Kentucky Premises Liability Attorneys

When she’s not engaged in her legal practice, Flora is giving back in the Warren County community, helping in the schools, charities, and fundraising events. If you’ve been out and about, you might have seen her law firm’s mascots, Poppy and Pixie, the raccoons. She has donated over $200,000 to charities and fundraisers over the years including: BG OnStage, Kiwanis Club, Stuff the Bus, Lions Club, Toys for Tots for Southern KY, International Center of KY, Band Together BG, Poppy Field Trips, Thunderfest, Holy Spirit Catholic Church, South Central KY Kids on the Block, Operation Stand Down, Buddy Walk, and Save Our Kids Coalition.

About Flora Templeton Stuart

Flora Templeton Stuart has years of experience negotiating, settling, and litigating personal injury cases for clients, including those who have suffered injuries on other people’s property. Ms. Stuart and her skilled legal team remain dedicated to client advocacy and case preparation, which has led to millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts in favor of her clients. Some recent cases include settlements in the millions of dollars.

These examples do not guarantee a similar outcome for your premises liability claim. However, they show that Flora Templeton Stuart and her team have the resources and experience necessary to build strong legal claims, and they strive to maximize their clients’ compensation amounts.

Types of Premises Liability Accidents

Someone can experience a wide array of injuries on another party’s property. A premises liability accident can lead to fractures, brain injuries, back injuries, spinal cord injuries, and many more potentially severe, sometimes fatal, injuries. Even though many different scenarios might cause a premises liability accident, some events occur more frequently than others. These more common events include:

Slips, Trips, and Falls

Slip and fall accidents and trip and fall accidents are the most common types of premises liability accidents. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that one in five falls result in severe injuries, like broken bones or brain injuries. Falls are also the number one cause of hip fractures in older adults.

The CDC also reports that approximately 3 million individuals visit emergency departments each year for fall-related injuries. This includes about 800,000 who have to stay in the hospital for one or more days. Many different hazards or conditions can cause someone to slip and fall or trip and fall, including:

• Old, run-down buildings that have rotted, worn, or loose stairs, rails, and wood or tile flooring
• Falling debris from construction sites
• Uncleared debris in parking lots, driveways, and storefronts, and on sidewalks
• Wet product spills or use, such as floor cleaners, water, wax, oil, ice, and food
• Dry product spills or use, such as powders, granules, grains, sand, sawdust, and soil
• Uneven and unkempt sidewalks and trails

Escalator and Elevator Accidents

The technology that has given us elevators and escalators has provided a convenience that most of us take advantage of in office buildings, airports, shopping malls, hotels, and other large structures. These machines allow us to move quickly from one place to another without having to climb flights of stairs. Additionally, those with physical limitations can use escalators and elevators to navigate large buildings that they otherwise might not have visited. However, visitors who use this infrastructure can suffer injuries when property owners don’t properly maintain escalators, elevators, and moving walkways.

Some mechanical failures with escalators and elevators that can lead to injuries include:

• Poor installation, which can include missing or loose parts
• Escalators that suddenly stop
• Elevators that suddenly drop
• Irregular maintenance
• Failure to inspect machinery for common mechanical issues
• Malfunctioning elevator doors
• Uneven or wrong elevator landings
• Side-step entrapments on escalators and moving walkways, which are especially dangerous for children

Swimming Pool Accidents

Kentucky’s warm summer climate makes taking a dip in a private or public pool a frequent event on hot days. Swimming not only provides relief from the hot weather, but it also serves as a great activity for kids and adults alike. Pool owners who don’t properly maintain their pool put users at risk for accident and injury.

According to the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), the federal agency tasked with warning consumers about dangerous products, almost 150 children age 14 and below drown every summer between Memorial Day and Labor Day. This tragic statistic does not include adults who drown or swimming pool accidents that don’t lead to death. A swimming pool accident can occur at someone’s home, a hotel, a community pool, or a water theme park.

Some unsafe conditions and negligent pool owner behaviors, which can cause severe accidents and injuries, include:

• Failure to inspect all aspects and areas of a pool, such as steps, ladders, handrails, filters, pumps, slides, and diving boards
• Concrete and tiles that are extra slippery because they haven’t been cleaned or maintained properly
• Cracked tiles and concrete that create dangerous, uneven walking areas
• Overcrowding of a pool, which makes it more difficult to monitor swimmers in distress
• Failure to construct a fence or other barrier to keep small children out of the pool area
• Lack of adult supervision or failure to provide a lifeguard

Insufficient Building Security

Property owners also have a legal obligation to protect visitors from suffering harm by third parties. This type of protection usually comes in the form of building or property security. The notion of security is broad, highly subjective, and can include a variety of actions depending on the specific property, its location, and potential threats to visitors or tenants.

