Dallas Premises Liability Lawyer

Premises liability lawyers who hold property owners accountable, with more than $20 million recovered for injured Texans since 2012.

If you were injured by a danger a property owner knew about or should have noticed, the law may allow you to pursue compensation. Our Dallas, TX premises liability lawyer has recovered more than $20 million for injured clients since 2012. At Kelso Law, we investigate fast, before the hazard gets fixed and the evidence disappears. Call for a free consultation.

Premises Liability Lawyer Dallas, TX

Premises liability is the area of law that holds property owners and managers responsible when an unsafe condition on their property injures a visitor. The duty is simple to state: keep the property reasonably safe, or warn people about dangers that aren’t obvious.

Who owes that duty depends on the property. A store, a landlord, a restaurant, an apartment complex, or a business open to the public each has an obligation to the people it invites in. When that obligation is ignored and someone gets hurt, a Dallas premises liability attorney can pursue the owner, the manager, or whoever controlled the space at the time. Many of these injuries are falls, which remain the leading cause of injury for older adults.

Types of Premises Liability Cases We Handle in Dallas

Dangerous property takes many forms, and so do the claims that follow. Some involve a single careless moment, like a spill left too long; others involve neglect an owner ignored for months. These are the cases we handle most often.

• Slip and falls. Wet floors, loose mats, and spilled products send people to the hospital with broken wrists, hips, and worse. We trace how long the hazard sat there before anyone cleaned it up.
• Trip and fall hazards. Cracked sidewalks, torn carpet, exposed cords, and uneven thresholds cause hard falls. The defect is often something the owner walked past for weeks.
• Negligent security. When a business ignores known crime and a customer is assaulted, the owner can share the blame, and the victim may be compensated after an assault. We took a case like this to a verdict above $8 million.
• Inadequate maintenance. Burned-out lights, broken handrails, and ignored repairs turn ordinary spaces into hazards. We show what a careful owner would have fixed.
• Falling merchandise. Overstocked shelves and unsecured displays drop heavy items onto shoppers. Stores know the risk and still cut corners on how they stack.
• Swimming pool accidents. Missing fences, broken gates, and absent supervision turn pools into a danger, especially for children. Owners owe a high duty of care around water.
• Dog bites and animal attacks. A property owner who keeps or allows a dangerous animal can answer for the harm it causes. We pursue both the owner and any available insurance.
• Nursing home neglect. Bed sores and untreated wounds are often the visible result of understaffing. We read the records to show what the facility let happen.
• Burns injuries. Faulty wiring, scalding water, and unguarded heat sources cause serious burns on poorly kept property. We connect the injury to the neglect behind it.
• Elevator and escalator injuries. Skipped inspections and deferred repairs lead to sudden drops, stops, and entrapments. The maintenance history usually tells the story.

Why Choose Kelso Law as Your Premises Liability Lawyer in Dallas, TX?

Results That Set Premises Cases Apart

Premises claims require proving the owner knew, or should have known, about the danger. Kelso Law has built that proof many times. The firm’s premises and workplace record includes a Dallas County verdict above $8 million in an assault case, and more than $20 million recovered for clients since 2012, much of it from cases an insurer first called weak. If your injury reaches beyond a single premises claim, our personal injury lawyer in Dallas, TX handles the wider range of serious-injury work.

A Lawyer Who Tries Cases

Founding attorney Rhiannon Kelso has put more than 25 cases in front of a jury, a record adjusters weigh before they make an offer. She holds a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and a CALI Excellence for the Future Award, is licensed in Texas and its Northern, Eastern, and Western federal districts, and works with clients in English and Spanish. She belongs to the Dallas Bar Association and the Texas and Dallas trial lawyers associations. We take premises cases on contingency, so there is no fee unless we recover for you.

Understanding Premises Liability Cases

Damages, Liability, and Compensation for Premises Liability Cases

Two questions decide most premises cases. Did the owner fail in the duty to keep the property safe, and how badly were you hurt because of it?

Liability comes down to notice. You generally have to show the owner knew about the hazard, or that it existed long enough that a careful owner would have found and fixed it. That is the heart of proving negligence in these claims, and it is why timing and records matter so much. Texas also applies a comparative fault rule: a person found more than half responsible recovers nothing, and a smaller share of blame still reduces the award. Insurers fight hardest over notice. If they can argue the hazard appeared moments before you fell, they argue the owner had no fair chance to fix it, and that is why early evidence carries so much weight.

Compensation is meant to cover the full weight of the injury. Some of those losses come with receipts; others, like the pain of a permanent limp, do not. A premises liability claim can recover:

• Medical bills, from the first emergency room visit through surgery and rehabilitation
• Future care when an injury like a fractured hip or a spinal cord injury needs years of treatment
• Lost wages and the earning capacity an injury takes from you
• Pain, scarring, and the loss of activities you can no longer do

Many of these injuries happen at work. A workplace fall adds questions about benefits and your job that we sort out alongside the claim.

What Are Important Aspects of a Premises Liability Case?

A premises case is strongest when the evidence is captured before it changes. Property gets cleaned, repaired, and recorded over, sometimes within days, and getting to these details early is often the difference between a paid claim and a denied one.

• Notice. The central question is whether the owner knew about a hazard or should have.
• Evidence. Photos, incident reports, and surveillance footage fade or get erased, so they need to be secured quickly.
• The visitor’s status. Texas treats an invited customer differently from a trespasser, and that affects the duty the owner owed.
• Witnesses. Employees and other shoppers can confirm how long a hazard was present.

What Is the Premises Liability Case Timeline?

How long a case takes depends on the injury and how hard the owner’s insurer fights liability. Some claims wrap up in a few months, while disputed ones can run well past a year. The normal steps are:

• Treatment until your condition stabilizes
• A prompt investigation to lock down video, logs, and witness accounts
• A demand to the insurer laying out notice, fault, and damages
• Negotiation, where many premises claims resolve
• A lawsuit and trial when the insurer denies the owner did anything wrong

What Should You Bring to Your Premises Liability Consultation?

Bring all of the evidence you collected after the injury, even if it feels minor. It helps us assess the claim quickly.

• Photos or video of the hazard and the area around it
• The incident report, if the business made one, and any reference number
• Names or descriptions of employees and witnesses
• Medical records and bills tied to the injury
• The shoes or clothing you had on, if a fall is involved

The first meeting is a conversation with no obligation. We will be honest about whether you have a case, and you will not pay anything up front.

What Are Important Texas Legal Resources for Premises Liability Cases?

The state and federal sources below are a good starting point to learn which laws govern your case.

• Texas sets a two-year deadline to file most premises liability lawsuits, counted from the date of the injury.
• The state’s damages statute lays out what an injured person can recover, including economic and non-economic losses.
• Texas follows a modified comparative negligence standard, so being assigned part of the fault reduces, and can eliminate, your recovery.
• For workplace injuries, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded about 2.5 million private-industry injury cases in 2024.

These sources are for general information only. They are not advice about your specific injury.

Reach Out to Kelso Law to Schedule a Consultation

Property owners and their insurers often move quickly to fix the hazard and frame the story so that you appear liable. The sooner we start, the more evidence we can preserve. We will investigate the property, build the case for the owner’s responsibility, and pursue full compensation while you focus on healing. The consultation is free, and you owe no attorney fees unless we recover for you. Contact us to get started.