Nashville Premises Liability

The most common form of premises liability is known as slip and fall. These occur throughout the greater Nashville area, including in grocery stores, restaurants, hospitals, malls, and government buildings, just to name a few. Some victims can immediately get up and proceed as usual. Others, however, are not as fortunate. Slip and fall accidents can cause serious injuries like broken bones, herniated discs in the spine, and paralysis. To facilitate healing, the victim may require surgery or invasive treatment such as nerve block injections.

To recover damages, including medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering, proving negligence will be critical. In the context of slip and fall, it must first be established that the property owner or manager owed you a legal duty and breached that duty. While establishing a duty may be simple, as in the business/customer and landlord/tenant relationship, proving liability can be much more difficult. For instance, if you are walking in Kroger in Nashville and slip and fall near the frozen foods section, you will need to prove that Kroger and/or an employee was the legal cause of your injuries. You will need to show that they created this dangerous condition or knew about it, yet failed to react appropriately. Proving constructive notice is fact-specific, meaning you should consult with an experienced premises liability lawyer in the Nashville area as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, an increasingly prevalent area of premises liability concerns negligent security. These causes of action often accrue within the context of apartment complexes, convenient stores, and nightclubs. Under Tennessee law, business owners have a legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent against foreseeable harm from criminals, which includes robbery, kidnapping, assault, and rape.

If you are sitting in your living room at an apartment complex and a non-resident breaks in and shoots you, you may have a claim for negligent security, depending on the facts. For instance, if the complex is located in a high crime area of Nashville and ownership had direct notice of consistent break-ins but failed to hire security guards or fix broken gates, liability could be established by an expert witness who testifies that the complex breached the relevant standard of care in the industry. Deadly shootings have occurred at Nashville apartment complexes like Fallbrook Apartments, Trinity Hills Village Apartments, and Rolling Hills Apartments.