What is premises liability, generally?
If a person is on my property and is injured, am I automatically liable for those injuries?
How do I determine what duty is owed people who enter my property?
Can a person's status change while on the property?

What is premises liability, generally?

Premises liability encompasses the voluminous ways in which one who owns or controls a "premises" may be held liable by virtue of that ownership or control. Under Georgia law, premises is not solely restricted to land, and/or buildings, but rather, includes those terms, along with approaches to property and not simply the property itself. Premises liability has proven to be one of the more active areas in the Georgia Appellate Courts in the past ten (10) years.

<< Back to Top

If a person is on my property and is injured, am I automatically liable for those injuries?

In Georgia, the owners and occupiers of land owe certain duties to those who enter their premises. Those duties vary according to the relationship between the owner and the one entering the property. The mere ownership of land and buildings does not render one liable for the injuries sustained by the persons who have entered thereon or therein. The owner is not an insurer of the safety of the entrants on his property.

<< Back to Top

How do I determine what duty is owed people who enter my property?

Generally, the respective degrees of care owned may be stated as follows:

• Trespasser: A trespasser is a person who enters the premises of another wrongfully and without permission of the owner, for the trespasser's own benefit or amusement. The duty owed the trespasser is simply to not injure him willful or wantonly. Moreover, the owners of the premises has no duty to keep the premises in good repair to protect a trespasser from a dangerous condition. However, the owner of the premises does have a duty to warn a trespasser who he sees in a position of peril from a hidden condition, and has a duty to exercise ordinary care not to injure the trespasser by his active negligence when the owner knows of the trespasser's presence or has reason to anticipate his presence.

• Licensee: In general, a licensee is a person who is neither a customer, an employee, nor a trespasser, has no standing as to any contractual or any contractual relation with the owner of the premises and is permitted expressly or impliedly to traverse the premises merely for his or her interest, convenience, or gratification. An owner or occupier owes the licensee no duty as to the condition of the premises, except that an owner or occupier should not knowingly allow the licensee to run into a hidden peril or willfully or wantonly cause injury to the licensee. It is generally accepted when a licensee enters the premises at his or her own risk. Typically, social guest are determined to be licensees.

• Invitee: O.C.G.A. § 51-3-1 provides where an owner or occupier of land, by express or implied invitation, induces or leads others to come upon his or her premises for any lawful purpose, the owner/occupier is liable in damages to such person for injuries caused by the failure to exercise ordinary care in keeping the premises and approaches safe. The duty to exercise ordinary care in keeping the premises safe extends to all portions of the premises which are reasonably necessary for the invitee to use in a course of the business for which the invitation was provided. An owner/occupier of property in Georgia owes the invitee the greatest amount of care.

<< Back to Top

Can a person's status change while on the property?

Yes, a person's status can change during the time on the property. The general test to determine whether a person was an invitee or a licensee is whether the injured person at the time of the injury had business relations with the owner or occupier of the premises which would cause he or her presence to be beneficial to both. In the absence of some relationship with the owner or occupier of the premises, no invitation may be implied, and the injured person must be regarded as a licensee.

<< Back to Top

<<Back to Our Frequently Asked Questions