The goal of the personal injury lawsuit will be to ensure that this happens. You’ll be guided each step of the way until the case is resolved and you are made whole.
If you have been a victim of poor facility management and have suffered a loss, you need to contact a premises liability attorney to protect your rights and be made whole. Tate Law Group of Savannah GA is here to help!