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You walk into a store, an apartment building, or a parking garage expecting it to be safe. You assume the owner has taken basic steps to protect you from harm. But a single, shocking moment shatters that assumption.
A slip on a wet floor, a trip over a broken sidewalk, or an attack in a poorly lit parking lot can leave you with serious injuries and a deep sense of betrayal. You suffered an injury in a place where you should have been safe, and now you are left to deal with the pain, the medical bills, and the stress of a long recovery.
It is not fair, and it is not right. At The Hawk Firm, we believe that property owners who fail to keep their premises safe must be held accountable. If you suffered an injury from a property owner’s carelessness in Augusta, our lawyers are here to fight for you.
We provide clear, powerful, and trusted legal representation to help get the justice and financial support your family needs to heal and move forward.
Contact an experienced Augusta premises liability lawyer today for a free consultation.
Augusta Premises Liability Guide
- Why Choose The Hawk Firm’s Augusta Premises Liability Lawyers?
- What Is My Augusta Premises Liability Claim Worth?
- Where Unsafe Property Accidents Occur in Augusta, GA
- Understanding Premises Liability Law in Georgia
- Common Types of Premises Liability Accidents
- Steps to Protect Your Rights After an Injury on Someone Else’s Property
- Augusta Premises Liability FAQs
- Speak With Our Augusta Premises Liability Attorneys for Free
Why Choose The Hawk Firm’s Augusta Premises Liability Lawyers?
You enter an unspoken agreement when you enter a store, apartment complex, or parking lot. You agree to be a respectful visitor; in return, the owner agrees to provide a reasonably safe place for you.
When that property owner breaks their end of the agreement through carelessness, and you get hurt as a result, it’s a violation of trust. You need a legal team that understands this and is prepared to hold that owner accountable. The Hawk Firm was built to do exactly that.
Our lawyers fight for people who were needlessly injured because a property owner failed in their most basic duty.
Immediately after an injury, the excuses begin. The property owner might claim they didn’t know about the dangerous condition. Their insurance company will suggest that you should have been watching where you were going. You need a team that cuts through that noise.
Our lawyers believe in blunt honesty. We provide a straightforward roadmap of your case, explaining in simple terms what Georgia’s premises liability laws say and how they apply to your situation. We use our wisdom, gained from decades of fighting for Georgians, to show you how the property owner failed and what we can do about it.
What Is My Augusta Premises Liability Claim Worth?
After an injury, one of the most pressing questions is how you will cover the costs. A successful premises liability claim can provide the financial resources you need to pay your bills and secure your future. It isn’t about a windfall; it’s about making you whole again by demanding compensation for everything you have lost due to the property owner’s negligence.
The value of every case is different, but our lawyers will meticulously calculate the full extent of your damages, which fall into two main categories.
Economic Damages: The Tangible Costs
These are the specific, calculable financial losses that result from your injury. Our August premises liability attorneys will gather every bill, receipt, and financial record to build a comprehensive demand for compensation. It includes:
- Complete Medical Expenses
- Future Medical Care
- Lost Income
- Loss of Future Earning Capacity
Non-Economic Damages: The Human Cost
These damages are for the real, but non-financial, ways the injury has impacted your life. Placing a dollar value on this suffering is difficult, but it is a critical part of achieving justice. It includes:
- Pain and Suffering
- Emotional Anguish and Mental Distress
- Permanent Disfigurement or Scarring
- Loss of Enjoyment of Life
Our lawyers leave no stone unturned in calculating the full value of your claim to ensure we fight for a recovery that meets your family’s needs.
Where Unsafe Property Accidents Occur in Augusta, GA
An injury caused by a property owner’s negligence can happen anywhere, at any time. We go about our daily lives trusting that the owners of the places we visit have taken reasonable steps to ensure our safety. When that trust is broken, the results can be devastating. In Augusta, these accidents frequently occur at a variety of locations, including:
- Retail Stores and Shopping Malls: Large shopping centers like Augusta Mall and smaller retail stores are common sites for slip and fall accidents due to spills, recently mopped floors without warning signs, or merchandise cluttered in the aisles.
