In Washington, the duty of care that any business, organization, or homeowner owes to a visitor depends on the reason the visitor was on the property. There are several categories of visitors. The duty of care for each category is as follows: Invitee. Invitees are people who are invited onto the property, usually for retail or service-related needs. Shoppers, people seeing a physical therapist, locals buying gas – are all invitees when they’re on the property during business hours. The property owner owes invitees the highest duty of care to ensure the safety of the visitor. Licensee. These are people who have the right to be on the property but weren’t specially invited onto the property. A common example is someone who uses the sidewalk of the property owner to get to another location. A licensee has permission to be on the property. The duty of care is generally lower than that of an invitee. Still, if a property owner knows of a danger – the property owner should either fix the danger or warn anyone who might be exposed to the danger. Trespasser. Premises owners generally have no duty to keep their property safe for people who have no right to be on the property. Trespassers assume the risk of any dangers or hazards.