Premises Liability

Property owners have a legal duty to keep their property in a safe condition and to warn visitors of any hidden hazards that might exist. New York law provides that owners and occupiers of land owe a duty to each entrant to exercise ordinary, reasonable care under the circumstances. This rule means that a property owner must take reasonable steps to ensure that the environment is safe to any party that may foreseeably come on to the premises. Those injured on another’s property, due to the property owner’s negligence, may be awarded monetary compensation for injuries.

In many states and under traditional law, there are different categories of people (e.g invitee, licensee, trespasser) that can enter one’s property, with varying standards of protection awarded to each. However, New York has gotten rid of the traditional categories and now uses one uniform standard. This uniform standard states that the landowner’s duty is to: “act reasonably to maintain safe conditions in view of all circumstances including likelihood of injury, seriousness thereof and burden of avoiding risk, with likelihood of plaintiff’s presence the primary factor in determining foreseeability.”