When you get injured on somebody else’s property, it can be confusing to know how the law works and whether you have a claim.
If you are on another person’s property legally, for example if you are in a coffee shop, mall or at your friend’s house, the owner of the property has certain responsibilities and duties under the law to keep you safe. If they ignore these duties, they may be guilty of negligence, and therefore, will likely be held liable in a claim made against them.
Understanding negligence
Some states comply with contributory negligence laws, and other states follow comparative negligence laws. Arizona follows the comparative negligence doctrine, which recognizes that while a person may be partially at fault for an injury taking place, he or she is unlikely to be 100 percent at fault. It is likely that some negligence occurred on behalf of the property owner. Therefore, if it is determined that a person was 95 percent at fault for his or her injury, but his or her injury resulted in very high medical bills and suffering, then the property owner could be ordered to pay 5 percent of total damages.
This is in contrast to the contributory laws used by other states, who are likely to determine in a situation like this that the injured person is not entitled to any damages, since he or she was mostly at fault for his or her injury.
Arizona has beneficial laws in place for those who have been injured on another person’s property. Even if you are partially to blame for an injury that occurred, you may be entitled to some damages for the medical costs and the pain you suffered.
Source: Findlaw, “Arizona negligence laws,” accessed Dec. 11, 2017
