How Do I Sue a Landlord for Pain and Suffering?

California residential and commercial tenants can sue their landlords for non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, as well as economic damages, such as medical bills. Many tenants believe they have few or no legal rights. But under California law, landlords must provide safe (no injury or health hazards) and secure (no structural or criminal hazards) conditions not only to their tenants, but also to the guests of those tenants.

Suing a landlord for pain and suffering is usually a daunting process. Generally, property landlords are large, out-of-state holding companies that are affiliated with large, out-of-state insurance companies. These companies typically have vast financial resources. They use these resources to hire the best available defense lawyers.

A determined tenant injury landlord liability lawyer evens the odds. Attorneys not only understand California law. They also know how to make the law work for people like you. Furthermore, lawyers guide tenant injury cases through the long litigation process and do not give up until they obtain the best possible results under the circumstances. These results include maximum compensation for your serious injuries.

Duty of Care

Most states use an outdated victim classification system to determine the duty of care in a tenant injury matter. But California applies a blanket duty of care to all property owners. The extent of that duty varies based on several factors, such as:

• Owner’s Control: Landlords can only maintain safe and secure spaces if they have unlimited access to them and total control of them. Therefore, the duty of care is higher in common areas (parking lots and hallways) than inside stores, houses, or apartment units.
• Victim’s Status: We touched on this idea above. In California, owners must do more to protect invitees (invited commercial or noncommercial guests). For example, if a sidewalk is cracked and uneven, the landlord must fix the sidewalk, not just erect a warning sign.
• Cost-Benefit Ratio: Let’s stay with the above example to explain this point. Resurfacing the entire sidewalk would be the best way to make it safe, and also the most expensive way. Patching the sidewalk is cheaper and almost as effective. Therefore, a patch job will normally do, especially if traffic on the sidewalk is light.

Other factors include the type of property, likelihood of serious injury, and the owner’s knowledge (or lack thereof) of the potentially injury-causing hazard.

Landlord Responsibilities

The next step in a lawsuit for pain and suffering is determining if the landlord was negligent (breached the duty of care). We mentioned the most common breaches of duty above. Now, let’s break them down a little further.

• Safety: Floor hazards are the most common safety-related injury hazards. A floor hazard inside a dwelling could breach the owner’s duty of care if the tenant told the owner about the problem and the owner didn’t adequately address the issue. Health hazards usually include exposure to toxins, such as mold and asbestos.
• Security: In some cases, health hazards create structural hazards. Mold weakens structures. Inadequate design or construction could create issues in this area as well. The duty of care also includes a duty to provide reasonable security that prevents assaults and other violent crimes.

To seal the deal, an experienced personal injury attorney in California must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not), that the breach of duty substantially caused injury.

The Litigation Process

Suing a landlord for pain and suffering begins with a petition in court. A good Los Angeles personal injury lawyer only files legal paperwork after carefully preparing a case, as outlined above, and trying the easy way first (negotiating a favorable settlement before filing).

After filing, the aforementioned high-priced lawyers typically ask the judge to throw the case out of court. If attorneys did their homework before filing, these motions almost always fail. If a lawyer rushes the process, the outcome is usually different.

Once the case gets past that point, meaningful settlement negotiations usually begin. Lawyers usually ask for pain and suffering damages in proportion to the economic damages. Higher medical bills and more lost work usually mean more pain and suffering.

In the end, most tenant injury cases settle during mediation. During this court-supervised negotiation session, both sides have a duty to negotiate in good faith. Because of this responsibility, and also because both sides are keen to avoid an uncertain and expensive trial, civil mediation is usually successful.

Consult a Tenant Injury Landlord Liability Lawyer Today

Suing your landlord for pain and suffering is difficult, but not impossible. For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in California, contact the Law Offices of Eslamboly Hakim. Virtual, home, and hospital visits are available.