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Can I sue a property owner for an injury?

The short answer—Yes, you can sue a property owner for a personal injury. Proving a property owner failed to protect a person from injury depends heavily on the relationship between the injured party and the property owner. The relationship can establish, or even nullify, any duty the property owner might have to prevent an injury. To know if your injury may warrant a lawsuit, consult with a legal team that has years of trial experience. Top law firms will have an on-staff private investigator to gather evidence and help prove the property owner was at fault.

What you need to prove to win

In most premise liability lawsuits, you need to prove 5 items to win:

1. Your relationship with the property owner – i.e. the property owner is your employer or you are their client
2. The existence of duty – in premise law this refers to a property owner's duty to protect you
3. A breach of duty – a failure of the property owner to protect you
4. Damages occurred – i.e. you were injured on their property
5. Causation – the property owner's actions or lack of action resulted in your injury

Wisconsin premise liability laws

In most cases, when you enter someone’s property you can assume you will not be injured. In Wisconsin, property owners are responsible for maintaining a safe environment. For example, a pizza delivery driver could win compensation if they slipped on ice in someone’s unsalted driveway. If the same pizza driver was intoxicated, however, they would not have a case. Warshafsky's Wisconsin dog bite lawyers often handle cases where property owners are held liable for failing to prevent their dogs from biting visitors, especially if the owner was aware of the dog's dangerous propensities. A property owner must maintain their property, or, at the very least, inform individuals of the hazards on their property.

Your ability to sue a property owner for injuries rests upon the status of your relationship with the property owner. If a neighbor comes over for dinner the property owner has a duty to create a safe environment for them, but the same property owner has no legal obligation to protect an unanticipated trespasser. In premise law there are three types of relationships an individual can have with a property owner:

1. Can I sue a property owner if I am an invitee?

An invitee is anyone who has been invited onto a property by the owner. Invitees have every legal right to assume the property is safe. A property owner has a duty to protect invitees from known and unknown dangers. As long as you are behaving in a safe and lawful manner, you can sue a property owner for injury.

As an invitee, you may be able to sue a property owner for injury compensation if:

• You injured yourself falling off the property owner's deck
• You slipped and injured yourself in the produce department of a grocery store
• You received lacerations from old barbed wire while hunting on someone’s property

2. Can I sue a property owner if I am a licensee?

A licensee is anyone who is conducting business on someone’s property. A pizza delivery driver and an HVAC technician would be considered licensees. Property owners do not have a duty to make their property safe for licensees. They do have a duty to inform licensees of potential dangers on the property. Once informed the licensee is largely responsible for their own safety. A licensee can sue a property owner if they were improperly informed of the dangers on the property. A property owner is liable to protect licensees from known dangers but not from unknown dangers.

As a licensee, you may be able to sue a property owner for injury compensation if:

• You were remodeling a home or business and the property owner failed to warn you of asbestos insulation
• You were inspecting old ductwork and the property owner failed to inform you of damaged components
• You were delivering an item and slipped on an oil slick in the driveway

3. Can I sue a property owner if I was trespassing?

There are two kinds of trespassers: anticipated and unanticipated. Anticipated trespassers are defined as an individual who may wander on to someone’s property. A common example is an area where public and private lands meet. Property owners have no duty to protect anticipated trespassers, but they do have a duty to inform them of potential hazards. Unanticipated trespassers are typically defined as individuals who enter someone’s property illegally with the intent to commit a crime. A property owner has no duty to protect or inform unanticipated trespassers.

As a trespasser, you may be able to sue a property owner for injury compensation if:

• You were injured by something created by the property owner to cause harm
• The owner did not properly inform you of the unsafe conditions on the property
• The owner failed to exercise reasonable care of their property

Wisconsin State Statutes: Injury to a person. Wisconsin Statute § 893.54 (2024). Recreational activities; limitation of property owners' liability. Wisconsin Statute § 895.52(6)