Many types of property hazards can injure visitors.
Common circumstances leading to liability for New Jersey property owners and tenants include:
Slip and fall incidents. Preventable falls account for many premises liability claims. Visitors to New Jersey properties slip (or trip, or stumble) and fall because of a wide variety of common property hazards, such as wet floors, icy sidewalks, loose or worn flooring material, uneven stairs, loose handrails, poor lighting, potholes in parking lots, cracked sidewalks, or cluttered walkways. While this type of accident is often regarded as minor, preventable slip and fall incidents result in more than one million trips to hospital emergency departments in the U.S. each year and represent one of the primary sources of lost days from work due to injury. Falling can inflict serious injuries, including broken hips and other bone fractures, brain injuries, and spinal cord injuries.
Negligent security. New Jersey property owners and tenants have a legal duty to protect visitors from known risks of crime committed on their premises. For example, hotels should provide locking doors and windows for overnight guests, and businesses in known high-crime areas should install surveillance cameras and hire security patrols to protect patrons. Business owners may also have the responsibility to background-check their employees, to protect customer safety.
Elevator and escalator malfunction. New Jersey property owners must maintain escalators and elevators in safe working order, and must warn visitors away from these property features when they break down. Malfunctioning elevators and escalators can cause catastrophic and even fatal injuries to riders.
Swimming pool hazards. Nearly two dozen people were exposed to toxic chemicals at a private club pool in Parsippany when a pool pump malfunctioned and dumped muriatic acid into the water during a children’s swim class. Several children had to be rushed to the hospital while suffering respiratory distress and one individual was admitted to the hospital for continued treatment. Pool chemical malfunctions represent just one of many hazards swimming pool owners and operators must take reasonable steps to prevent. They must also guard against drowning, unsafe pool deck surfaces, unsafe diving, and waterborne illnesses. Approximately 350 children in the U.S. die each year as a result of swimming pool incidents and another 5,000 are hospitalized for injuries caused by near-drowning.
Amusement park hazards. A woman was airlifted from a Warren Country amusement park after she was knocked unconscious on a water slide. The woman was conscious and alert again before taken to the hospital, but had suffered a head injury. This is just one example of the injuries that can be caused when an individual falls or is struck by or against an obstacle while riding on an amusement park ride. New Jersey is home to theme parks and amusement parks, and the owners of those properties must ensure that rides are properly maintained, that there are adequate security measures in place to prevent park visitors from suffering injuries as a result of criminal actions, and that there are no other known property hazards that can result in injury.
Fires. Property owners and tenants must also protect their guests from injuries sustained in fires. Some common safety features of properties that New Jersey law requires include working smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and indoor sprinkler systems. Property owners must ensure that electrical systems comply with building codes and must never store flammable materials near heat or flame.
Lead poisoning. The dangers of lead paint exposure have been known for decades. However, thousands of children in New Jersey still test positive each year for lead paint exposure, most often resulting from living in residences built before the use of lead paint was outlawed in the U.S. in 1978. Lead exposure can cause significant harm, particularly for children as they metabolize the substance faster than adults and require less exposure to reach toxic levels. Children who have been exposed to lead paint can suffer irreversible damage to brain development, as well as kidney damage. Both children and adults can also suffer injuries to the nervous system from lead exposure. Pregnant women exposed to lead can experience developmental harm to the fetus as well as premature birth.
This is not a complete list, of course. No matter how a visitor to a New Jersey property sustains an injury, Jacoby & Meyers, LLP has the know-how and experience to protect that injured person’s rights if the injury resulted from a preventable property hazard that the property owner or tenant should have fixed or warned about.