When you walk into a store on Penn Street, visit a relative in a Wyomissing apartment complex, or take your family to a park in Reading, you have a reasonable expectation of safety. You trust that the floor will be dry, the stairs will be stable, and the property will be free of hidden dangers. Unfortunately, property owners and managers sometimes betray that trust. Cutting corners on maintenance, ignoring hazards, or failing to provide adequate security creates dangerous conditions that can lead to life-altering injuries. When a hidden danger causes you or a loved one to suffer a serious injury, it is a profound violation of your rights.
Under Pennsylvania law, property owners are legally responsible for protecting their visitors from foreseeable harm. An injury on unsafe property is not just an accident; it is an injustice that demands accountability. At Leonard Hill – Personal Injury Lawyers and Car Accident Lawyers, we are dedicated to enforcing the rights of the injured. Your safety should be a property owner’s priority. When it’s not, we make it our mission. We fight to hold careless property owners accountable for the harm they cause, and we have the experience and resources to win.
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Why You Need an Experienced Reading Premises Liability Attorney
After a serious injury, you may feel overwhelmed by medical bills, lost earnings, and the stress of your recovery. During this vulnerable time, the property owner’s insurance company will be working to protect its financial interests. They aim to pay you as little as possible or, if they can, nothing. They have teams of adjusters and lawyers dedicated to this purpose. You need a team of powerful advocates dedicated to fighting for you to get a fair outcome.
At Leonard Hill – Personal Injury Lawyers and Car Accident Lawyers, our philosophy is built on standing up for the individual against powerful corporate and insurance interests. We have recovered over $500 million for injured clients, a testament to our commitment and skill in the courtroom. We only represent injured people and their families, not corporations or insurance companies. We chose to be injury lawyers because we believe every person is entitled to fair and reasonable compensation for his or her injuries. This singular focus gives us the strength and knowledge to level the playing field.
Premises liability cases are often far more challenging than they appear. They require a deep investigation to uncover evidence of negligence, a thorough understanding of Pennsylvania’s specific laws, and the resources to hire professionals to prove how an owner’s failure led to your injury. Our firm, led by founding attorney Leonard Hill and a team of dedicated trial lawyers like David Maselli and Susan B. Ayres, has the experience to handle these challenges. We are proud to serve the communities of Reading and Berks County, and we are ready to put our firm’s full weight behind your case.
Understanding a Property Owner’s Legal Duty of Care in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania’s foundation of every premises liability case is the “duty of care.” This is the legal responsibility that a person or company in control of a property owes to a visitor. However, this duty is not the same for everyone. The level of responsibility a property owner has depends entirely on the visitor’s legal status—that is, why the person was on the property in the first place. Determining your status is the first step in building a strong claim.
The Key to Your Case: Your Legal Status on the Property
Pennsylvania law classifies visitors into one of three categories. Understanding which category you fall into is essential, as it dictates what your attorney must prove to hold the property owner liable for your injuries.
Invitees (The Highest Duty of Care)
An invitee is someone who is invited onto a property for the owner’s financial benefit or for a purpose for which the property is held open to the public. This group receives the highest level of protection under the law.
- Business Invitees: This is the most common category and includes store customers, restaurant diners, and office clients. If you are on a property to conduct business that benefits the owner, you are a business invitee. For example, a shopper at the Berkshire Mall or a customer at a local grocery store is a business invitee.
- Public Invitees: The landowner invites a public invitee to enter or stay on the property for a purpose, for the land is openly made available to the public. This includes visitors to public parks, attendees at a Reading Fightin Phils game, or patients entering a Reading Hospital facility.
For invitees, the property possessor has a duty to warn about known dangers and to actively inspect the property to discover hidden dangers. They must take reasonable steps to fix any hazardous conditions or provide adequate warning of their existence to keep visitors safe.
Licensees (A Lesser Duty)
A licensee is on the property for their purposes with the owner’s consent, but without any business purpose. The most common example of a licensee is a social guest. You become a licensee when a friend invites you to a barbecue in Wyomissing or a family gathering.
