What Is Premises Liability Insurance In Utah?
Like all states, Utah has laws ensuring that property owners take responsibility for any harm that comes to an individual lawfully on their property if the harm occurs due to a preventable hazard.
Under this law, owners of both private and commercial properties must maintain their property in a way that keeps it reasonably safe for visitors by recognizing and promptly addressing any safety hazards or warning visitors of a known hazard. To protect themselves from lawsuits, property owners purchase premises liability insurance.
Whether you are a private property owner or a business owner, it’s important to understand premises liability laws and insurance requirements. Injury victims should understand their rights to claim compensation after a preventable injury on another person’s property.
What Are the Different Standards of Care for Those Visiting a Property?
People enter other individuals’ properties for many reasons, from a consumer entering a convenience store to an Amazon delivery worker placing a package on a front porch. It’s important for all property owners to understand their legal obligation to those entering their property. The law categorizes visitors to a property into three categories, each with a different degree of obligation.
Invitees to a Property:
“Invitees” include anyone invited onto a property for business reasons, such as customers in a store or patrons in a restaurant. Because a property owner invites consumers onto their property for business transactions, they owe invitees a duty of care to regularly inspect their property, identify hazards, and promptly address or correct safety hazards to prevent injury. Owners must take all reasonable measures to keep others on the property safe.
Licensees to a Property:
A “Licensee” is a person who is legally allowed onto a property for legitimate purposes, either as a visiting guest, mail or delivery personnel, or anyone approaching the front entrance of the property, such as neighbors or solicitors. A property owner owes a duty of reasonable care to prevent injuries to licensees on their property, including taking reasonable actions to prevent their dog from biting a licensee.
Trespassers on a Property:
Property owners do not owe a duty of care to trespassers on their property, or anyone committing a crime on a property; however, they could be liable for intentionally or recklessly causing serious injury to a trespasser. It’s important to note that children are never trespassers. A property owner should reasonably anticipate that a child could enter their property and take measures to prevent a safety hazard that could injure a child.
What Does a Property Owner’s Premises Liability Insurance Cover?
The law holds property owners to the standard of addressing safety hazards on their property in the way a reasonable person would, but sometimes a property owner’s carelessness or failure to repair a safety hazard in a timely manner results in serious injury to someone visiting the property.
When this occurs, the injury victim may file a claim for compensation for their damages like medical expenses, lost income, and pain and suffering. The property owner’s liability insurance provides coverage for injuries such as the following:
- Slip-and-fall accidents
- Dog bites
- Falls from stairs, balconies, or escalators
- Falling objects including tree branches and icicles
- Pool accidents
A property owner’s insurance covers damages from any injury caused by a preventable accident due to a safety hazard on a property.
Anyone who experiences an injury due to a property owner’s failure to take reasonable measures to prevent harm can file a claim for compensation against the property owner’s premises liability coverage with the help of a Salt Lake City premises liability lawyer.