Premises liability claims
A premises claim is not established by the fact that someone was hurt on someone else’s property. It requires proof that a hazardous condition existed, that the property owner knew or should have known about it, and that the owner failed to correct it or warn about it within a reasonable time. Notice is where these claims are won and lost. Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C. handles premises claims in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey and New York.
Proving notice
Actual notice means the owner knew — a prior complaint, a work order, an incident report, an employee who saw it. Constructive notice means the condition existed long enough that a reasonable inspection would have found it. The evidence that establishes either is almost always in the property owner’s hands: inspection logs, maintenance and cleaning schedules, prior incident reports for the same location, and surveillance video. Video is routinely overwritten on a short cycle, which makes an early preservation demand the highest-value step in most of these cases.
The comparative and contributory fault problem
Premises defendants argue that the hazard was open and obvious and that the injured person should have avoided it. In Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, which follow contributory negligence principles, that argument can defeat the claim entirely rather than merely reducing it. In New Jersey and New York, comparative fault reduces recovery instead. The same fall can therefore produce very different results depending on where it happened.
Negligent security
Where a person is assaulted on commercial property, the question is whether the criminal act was foreseeable and whether reasonable security measures were in place. Foreseeability is usually established through prior crime at or near the location, which means police call records and the property’s own incident history are central. These claims are fact-intensive and depend heavily on what the owner knew about conditions at that specific property.
Filing deadlines
Every injury claim is governed by a statute of limitations, and the periods differ by state and by claim type. For personal injury actions the period is two years in Virginia under Va. Code § 8.01-243(A), accruing at the date of injury; three years in Maryland under Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101; three years in the District of Columbia under D.C. Code § 12-301(8); two years in New Jersey under N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2; and three years in New York under N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 214(5). These are general periods. Discovery rules, tolling for minors and incapacity, claims against government entities — the District imposes a six-month notice-of-claim requirement for claims against the District government — and claim-specific statutes can shorten or extend them. Do not rely on a general period for your own case; have the deadline confirmed on your facts.
Pages in this section
This section covers slip and fall, trip and fall, negligent security, stairway and handrail defects, inadequate lighting, snow and ice, swimming pool incidents and related topics.
Speak with Mr. Sris
Injury claims are governed by filing deadlines that vary by state and by claim type, and evidence degrades quickly. Request a consultation. Reach our location at (888) 437-7747. Consultations are by appointment.
Last reviewed: August 22, 2026.
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