The duty of care owed to a licensee is lower than that to an invitee. The property owner must warn a licensee of any dangerous conditions the owner knows about and that the guest is unlikely to discover on their own. However, unlike the duty to an invitee, the owner does not have a legal obligation to actively inspect the property for unknown dangers.
Trespassers (The Lowest Duty of Care)
A trespasser is someone who enters a property without permission. Generally, property owners owe a very minimal duty of care to adult trespassers. The law only requires that an owner refrain from willfully or wantonly injuring them. They do not have a duty to make the property safe for trespassers.
However, there is a very important exception for children. The “attractive nuisance” doctrine holds property owners responsible for injuries to child trespassers if an artificial condition on the land—such as an unfenced pool or abandoned machinery—causes harm. The owner knew or should have known that children might come near it.
Types of Premises Liability Cases We Handle in Reading
Premises liability is a broad area of law that covers any injury caused by a dangerous condition on someone else’s property. While many people think of simple slips and falls, our firm handles a wide range of complex and serious cases throughout Reading and Berks County. Our experienced attorneys know how to build a strong case no matter how the injury occurred.
Slip, Trip, and Fall Accidents
This is the most common type of premises liability claim. These accidents can occur in any location and often result from temporary or permanent hazards that the property owner fails to correct.
We represent clients who slip or trip due to spills or leaks in grocery stores. These icy sidewalks outside Penn Street businesses lacked proper treatment, broken pavement or potholes in parking lots, torn carpet in apartment hallways, and dangerously uneven surfaces. A serious fall can cause broken bones, traumatic brain injuries, and spinal cord damage.
Negligent Security
Property owners must take reasonable steps to protect visitors from foreseeable criminal acts by third parties. This is known as negligent security.
As established in Pennsylvania case law, if an owner knows or should know about a crime risk on their property, they must take action to mitigate it. When they fail and someone faces assault, robbery, or other harm, the owner bears responsibility.
Examples in the Reading area can include poor lighting in an apartment complex parking garage known for break-ins, broken locks on a building’s main entrance that allow an intruder to enter, or a lack of trained security guards at a concert venue or bar where violence is a known risk.
Dog Bites and Animal Attacks
In Pennsylvania, a dog owner can be held liable for injuries caused by their animal. While the law is not a “strict liability” statute, meaning the owner isn’t automatically at fault, we can build a strong case by proving the owner knew their dog had “vicious tendencies.”
This doesn’t require a prior bite. A history of aggressive behavior, like growling, lunging, or snapping, can be enough to establish the owner’s knowledge of the danger. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, more than 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs each year in the United States, with many requiring medical attention.
Swimming Pool Accidents and Drownings
Swimming pools can be extremely dangerous, especially for children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that drowning is a leading cause of unintentional injury death for young children.
Property owners with pools can be held liable for accidents caused by negligence, such as the lack of proper, self-latching fencing to prevent young children from wandering in, the absence of a required lifeguard at a public or community pool, or poorly maintained drains that can cause powerful suction and entrapment.
Elevator and Escalator Malfunctions
We trust elevators and escalators in commercial buildings, apartment complexes, and public spaces in Reading to function properly. When they don’t, the results can be catastrophic. We handle cases involving injuries from elevators that mislevel, causing a trip hazard; doors that close suddenly on people; or elevators that drop abruptly. Missing teeth can cause escalator accidents on the steps or side panels that can snag clothing or limbs, causing severe injuries.
Who Can Be Held Liable for an Injury on Unsafe Property?
Identifying the responsible party in a premises liability case is not always straightforward. Pennsylvania law assigns liability to the person or entity that possesses and controls the property, even if they aren’t the legal owner. Our attorneys conduct a thorough investigation to identify all potential defendants.
Property Owners
The legal owner of the land or building is the most obvious defendant. They are ultimately responsible for the condition of their property.
Tenants and Business Occupiers
In many cases, a business leases the space where it operates. That business—whether it’s a restaurant, a retail store, or a doctor’s office—is in control of the premises and is responsible for the safety of its customers inside. If you slip on a spill in a grocery store, the liable party is typically the grocery store corporation, not the owner of the shopping plaza.
