You expect safety when you walk into a grocery store, visit an apartment complex, or park your car in a garage. Property owners in Dallas hold a legal duty to keep their land and buildings free from known dangers.
When they choose to cut costs by ignoring broken lights, fixing crumbling stairs with duct tape, or ignoring criminal activity, innocent people get hurt. If you suffered a serious injury on someone else’s property, you need a Dallas premises liability lawyer who knows how to hold these property owners accountable.
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Read the existing FAQs, then contact the firm about your circumstances.
The law does not require you to pay for a property owner’s negligence. Big retail chains and property management companies carry massive insurance policies specifically for these incidents.
However, they will not write you a check out of the goodness of their hearts. They will argue that you should have paid better attention. They will claim they lacked knowledge that the danger existed.
We build the evidence to prove they knew, or should have known, about the hazard that changed your life.
Premises liability overview
The Bottom Line
- Duty of Care: Property owners owe different levels of safety to visitors depending on why the visitor enters the property.
- Notice Matters: You must usually prove the owner knew about the danger or should have discovered it through regular inspections.
- Negligent Security: Property owners may hold liability for crimes committed against you if they failed to provide adequate lighting, gates, or guards.
- Evidence Disappears: Security camera footage often gets deleted within days, making immediate legal intervention necessary.
- Apartment Safety: Landlords must adhere to strict safety codes regarding smoke detectors, railings, and access gates.
- Comparative Fault: Texas law allows you to recover damages even if you held partial fault, as long as you bore less than 51% of the responsibility.
Why Choose The Law Firm of Aaron A. Herbert, P.C. for Your Case
Premises liability cases require a specific set of skills. You need a lawyer who knows engineering codes, security standards, and medical trauma. We bring a fighter’s mentality to every case we handle.
We offer these specific advantages:
Board Certification: Aaron Herbert holds Board Certification in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. This distinction proves we possess the trial experience to handle complex liability disputes.
Investigation Speed: We move fast to secure surveillance video and maintenance logs before the property owner destroys them.
North Dallas Location: Our office on the LBJ Freeway puts us close to the major shopping centers, apartment complexes, and commercial zones where these injuries occur.
Trial Focus: We prepare every case for a jury verdict. This aggressive preparation often forces insurance companies to offer fair settlements to avoid the courtroom.
No Financial Risk: We operate on a contingency fee basis. We advance all costs for the investigation and only get paid if we win.
Your Status: Invitee, Licensee, or Trespasser
Texas law judges your right to compensation based on why you were on the property. We call this visitor status. The judge determines this status first, and it dictates how much safety the property owner owed you in a personal injury case.
The Invitee
An invitee enters the property for the mutual benefit of both parties. This usually means you acted as a customer at a store or a client at a business.
- The Duty: The owner owes the highest duty of care. They must fix known dangers and inspect the property to find hidden dangers.
- Example Case: A shopper at a mall or a guest at a hotel counts as an invitee.
The Licensee
A licensee enters the property for their own benefit with the owner’s permission.
- The Duty: The owner must warn you of known hidden dangers but does not have to inspect the property to find new ones.
- Example Case: A social guest visiting a friend’s house or a salesperson entering an office uninvited counts as a licensee.
The Trespasser
A trespasser enters without permission.
- The Duty: The owner owes almost no duty, except to not intentionally hurt the trespasser, such as setting a trap.
- Exception: Special rules apply if the trespasser is a child drawn to an attractive nuisance like an unfenced swimming pool.
When you’ve been injured due to someone else’s negligence, you deserve more than just legal representation—you deserve an advocate who fights relentlessly for your rights. At The Law Firm of Aaron A. Herbert, we understand the pain, stress, and uncertainty that come with an injury, and we are committed to securing the compensation you need to move forward. With a proven track record of success and a dedication to personalized service, we handle the legal battle so you can focus on healing. No fees unless you recover—because your justice is our priority.
Negligent Security: When Crime Becomes a Liability
Dallas has a high crime rate in certain areas, and property owners know this. Apartment complexes, strip malls, and parking garages hold a duty to protect their tenants and customers from foreseeable criminal acts, which can become the basis of a personal injury lawsuit.
A property owner shares responsibility for an attack if they know their parking lot attracts carjackers or muggers but refuse to fix the broken gate or install lights.
We investigate the history of the property to prove negligence:
- Crime Grids: We pull police reports for that specific address and the surrounding neighborhood for the last two years to show a pattern of danger.
- Lighting Surveys: We measure the brightness of the lights in the area where the attack happened because dark corners invite criminals.
- Access Control: We check if the entry gates worked or if the owner left them broken for months to save money.
- Security Presence: We determine if the property claimed to have security patrols but failed actually to schedule them.
You suffered an assault because a business owner prioritized profit over safety. We make them answer for that choice.
Dangers Underfoot: Uneven Surfaces and Spills
Gravity causes thousands of injuries every year. A loss of traction or a sudden stumble leads to broken hips, traumatic brain injuries, and spinal damage. These accidents happen when businesses fail to maintain their floors and walkways.
We handle cases involving wet surfaces in grocery stores, cracked sidewalks outside retail shops, and loose carpeting in office buildings. These slip and fall incidents often leave victims with long-term pain.
Proving these cases requires showing notice. We must prove the store knew about the spill or the hole and did nothing.