- Grocery Stores: Supermarkets have a high risk of spills in the produce and freezer sections. A failure to conduct regular inspections and clean up spills promptly can lead to serious falls.
- Apartment Complexes and Rental Properties: Tenants can be injured by broken stairs, missing handrails, poor lighting in common areas and parking lots, or a landlord’s failure to fix a known hazard inside an apartment.
- Restaurants, Bars, and Nightclubs: Spilled drinks, poorly lit entryways, and crowded spaces can lead to falls. Inadequate security at establishments that serve alcohol can also lead to preventable assaults.
- Parking Lots and Garages: Cracked pavement, potholes, inadequate lighting, and poor security can lead to trip and fall accidents and criminal attacks.
- Hotels and Motels: Guests can be injured by unsafe conditions in their rooms, swimming pool areas, or common areas like lobbies and hallways.
- Public Parks and Venues: While there are some special rules for government-owned property, citizens can still be injured by poorly maintained playground equipment, broken sidewalks, or other hazards in public spaces.
No matter where you suffered an injury, if it was due to a property owner’s carelessness, our lawyers can investigate the incident and fight to hold them responsible.
Understanding Premises Liability Law in Georgia
The central idea behind premises liability law is that property owners have a responsibility to keep their property reasonably safe for people they invite onto it. It isn’t just a moral duty; it’s a legal one.
The Legal Duty of a Property Owner
Under Georgia law (O.C.G.A.§51−3−1), an owner or occupier of land who invites people onto their property for a lawful purpose must exercise ordinary care to keep the premises safe. This means a property owner must proactively inspect their property for potential hazards, repair them, or provide an adequate warning to visitors.
Your Status as a Visitor Matters
Georgia law defines the level of care a property owner owes you based on your reason for being on the property. There are three main categories our lawyers will help determine:
- Invitee: An invitee has an invitation to enter the property for the mutual benefit of both parties. The most common example is a customer in a store. Property owners owe the highest duty of care to invitees. They must protect invitees from dangers they know about and dangers they should have known about through a reasonable inspection.
- Licensee: A licensee, such as a social guest, enters a property for their own purposes. A property owner is liable to a licensee for injuries caused by a willful or wanton act. This generally means the owner knew about a specific danger and failed to warn the guest about it.
- Trespasser: A trespasser is someone who is on the property without any permission at all. Property owners owe a very low duty of care to trespassers. They cannot intentionally harm a trespasser, but they generally have no duty to make the property safe for them.
Common Types of Premises Liability Accidents
Our lawyers will investigate the specific cause of your injury, which often falls into one of several common categories of negligence. These include:
- Slip and Fall Accidents: This is the most common type of premises liability case. It happens when a person slips on a substance like water from a leaky cooler, a spilled drink, or a patch of ice. As the National Safety Council (NSC) points out in its materials on preventing falls, these incidents are a leading cause of preventable injuries. The key to these cases is proving the owner knew or, through the exercise of ordinary care, should have known about the spill and failed to clean it or place a warning sign within a reasonable time.
- Trip and Fall Accidents: These accidents are caused by physical hazards on the ground. These hazards can include torn or bunched-up carpeting, cracked or uneven sidewalks, electrical cords stretched across a walkway, merchandise left in a store aisle, or potholes in a parking lot. In these cases, our lawyers work to show the hazard existed long enough that a reasonable owner would have discovered and fixed it.
- Negligent or Inadequate Security: Property owners, especially in places like apartment complexes and hotels, have a duty to take reasonable steps to protect people from foreseeable criminal attacks. When a person is robbed, assaulted, or worse, you can hold the property owner liable if they failed to provide adequate security measures like working locks, sufficient lighting in parking lots, or security personnel where needed.
- Elevator and Escalator Accidents: These complex machines can cause serious injuries when they are not properly maintained. Accidents can be caused by sudden stops, misleveling with the floor (creating a trip hazard), or doors that close on a person.
- Swimming Pool Accidents: Property owners with pools have a duty to ensure they are properly fenced and secured to prevent accidents, especially those involving children. Drowning and near-drowning incidents can happen due to a lack of supervision, broken gates, or defective drain covers. The American Red Cross provides extensive pool safety guidelines that all responsible pool owners should follow.