Property Management Companies
Many apartment complexes and commercial buildings hire outside companies to handle day-to-day operations and maintenance. These property management companies are responsible for clearing snow and ice, repairing broken stairs, and ensuring safe common areas. If they fail in these duties and someone gets hurt, they can be liable for their negligence.
Government Entities
Injured individuals can sue cities, counties, and the state for accidents on public property, such as parks, government buildings, and sidewalks. However, there are special rules and shorter deadlines for filing claims against government entities in Pennsylvania. Speaking with a premises liability attorney immediately if you have suffered an injury on public property is vital. Different standards may apply under specific laws, like those governing an employer’s liability for workers on their premises.
Common Defenses Property Owners Use (And How We Defeat Them)
No property owner or insurance company wants to admit fault. They will use several common legal defenses to try to avoid responsibility. Our experienced attorneys have faced these arguments thousands of times and know how to defeat them.
The Pennsylvania Recreational Use Statute
This law provides broad immunity to landowners who allow the public to use their land for free for recreational purposes like hiking, hunting, or fishing. The law states that an owner owes no general duty of care to recreational users.
Insurance companies often try to apply this statute to situations where it doesn’t fit. We fight back by showing that one of the law’s key exceptions applies. Landowners may still be liable if they willfully or maliciously fail to guard against or warn of a dangerous condition. They may also face liability if they charged a fee for entry to the property.
The “Open and Obvious” Danger Defense
The defense often argues that the hazard was so open and obvious that you should have seen it and avoided it yourself. They try to shift the blame for the accident entirely to you. We counter this by showing that it may not have been avoidable even if a danger was visible. For example, if ice covers the only entrance to a building, a visitor must confront the hazard. We can also argue that the property owner had reason to expect a person’s attention to be distracted, such as in a retail store where displays naturally draw the customer’s eyes.
Steps to Protect Your Reading Premises Liability Claim
Your actions after an injury can greatly affect your ability to get fair compensation. Act quickly to preserve evidence and protect your rights. If you have suffered an injury, focus on these steps.
Follow Your Doctor’s Treatment Plan Diligently
Your health is the priority. Seek medical attention immediately after an injury. Once you have a diagnosis, follow all of your doctor’s orders. Go to every physical therapy session, take your medication as prescribed, and attend all follow-up appointments.
This helps you recover and creates a clear medical record that documents the severity of your injuries and the treatment required. The insurance company will use any failure to follow a treatment plan against you.
Create a Written Record of the Incident
Reporting the incident to a manager or owner at the scene was a good first step if you were able. However, you should also create your own formal, written record.
Send an email or a certified letter to the property owner or manager. In it, state your injury’s date, time, and exact location, and describe the condition that caused it. This creates a paper trail and officially puts the owner on notice of the event. Keep a copy for your files.
Preserve All Physical Evidence (Shoes, Clothing, Photos)
Physical evidence can be very persuasive. If you have photos or videos of the scene of your injury, back them up immediately.
Additionally, secure the shoes and clothing you were wearing at the time of the incident. Place them in a sealed bag and do not wear or wash them. The condition of your footwear and any tears or stains on your clothes can serve as important evidence.
Do Not Give a Recorded Statement to an Insurance Adjuster
The property owner’s insurance company will contact you quickly. They will be friendly and may sound helpful, but their goal is to get you to say something that undermines your claim. They will ask to take a recorded statement. Politely but firmly decline. You are not required to give one. Simply tell them, “My attorney will contact you.”
This prevents them from twisting your words against you later. Remember, you have a limited time to act. Pennsylvania has a strict two-year statute of limitations for personal injury, so contacting an attorney promptly is essential.
Contact Our Reading Premises Liability Lawyers Today
An injury caused by a property owner’s carelessness is a serious injustice. You have the right to demand accountability and compensation for the harm you have suffered. You do not have to face this fight against a powerful insurance company alone. The dedicated premises liability attorneys at Leonard Hill – Personal Injury Lawyers and Car Accident Lawyers are here to stand with you. We have the knowledge, the resources, and the unwavering commitment to fight for the best possible outcome for you and your family.
Contact Leonard Hill – Personal Injury Lawyers and Car Accident Lawyers today at (215) 567-7600 for a free, confidential consultation. Let us fight for the compensation you deserve.