Premises Liability Lawyer in Los Angeles

Who is liable for a premises injury in California?

Whoever owns or controls a property must keep it in reasonably safe condition for people who enter lawfully. That includes inspecting it, repairing what is broken and warning of hazards that cannot be fixed at once. Depending on the facts, responsibility can reach:

• A landlord or property management company for stairs without handrails, loose railings, dark hallways and parking areas, faulty electric gates, exposed wiring and defective heaters.
• A business owner for wet floors, cluttered aisles, poor lighting and inadequate security.
• An owner with a pool that lacks the required fencing and self-latching gate.
• A contractor or maintenance company that created or failed to fix the hazard.
• A public entity for a dangerous condition of public property under Government Code section 835. These claims carry the six month deadline.

Roofs and floors that had already been reported are a common source of serious injuries, and the same pattern repeats: someone told the owner first.

How is a premises liability claim proved?

The question is the same as in any fall: did the owner know of the danger, or should they have known? In an apartment building that question often has a written answer, because someone reported the problem earlier. Notice is proved with records rather than assertions:

• Inspection and sweep logs.
• Maintenance requests and the replies to them.
• Prior incidents at the same spot.
• Police calls to the address.
• Code enforcement history.
• Messages to the manager and complaints from other tenants.

Maintenance reports, messages to the manager and complaints from other tenants are the most useful evidence in these cases. Under pure comparative fault, a defense that you should have been looking where you walked reduces a recovery rather than ending it. Where a violation of a safety statute is shown, Evidence Code section 669 can create a presumption of negligence.

Can a landlord retaliate if you report a hazard or bring a claim?

A fear stops many tenants in Los Angeles: that a claim will lead to an eviction or a rent increase. Civil Code section 1942.5 prohibits a landlord from retaliating against a tenant for exercising legal rights, which includes complaining about unsafe conditions or claiming for an injury. If an eviction notice, a sudden increase or a cut in services arrives after a claim, that closeness in time is exactly what the law treats as suspicious. In the City of Los Angeles many units are also under rent control, with additional just cause protections.

The practical advice is the same in every case: request repairs in writing, by text or email, even if you already asked out loud. That record does two jobs at once. It shows the landlord knew of the danger, and it fixes the date if retaliation follows.

What compensation can you recover after a premises injury?

• Medical expenses, past and future, including surgery, therapy and long term care.
• Lost earnings and loss of future earning capacity.
• Pain, suffering and emotional distress, and the loss of enjoyment of life.
• Property damage to belongings damaged in the incident.
• Punitive damages under Civil Code section 3294 where an owner ignored a known danger with malice, oppression or fraud.
• Wrongful death damages under Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 when an injury is fatal.

No value can be known before the medical picture is clear. It turns on the injury, the care still to come and the strength of the evidence of what the owner knew.

How long do you have to file a premises liability claim in California?

• Two years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit, under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1.
• Three years for property damage, under Code of Civil Procedure section 338.
• Six months to present a written claim where the property is publicly owned, under Government Code section 911.2. This shorter deadline governs.

Under Los Angeles Superior Court Local Rule 2.3(a)(1)(A), a case is filed in the judicial district where the incident arose, which the Court’s filing locator identifies.

How much does a premises liability lawyer cost?

No fee unless there is a recovery. Broukhim Legal PC takes these cases on a contingency fee, so there is nothing to pay up front and the fee is paid out of what is recovered. If nothing is recovered, no fee is owed. The fee agreement is put in writing and signed before any work starts, as California law requires (Business and Professions Code section 6147), and the costs of running the case are explained in that same agreement rather than left to the end. Your first conversation is free, confidential and carries no obligation.

Personal injury lawyers across Los Angeles County

Broukhim Legal PC represents injured people throughout Los Angeles County from its office at 550 S Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles. Each city page covers the courthouse an incident in that city is filed in, how a claim against that city is presented and the deadlines that apply:

See all locations we serve, or tell us what happened for a free case review.

Meet your Los Angeles premises liability lawyer

Bejan Broukhim, Founder and Lead Attorney
State Bar of California, license number 183036

Bejan Broukhim brings years of California legal experience to injury and mass tort cases and personally reviews each one. He earned his J.D. at the University of West Los Angeles School of Law, served as a judicial extern in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and the Van Nuys Superior Court, and appeared in preliminary hearings as a certified law clerk with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Every case is prepared from day one as though it will go to trial.

Office: 550 S Hill Street, Suite 1390, Los Angeles, CA 90013, serving all of Los Angeles County and California. Get directions