Who Is Responsible If Someone Gets Hurt on Your Property in Pennsylvania?

In most cases, a property owner is responsible for guest injuries. Pennsylvania law requires property owners to exercise reasonable care toward individuals lawfully on their premises. If a known hazard causes an injury to a guest, the property owner can be held liable for the resulting damages. These cases fall under premises liability law, which applies to homeowners, landlords, and commercial property owners.

Common Examples of Premises Liability Claims

Premises liability cases embrace a wide variety of dangerous conditions on another party’s property.

Examples include:

• Slips and falls
• Tripping risks
• Poor lighting
• Falling items or unsecured merchandise
• Elevator and escalator failures
• Pool incidents
• Dog attacks occurring on the owner’s premises
• Inadequate security that allows assaults or robberies to occur

In each of these cases, a property owner is required to exercise reasonable care to keep their properties safe for visitors.

How Does Pennsylvania Premises Liability Law Work

Pennsylvania uses traditional common law categories to determine the duty of care a property owner owes to different visitors. These include:

• Invitees who are on the property for a business purpose (e.g., retail store customers). Owners owe invitees the highest duty of care, requiring them to inspect for hazards, repair known dangers, and post warnings about conditions that cannot be fixed right away.
• Licensees are social guests visiting with permission but not for the owner’s direct financial benefit. Owners must warn licensees of known, non-obvious hazards, but they are not required to actively inspect for hidden risks.
• Trespassers are individuals on the property without permission. Owners generally only owe trespassers a duty to avoid causing intentional harm, with an exception for child trespassers who may be attracted to a dangerous feature on the property (such as an unfenced swimming pool).

The visitor status directly determines the owner’s legal duties and liabilities after an on-property injury.

What Makes a Property Owner Liable for a Guest Injury?

Proving premises liability in Pennsylvania requires showing that:

• The property had a dangerous condition
• The owner knew (or should have known) about it
• The owner failed to fix or warn about it
• The hazard directly caused the visitor’s injury.

Evidence such as maintenance logs, complaints, and security footage can help establish that an owner knew about a hazard and failed to take reasonable steps to fix it.

Shared Fault in Premises Liability Cases

In certain cases, a guest may share responsibility for their own accidents. But this won’t eliminate their right to compensation. Pennsylvania follows a modified comparative negligence rule. If you share responsibility (such as being distracted before the incident), your damages will be reduced by your percentage of fault. But you cannot recover anything if you are found 51% or more at fault.

Incidentally, property owners often argue that the hazard was obvious or that the injured person was inattentive. These may not be accurate or legitimate. A premises liability lawyer can gather evidence showing the owner’s negligence was the primary cause of your accident.

If you were injured on someone else’s property in Pennsylvania, Rosenbaum Injury Law can evaluate your case. Call (215) 569-0200 today for a free consultation.