- Dog Bites and Animal Attacks: Under Georgia law (O.C.G.A.§51−2−7), a dog’s owner is liable for an attack if they knew or should have known the dog was dangerous and then failed to manage the dog properly. We investigate past incidents and other evidence to establish the owner’s knowledge and negligence. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) provides data and resources on dog bite responsibility, emphasizing the owner’s role in preventing attacks.
Common Injuries in Premises Liability Cases
The types of injuries sustained in these accidents can be severe and life-altering. Our lawyers have experience handling cases involving a wide range of injuries, including:
- Broken Bones: Falls are a leading cause of fractures, especially broken hips, wrists, and ankles, which can require surgery and extensive rehabilitation.
- Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI): Hitting your head during a fall can cause anything from a mild concussion to a severe TBI with lasting cognitive and physical effects. The Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) provides vital resources on understanding brain injury and its long-term consequences.
- Spinal Cord Injuries: A hard fall, especially down a flight of stairs, can damage the vertebrae and the spinal cord. According to top rehabilitation hospitals like the Shepherd Center, these spinal cord injuries can lead to chronic pain or permanent paralysis.
- Soft Tissue Injuries: Sprains, strains, and tears to muscles, ligaments, and tendons are common in falls and can lead to chronic pain and limited mobility that lasts for years.
Steps to Protect Your Rights After an Injury on Someone Else’s Property
The actions you take in the minutes, hours, and days after your injury can significantly impact your ability to bring a successful claim. If you suffered an injury on someone else’s property, our Augusta premises liability attorneys recommend you take these steps:
- Seek Medical Attention Right Away: Your health is the top priority. Go to an emergency room or urgent care clinic. Adrenaline can mask the severity of an injury. Seeking immediate medical care helps your health and creates a medical record that links your injuries directly to the accident.
- Decline to Give a Recorded Statement: An insurance adjuster for the property owner will likely call you. They are trained to ask questions designed to limit the owner’s liability. Politely decline to give a statement and direct them to communicate with your attorney.
- Preserve Evidence: Keep the shoes and clothing you were wearing at the time of the accident in a safe place. Do not wear or wash them. They may serve as important evidence.
Augusta Premises Liability FAQs
How long do I have to file a premises liability lawsuit in Georgia?
In Georgia, the statute of limitations for most personal injury cases, including premises liability claims, is two years from the date of the injury. If you fail to file a lawsuit within this time frame, you will likely lose your right to seek compensation. There are very few exceptions, so act promptly.
What if I was partially at fault for my accident?
Georgia follows a modified comparative negligence rule (O.C.G.A.§51−12−33). This means you can still recover damages as long as you were less than 50% at fault for the accident. However, your total compensation will decrease by your percentage of fault. If you are found 50% or more at fault, you cannot recover any damages.
What is the difference between a premises liability claim and a general negligence claim?
A premises liability claim is a specific type of negligence claim that arises from an injury caused by an unsafe condition on someone’s property. It focuses on the property owner’s duty to keep the premises safe.
General negligence covers a broader range of situations where one person’s careless actions cause harm to another, independent of a property condition.
What if my child was injured on someone else’s property?
Property owners often owe a higher duty of care when children may be on their property, particularly regarding hazards that might attract a child’s curiosity. This is known as the attractive nuisance doctrine.
If an unsafe condition like an unsecured swimming pool or abandoned equipment injured your child, you can hold the property owner liable even if your child trespassed onto the property.
Speak With Our Augusta Premises Liability Attorneys for Free
The most important step you can take is to get an experienced legal team in your corner. Let our Augusta personal injury lawyers handle the legal process so you can focus on what truly matters: your health and your family.
Call The Hawk Firm at (706) 429-5529 to schedule your free, confidential consultation.
Client Testimonials
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“Best Law Firm in the CSRA! Thank you Hawk Firm for handling all of my legal needs with outstanding professionalism! Highly recommend The Hawk Firm to anyone in need of legal services!” -Rob W.
The Hawk Firm Personal Injury Lawyers
448 Telfair St
Augusta, GA 30901
Ph: 706-717-7715
