What Are the Differences Between Personal Liability and Premises Liability?

The main difference between personal liability and premise liability is that premises liability is a category for negligence claims in personal injury law, while personal liability is the legal responsibility upheld in scenarios where one person is responsible for the harm or injuries suffered by another person.

Personal Liability Explained

Personal liability refers to how people take financial or legal responsibility for accidents that happen as a result of personal negligence. If bodily injury or damage occurs on your property, you may be held responsible for the cost if you are determined to be at fault. If you run a red light and hit another car, you may be held personally liable for the ensuing injuries.

Personal liability insurance is generally a part of homeowners or renters insurance policy. Auto insurance also has bodily injury liability and property damage liability coverage, both of which will cover you if you are ever personally liable for accidents. It can also extend to others who live within the household, like children or a spouse.

Examples of situations where personal liability insurance may be useful include:

• A guest comes over to your home and is injured on your property
• Your child damages the property of a neighbor or friend
• You damage a business property while away from home

Personal liability coverage protects you in situations where you are at fault for damage and injury, but it is not meant to cover intentional acts, like cases where the injured person actively sought to cause harm to themselves or their property.

What Does Personal Liability Insurance Cover?

• Pain and suffering
• Lost wages
• Property damage
• Benefits for living relatives in the case of death
• Medical bills
• Legal fees
• Dog bite injuries (may vary depending on breed type and insurer)

Premises Liability Explained

Premises liability refers to unsafe business or property conditions that result in harm or injury to patrons, employees or visitors. It holds property owners liable for accidents that happen on the property if they are at fault. Not every injury that occurs on a property is the fault of the property owner.  

Examples of potential premises liability cases include:

• Slip and fall accidents
• Construction site accidents
• Falling tree accidents
• Inadequate security
• Defective staircases
• Wet or oily floors
• Potholes in parking lots

Premises liability accidents can occur on government property, private property or a business location. Property owners are expected to maintain reasonably safe conditions of their property according to premises liability law to prevent accidents from happening.

Ohio Premises Liability Law

Premises liability law can vary by state. In Ohio, premises liability is founded in the duty of care that business and property owners owe those who legally visit their property. Trespasser injuries are only covered in very narrow and specific circumstances.

The property owner can be held accountable for unsafe conditions they should have known about on their property. To prove negligence in a premises liability case, you need evidence that:

• The business or property owner owed you a duty of care (you were legally on the property and entitled to safety)
• The business or property owner violated the duty of care by failing to fix the danger or warn visitors of hazards on the property
• The breach of care directly caused injury or harm
• That injury resulted in damages (medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, etc.)

Ohio differentiates between different types of guests to avoid confusion in premises liability cases. These are the categories for which business and property owners owe a duty of care, in various measures.

• Invitee: People who are on the property either via an invitation from the owner or because the property is available for public use. The property owner’s duty of care here is to protect the reasonable safety of all invitees.
• Licensee: People who are on the property with implied or express permission from the owner but for their benefit (like home service providers or contractors).
• Trespasser: People who visit the property without permission. 

For trespassers, property owners have limited liability, even in premises liability cases. They can only be held liable for willfully causing harm in this scenario or in attractive nuisance situations involving an injured minor.

Open and Obvious Law

In premises liability cases in Ohio, if the hazard that caused injury to a patron or guest was deemed to be “open and obvious”, the property owner is not liable for the damage. These cases can become complicated because it's not always clear what is “open and obvious.” It’s best to connect with an Ohio premises liability lawyer to help clarify details that can drastically affect the outcome of your case.

Premises Liability Lawyers in Ohio

Whether you’re navigating potential premises liability or personal liability cases, the Buckeye Law Group is here for you. We can help to simplify the complicated processes of filing a claim and will support you in pursuing the compensation you deserve. For a free case evaluation, call us today at 1-800-411-PAIN.