- Actual Notice: An employee saw the spill or a customer reported it directly to management.
- Constructive Notice: The spill sat there long enough that a reasonable employee should have seen it and cleaned it up.
We look for evidence like dried sticky liquids or footprints through a spill, which prove the hazard existed for a long time. We also demand sweep logs to see if employees actually inspected the aisles as required by company policy.
Apartment Complex Negligence
Renters in Dallas possess rights. Your landlord must provide a safe place to live. Unfortunately, many large management companies ignore maintenance requests and let their buildings rot. When a ceiling collapses, a balcony rail gives way, or a stairwell goes dark, the landlord holds liability for the resulting injuries, which may involve claims related to personal injury protection.
We hold landlords accountable for:
- Structural Failures: Rotting wood on balconies or staircases that collapse under a tenant’s weight.
- Fire Safety Violations: Missing smoke detectors, blocked fire exits, or faulty wiring that leads to burns and smoke inhalation.
- Pool Accidents: Broken gates that allow children to enter the pool area unsupervised or cloudy water that prevents rescuers from seeing a drowning victim.
- Electrical Hazards: Exposed wiring or ungrounded outlets that cause shocks or electrocution.
You pay rent for a safe home. We fight to ensure the management company pays for their failure to provide one.
Commercial Property Hazards
Shopping centers like NorthPark Center, the Galleria, and the hundreds of strip malls along Preston Road and Belt Line Road see millions of visitors. These commercial spaces present unique dangers.
High-stacked merchandise can fall on shoppers. Escalators and elevators can malfunction, causing crushing injuries or sudden drops.
We investigate commercial accidents by looking at:
Stacking Procedures: Retailers must stack heavy items safely. If a box falls from a high shelf, it often means an employee ignored safety protocols.
Maintenance Contracts: Stores often hire outside companies to clean floors or fix elevators. We identify these third-party vendors to find additional insurance policies.
Code Compliance: Buildings must meet city and state building codes. Handrails must meet height requirements. Ramps must have a specific grade. Violating these codes serves as strong evidence of negligence.
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Determining the Value of Your Claim
A serious injury on someone else’s property costs you more than just an ER copay. It disrupts your entire life. You might miss weeks of work. You might need surgery and months of physical therapy, which is why many people turn to personal injury lawyers for help.
You might live with chronic pain that prevents you from picking up your children.
We fight for compensation that covers the full scope of your loss:
- Medical Expenses: Current bills and the estimated cost of future surgeries or rehab.
- Lost Income: Wages you missed and money you will not earn in the future due to disability.
- Pain and Suffering: Financial compensation for the physical agony and mental stress of the injury.
- Physical Impairment: Damages for the loss of enjoyment of life and inability to perform daily tasks.
- Disfigurement: Compensation for scarring or permanent changes to your appearance.
We work with medical experts to calculate these numbers accurately. We do not let the insurance adjuster tell you the value of your pain.
Fighting Insurance Company Tactics
Insurance companies for property owners use a standard playbook to deny claims. They try to shift the blame to you. They will argue you acted distracted by your phone.
They will claim the hazard was open and obvious, meaning you should have seen it. They will dig into your medical history to claim your back pain comes from an old sports injury, not the fall.
We counter these tactics with facts:
- The Distraction Defense: We use video to show you walked normally and paid attention.
- The Open and Obvious Defense: We argue that bad lighting or crowded displays hid the danger, making it impossible for a reasonable person to see.
- The Medical History Defense: We use doctor statements to differentiate your new, acute injury from any pre-existing conditions.
FAQs: Dallas Premises Liability
Can I sue if I was injured at a friend’s house?
Yes. Homeowners insurance exists for this exact reason. Many people hesitate to file a claim because they do not want to sue a friend. However, you are usually seeking money from their insurance company, not their personal bank account. Your friend paid premiums to protect guests, and accessing that coverage helps you pay your medical bills.
What if I fell on a city sidewalk or government property?
Cases against the City of Dallas or other government entities follow different rules. The Texas Tort Claims Act limits when you can sue the government. You also have a much shorter deadline—often as little as 90 days—to file a formal notice of claim. You must contact a lawyer immediately to avoid missing this strict window.
How long do I have to file a premises liability lawsuit?
Texas generally gives you two years from the date of the injury to file a lawsuit. This acts as the Statute of Limitations. If you wait longer than two years, the court will likely dismiss your case, and you will receive nothing.
What if there was a Wet Floor sign?
A sign makes the case harder, but not impossible. The sign might have sat in a spot where you could not see it, or the hazard might have extended far beyond the sign. Also, a sign does not fix the problem; the store still holds a duty to clean up the spill in a reasonable amount of time.
Premises injury resources
Contact The Law Firm of Aaron A. Herbert, P.C.
Property owners hold a responsibility to keep our community safe. When they fail, innocent people pay the price. The Law Firm of Aaron A. Herbert, P.C. stands up to negligent landlords, careless store managers, and the massive insurance companies that protect them.
We use our resources and board-certified expertise to demand the justice you deserve. We stand ready to listen to your story. Our team investigates quickly to preserve the evidence you need to win.
Contact us today to discuss your case. We answer our phones 24/7. You pay nothing unless we recover money for you. Se habla español.