Premises Liability

Premises Liability Claims in Richmond, Virginia

When you’re seriously injured on someone else’s property because they failed to maintain safe conditions, you need an attorney who knows how to prove what the property owner knew, when they knew it, and why they didn’t fix it. We’ve handled premises liability cases that required digging into maintenance records, building codes, and corporate policies to hold negligent property owners accountable.

Immediately After a Slip and Fall or Premises Injury

What To Do After a Slip and Fall or Premises Injury

• Contact an attorney quickly. Property owners often fix problems immediately after someone gets hurt, which destroys evidence of what conditions existed when you were injured.
• Get medical attention immediately. Even if the injury seems minor, get examined. Some injuries worsen over time, and documentation matters.
• Report the incident to the property owner or manager. Make sure they document it in writing. Ask for a copy of the incident report.
• Photograph everything. Capture the hazard that caused your fall, the surrounding area, your injuries, what you were wearing, and any warning signs (or lack of them). Evidence disappears fast.
• Get witness contact information. If anyone saw what happened, get their names and phone numbers before they leave.
• Preserve what you were wearing. Keep your shoes and clothing in the same condition. They can be evidence.
• Don’t give recorded statements to insurance adjusters. Property owners’ insurance companies will use your words against you. Talk to an attorney first.

Where Things Go Wrong

How Property Owners Fail Their Visitors

Property owners have a legal responsibility to keep their premises reasonably safe for people who have a right to be there. When they ignore hazards, skip maintenance, or cut corners on safety, people suffer broken bones, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, and sometimes death. If you’ve been seriously hurt on someone else’s property, you’re dealing with medical bills, lost wages, and questions about whether the owner can be held responsible.

below the surface

Why These Cases Are Complex

Premises liability cases require proving not just that you were injured, but that the property owner knew or should have known about the dangerous condition and failed to address it. That’s harder than it sounds. Property owners and their insurance companies will argue the hazard was obvious, you weren’t paying attention, or the condition existed for such a short time they couldn’t reasonably have known about it. Building a case means gathering incident reports, maintenance records, prior complaints, inspection logs, and sometimes surveillance footage before it’s deleted or “lost.”

Virginia’s contributory negligence rule makes these cases even tougher. If defense attorneys can show you were even 1% at fault—that you were distracted, should have seen the hazard, or were somewhere you shouldn’t have been—you can’t recover anything. Insurance companies use this rule aggressively. They’ll scrutinize your every action before the fall, looking for any behavior they can characterize as careless. We’ve dealt with these arguments many times, and we know how to counter them by showing the hazard was hidden, inadequately marked, or something a reasonable person wouldn’t have noticed.

Evidence disappears quickly in premises cases. Property owners fix problems within hours of an accident. Surveillance footage gets recorded over. Witnesses forget details or move away. The longer you wait to involve an attorney, the harder it becomes to prove what conditions existed and what the owner knew about them. Early investigation—getting to the scene, photographing conditions, pulling maintenance records, and interviewing witnesses—often determines whether you have a viable case.

Trial Experience Makes the Difference

Why Hire Lantz & Robins for Premises Liability Cases

We’ve built our practice around cases that require serious investigation and trial preparation. Not every slip and fall is worth pursuing, and we’re honest about that. We take on cases where the negligence is clear, the injuries are serious, and we believe we can make a real difference. When we accept a case, we investigate thoroughly—reviewing incident reports, obtaining surveillance footage before it’s deleted, consulting with safety experts, and sometimes hiring engineers to assess building code violations.

Michael Lantz and W. Randolph Robins Jr. have both spent months in front of juries handling complex injury cases. That trial experience matters when insurance companies make inadequate settlement offers. They know we’re prepared to present evidence that resonates with jurors and holds up under scrutiny. Our reputation with defense attorneys and insurance carriers means they take our cases seriously from the start.

We don’t run a volume mill. We limit our caseload so we can spend real time on each case. That means consulting with building code experts and dealing personally with insurance adjusters trying to lowball settlements. We’ve represented clients in hospitals during recovery and supported families through some of the most difficult moments of their lives. We understand this is about more than paperwork—it’s about holding negligent property owners accountable and helping you move forward.

We work on a contingency fee basis. You don’t pay us unless we recover compensation for you.

Common Types of Premises Liability Cases