Premises Liability Attorney in Los Angeles

Lawdragon 500 Trial Attorneys. Billions Won for Injured Victims Nationwide.

Premises liability allows victims injured on another’s property to bring claims against the owners, occupants, and parties in control. Prevailing, however, often means contending with powerful corporations and insurers who deploy significant resources to minimize what they pay. The legal standards are demanding, the evidence window closes fast, and the defendants are rarely unprepared.

At Athea Trial Lawyers, we’re backed by six founding members, each included in the Lawdragon 500, the legal profession’s most recognized list of the best trial attorneys in the country. We’ve collectively won billions for victims nationwide, and we bring that record to every premises case we take on, from initial investigation through verdict. Our approach combines resourceful evidence-building with creative, out-of-the-box storytelling that makes complex liability clear to juries.

If you have a claim, we can review it and discuss how we can help. Call (800) 664-0161 or contact us online for a FREE consultation!

Premises Liability Cases We Handle

We pursue serious premises claims across a wide range of conditions and settings. Cases we handle include:

• Security issues
• AEDs / failures to render aid
• Swimming pool accidents
• Code violations and inadequate maintenance
• Toxic exposure
• Sporting events and large venues
• Explosions and fires
• Serious injuries or wrongful death

What California Premises Liability Law Covers

Premises liability holds parties who own, occupy, lease, or control property financially responsible for damages suffered by people hurt on their property or in their place of business. The law applies broadly: retailers, landlords, property managers, event venues, and government entities can all be named as defendants, depending on who exercised control over the condition that caused the harm.

California requires plaintiffs to prove four elements to pursue a premises case:

1. Duty. The owner, occupier, or controller of the property owed a duty of care to the plaintiff.
2. Breach of Duty. The defendant negligently failed to meet that duty.
3. Causation. The breach caused the plaintiff’s harm.
4. Damages. The plaintiff suffered actual, compensable harm: physical injury, medical bills, lost wages, or pain and suffering. Without actual damages, no legal claim exists even if the property was demonstrably unsafe.

Evaluating Your Premises Liability Claim

If you were hurt on another’s property, you may have grounds to recover damages from the party that owned, occupied, leased, or exercised sufficient control over it. Depending on your case, that party could be a retail business, a developer, a property manager, or others.

When a Claim May Exist

Premises cases are highly fact-specific, but they all turn on whether an owner or occupier failed to maintain a reasonably safe environment. A potential claim may exist if injuries occurred because the responsible party:

• Failed to address unsafe conditions they knew or should have known about.
• Failed to inspect the property or exercise reasonable care in its routine maintenance.
• Failed to adequately warn or protect against unsafe conditions.
• Failed to recognize the foreseeability of injuries and address them appropriately.

How Juries Evaluate Negligence

Juries consider several factors when weighing whether an owner’s conduct constitutes negligence:

• The type of property or business and its inherent risk profile (a bar or nightclub, for example, carries a more significant risk of altercations than an office building)
• The nature of the dangerous condition and the likelihood of injury
• Whether the defendant had actual or constructive knowledge of the hazard, including prior incidents or violations
• How feasible it was to address the known risk

Who Can Be Held Liable in a Premises Case

Liability in premises cases generally turns on who held control over the condition that caused the harm and whether they knew or should have known about it. Multiple parties can share responsibility in the same incident.

Parties who may be held liable include:

• Property Owners: The primary responsible party in most cases. Homeowners, business owners, and corporations are generally obligated to maintain safe conditions and warn visitors of known hazards.
• Tenants or Occupiers: A tenant or business renting commercial space can be liable when they control the area where the injury occurred or when their lease places maintenance responsibility on them.
• Property Managers: Management companies or individuals overseeing a property can be liable when unsafe conditions arose from failures in maintenance or oversight.
• Business Owners: Operators of a place of business are responsible for keeping premises safe for customers, employees, and visitors, even when operating on leased property.
• Government Entities: Injuries on public property such as parks, sidewalks, and government buildings can give rise to claims against the City of Los Angeles, LA County, or other public entities. These claims follow a different and stricter procedural track (see filing deadlines below).
• Contractors or Maintenance Companies: Third-party contractors whose work created a hazardous condition may also carry liability.

California applies pure comparative fault, meaning a plaintiff who is partially responsible for their own injury may still recover damages. The court reduces the award proportionally by the plaintiff’s share of fault, but partial fault doesn’t bar a claim entirely.

California Filing Deadlines for Premises Liability Claims

Under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1, most premises liability plaintiffs have two years from the date of injury to file a lawsuit against a private property owner. That window may be affected by case-specific circumstances, including whether injuries weren’t immediately discoverable or whether the plaintiff was a minor at the time of the incident.

Claims Against Government Entities

Claims against a government entity follow a shorter timeline. The California Government Claims Act requires filing a written administrative claim with the responsible public entity within six months of the injury before any lawsuit can proceed. Missing that administrative deadline may affect your ability to recover, depending on the circumstances and any applicable exceptions.

Why Acting Quickly Protects Your Claim

Early action also protects your evidence. Surveillance footage is routinely overwritten within days or weeks. Witness recollections fade. Maintenance records can be altered or lost. The earlier an attorney gets involved, the better the opportunity to preserve the documentation needed to prove what happened and why the property owner may bear responsibility.

Our Record in Premises Liability Cases

Our founding attorneys have secured some of the most significant premises liability verdicts in the country. These results reflect not just financial recovery but systemic impact: cases that changed how property owners, corporations, and institutions think about their duty of care. Our record includes:

• $160 Million verdict for traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused by casino security guards.
• $52 Million verdict against a convenience store chain for the death of an employee who was abducted from work, assaulted, and murdered due to the store’s security failures (McConnell v. Allsup’s).
• $25 Million dram shop verdict against a nightclub that overserved a drunk driver.
• $17 Million verdict for the wrongful death of a blind man who fell into an un-barricaded gap between train cars (Cuthbertson v. LACMTA), a result that informed safety standards for visually impaired transit riders.
• California Supreme Court victory following a nearly 10-year battle establishing that California colleges must protect students from known dangers in the classroom (Rosen v. The Regents of the University of California).

All six of our founding members are listed in the Lawdragon 500, and our firm holds a Regional Tier 1 ranking in Personal Injury Litigation, Plaintiffs from U.S. News - Best Lawyers since 2022, the highest ranking available. Our attorneys are also members of the Inner Circle of Advocates, a group comprising 100 of the most celebrated trial lawyers in the nation.

Contact Our Premises Liability Lawyers in Los Angeles

Premises cases are rarely simple, and they become harder when well-resourced corporations and insurance carriers are working to pay as little as possible. We serve clients throughout Los Angeles and beyond on a contingency fee basis: no fees unless we prevail and secure compensation for you. That structure lets us focus capital on aggressive case preparation and lets you focus on recovery.

Contact Athea Trial Lawyers today to meet with our premises liability attorneys and get your free consultation.