Someone was injured on the sidewalk in front of my house. Am I liable?

When you look out your front window and see a pizza delivery kid writhing in pain on the sidewalk in front of your house from slipping or tripping and falling, one of the things that goes through your mind is whether you’re liable for his injury. You didn’t even order a pizza. He was going to deliver to the wrong house, but there he is on the ground. According to the personal injury attorneys at Springer & Lyle, liability on this case turns on the application of Texas law to the specific facts surrounding the fall.

Any liability attributable to you is based on the laws of premises liability. It’s safe to say that if the kid fell on the public sidewalk in front of your house, he’d be looking to your municipality for compensation. If he fell on the sidewalk approaching your home on property owned by you, the liability analysis would shift over to you.

People slip and trip on their own accord every day for no reason at all. Their feet get tied up, they might not sufficiently pick a foot up when walking, or they might be wearing new shoes with slippery soles. They also fall when they slip on wet surfaces, step into unseen holes in insufficiently lit walkways and trip on uneven surfaces like sidewalk slabs at different heights. That’s when you have to start worrying about your potential personal liability.

Texas premises liability law applies different legal duties for owners or occupiers of land in their maintenance of property depending on the legal status of the person claiming injury. The law categorizes that person as a licensee, invitee or a trespasser. Different legal duties apply to each of those categories, so it’s first necessary to determine the legal status of the delivery boy.

Determining the legal status of the pizza delivery boy who falls and injures himself on your property when you didn’t even order a pizza involves complex legal analysis. People who have been injured on real estate that’s owned or occupied by somebody else may be entitled to compensation depending on the specific facts of the case. Talk to a knowledgeable, experienced and successful personal injury attorney at Springer & Lyle, and get a free consultation and case evaluation. You’ll get straight talk and straight answers.