PEDESTRIAN, FIRE, DANGEROUS PREMISES

The general rule is that owners of premises in Washington are subject to certain duties to avoid injuries to those who come upon their premises. Most of the duties of care in premises liability cases are imposed by common law, and in some instances the legislature have imposed statutory duties. The important thing to remember is that if you suffer an injury in the premises of another person, whether a business or private property or home, it is important for you to consult an attorney. Whether you recover damages depends on the followings:

(a) The person’s status while on the premises. Although all landowners must exercise reasonable care in his or her own activities to avoid injuring invitees and social guest, the actual status of the victim determines the level of care owed to the victim. Under the law, a person on another person’s property may be classified as an “invitee”, or “licensee”, or “trespasser”. An invitee is a person that enters the premises of the landowner for propose of patronizing or enhancing the landowner’s business. The landowner is required to use reasonable care, which includes an affirmative duty to discover dangerous condition. Therefore, if you enter premises for business purposes the landowner or business is required to discover dangerous conditions and remedy them. A licensee or social guest is a person who enters premises with the landowner’s permission, for the licensee’s own purpose, instead of the landowner’s benefit. A licensee enters the landowner’s premises as he or she finds, which means that licensees should not expect the landowner will take any precautions for his or her safety in any manner beyond the precaution of that the landowner takes for his or her own safety, or that of his or her family. The landowner only has a duty of making the condition safe or warning the licensee or social guest of its existence. See, Younce v. Ferguson, 106 Wash.2d 658, 724 P.2d 991 (1986). A landowner owns no duty to a trespasser who enters the premises of another without invitation or permission, express or implied, but enters for his own purpose.

(b) Circumstances where duty exists. (1) Duty of business operators to customer. As discussed above, a business proprietor has a duty care to the safety of member of public who are invited as a customer. This includes duty to warn and inspect for dangerous conditions and take reasonable care to maintain the premises. In order for the business operator to be liable to the customer for injuries resulting from temporary unsafe condition, it must be shown that the operators’ employees must have caused the condition or the owner has actual or constructive knowledge of the safe condition.

(2) Duty of landlord to tenant. A landlord of residential premises has a duty to use ordinary care to keep the premises fit for human habitation during the tenancy. Washington Residential Landlord-Tenant Act (RCW 59.18 et seq) also imposes a duty to keep the premises substantially in compliance with all the provisions of the act so as not to substantially endanger health or safety of the tenant.

(3) Duty of the City, County, and State for sidewalks, streets and roads. A municipality has a duty to exercise ordinary care in the construction, design, maintenance, and repair of public roads, streets, and sidewalks. This duty includes keeping them in a condition that is reasonably safe for ordinary use. However, persons using sidewalks, streets, and public roads have a duty to use reasonable care for their own safety.