Some apartment communities or office buildings might have restricted access that requires a passcode, a key, a key card, or some other technology. In other cases, maintaining security on a property might include the installation and maintenance of lighting in outdoor spaces and common spaces, or enclosing a property with a security gate. If a visitor or tenant gets attacked, assaulted, raped, stabbed, or shot, the property owner might share liability with the perpetrator.

Fires

Several different hazardous conditions, chemicals, and other substances can lead to a dangerous fire or explosion. Examples include electrical shorts, lit cigarettes, and flammable substances. A Kentucky court might find the property owner liable if a visitor suffers burns or other injuries after a fire or explosion is caused by the owner’s negligence. Burns are among the most expensive injuries to treat. Those who suffer severe burns often need one or more surgeries to repair burned areas of the body.

Additionally, severe burns might cause doctors to put a burn victim in a medical coma to spare him or her the excruciating pain of healing. Burn victims typically spend weeks, months, and sometimes years recovering from their burn injuries. Even after cosmetic surgery and a lengthy recovery, burn victims face permanent scars. Fortunately, fires don’t occur as often as other types of premises liability accidents, but when they do occur, fires can cause life-changing injuries.

Dog Bites

According to the Insurance Information Institute, insurance companies paid out more than $600 million in claims related to dog bites in 2018, and the CDC estimates that approximately 4.5 million people suffer dog bites each year. Dog bites are a distinct type of premises liability accident that doesn’t conform to the average situation. You can suffer a dog bite on your own property or somewhere else, and the dog owner might not be present at his or her property when a bite occurs.

For example, a dog might bite someone at a public park or on a city sidewalk. In any case, dog bite claims typically fall under homeowners’ insurance policies, the same as if a visitor gets injured while at someone’s home. Dog bites can cause permanent scars, infection, and tremendous emotional trauma, especially in young children, who are most at risk.

Seeking Damages in Kentucky Premises Liability Cases

If you have sustained serious injuries on another party’s property because the owner was negligent or intentionally harmed you, Kentucky law permits you to sue for damages related to your injuries in civil court. Common damages that you can receive in a settlement or as a result of a verdict in your favor include:

Medical Expenses

Suffering a severe injury can lead to many different types of medical costs. Beyond your initial trip to an emergency room, which may include an ambulance ride, you might have to stay in the hospital for days or weeks. During your stay, you can accumulate charges for diagnostic imaging, lab tests, surgery, nursing care, and medication. If you are fortunate enough to avoid a long hospital stay, you can expect to visit your doctor regularly for treatment and follow-up care. Depending on the nature and extent of your injuries, visits to specialists, like physical therapists and occupational therapists, also contribute to medical expenses, as do assistive devices, like wheelchairs, canes, walkers, and artificial limbs.

Future Medical Treatment

A severe injury that causes a permanent condition or disability requires ongoing treatment and care. In the most extreme cases, victims need long-term care in a facility or at home. When lawyers, investigators, and insurance companies place a value on your claim, they often look at your long-term prognosis. Your damages can include compensation for the care you or your injured family member will need for years or the rest of his or her life.

Lost Wages

Severe injuries typically require time away from work. You might miss work for days or weeks. Even if your accident occurred in the workplace, you will likely suffer economic losses while you receive disability payments, which cover no more than two-thirds of your average weekly wage for a set period of time. Regardless of where your accident occurred, compensation for damages related to your injuries typically includes lost income for the time you missed from work.

Future Lost Wages

Some injuries are catastrophic and prevent a victim from returning to his or her job or finding gainful employment. When a victim cannot return to work, lawyers and insurance companies include compensation for future lost wages in a claim.

Non-economic damages

Depending on the severity of an injury, premises liability accident victims can receive compensation for a wide array of non-economic damages. Some examples include physical pain and suffering, emotional pain and suffering, loss of consortium with a spouse, and loss of quality of life.

Punitive Damages

This special type of damages compensates accident victims when their injuries are a result of intentional harm or gross negligence. Punitive damages are not only meant to punish the at-fault party, but also to serve as a deterrent for future negligent behavior or willful harm. In a premises liability case, a court may find a property owner who knows about a hazardous condition and fails to warn visitors liable for punitive damages if any injuries occur. Courts reserve punitive damages for rare circumstances; your attorney will advise you on whether your specific circumstances and injuries warrant including punitive damages in your claim.

Get the Legal Help You Need From a Bowling Green Premises Liability Lawyer

You deserve compensation for your injuries when they are a result of a negligent property owner’s failure to maintain a safe environment. Flora Templeton Stuart is here to help you through these challenging times.

Ms. Stuart and her legal team represent injured clients throughout Kentucky.

Contact us at (888) 782-9090 or online for a free consultation and to discuss your injuries. We handle personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis, which means you don’t pay attorney fees upfront.

Instead, we only collect attorney fees from any compensation we secure for you in a settlement or verdict in your favor.

Flora Templeton Stuart
607 E 10Th AVE
Bowling Green, KY 42101
(888) 782-9090