Have you ever been at the office and seen a “wet floor” cone and wondered what would happen if you hadn’t seen it? Or jumped away just in time from the neighbor’s angry dog? We navigate potentially perilous situations all the time in Albuquerque – at our workplaces, at the supermarket, or even just walking down the street. Normally, nothing happens. But what about when you are injured? How can you get justice when you’re suffering from an accident that someone else caused? How can you get the compensation you need to cover those unexpected medical bills?

Where Can Personal Injury Accidents Happen?

Personal injury accidents can happen anywhere that the negligence of another person (or party) causes you injury. Car accidents, truck accidents, train accidents, bus accidents, and motorcycle accidents are all common causes of personal injury. Often referred to as “slip and fall,” premises liability is the specific area of personal injury that occurs when you are on someone else’s property. And it’s certainly not limited to just slips or falls!

You have the right under New Mexico law to be safe from harm when you are on someone else’s property.

Personal injury accidents can happen if the property owners or caretakers fail to perform proper maintenance, fail to repair safety hazards, or neglect to warn you about potential risks on the property.

Personal injury accidents can happen as a result of the following events or environments, but this is by no means an exhaustive list!

Personal injury accidents can happen on either private or commercial property. The at-fault party could include private property owners, security guards, tenants, landlords, management companies, or others.

Premises Liability Law in New Mexico

The law protects you when you’re injured because of someone else’s negligence. However, you must pay careful attention to New Mexico’s laws if you expect to successfully claim compensation. There are two especially important laws you need to understand for your New Mexico personal injury case:

1. Statute of Limitations. This is legalese for the timeframe during which you are permitted to file a personal injury case. In New Mexico, you have three years from the date of the accident.
2. Comparative Negligence. Unfortunately, this is the law that might cause you the most stress. Under New Mexico’s pure comparative negligence rule, it’s quite possible that your compensation will be decreased (possibly by a very significant amount) if a court determines that you shared fault for your injuries. For example, let’s say that you were injured on someone’s property, but you were wearing shoes that made it very easy to trip and fall. The other party might put up a fight saying that you should have taken the precautions of wearing safer footwear. Or perhaps you were injured in a hazardous construction site, but you were ignoring the “do not enter” signs posted by the site management company. Or perhaps you tripped on a loose stone in a walkway, but you were also looking at your phone when it happened. A judge could rule that you’re partially at fault and then decide what percentage of negligence you share. Your compensation will then reflect that percentage of fault. Can you see how the comparative negligence law makes things tricky?

How To File a Premises Liability Lawsuit

If you’re injured on either private or commercial property in Albuquerque, there’s a fairly good chance that you could have a personal injury case. If your injuries are significant, you will most likely want to contact a personal injury attorney right away.

At the Law Office of Brian K. Branch, we can support you along every step of your case. Our legal team has 32 years of combined experience working in the nuances of New Mexico personal injury law. We can help increase your compensation award so that you can cover medical bills, future recovery costs, lost wages, and pain and suffering, and more.

Some specific ways we can help you include:

• Consulting medical professionals to put a dollar value on the full scope of your injuries and your total cost of recovery. This includes analyzing non-economic damages such as emotional trauma and other damages that are difficult to valuate.
• Preserving key evidence such as photographing the scene of your accident and gathering other helpful evidence.
• Interviewing eyewitnesses who could support your case.
• Researching other accidents or complaints about safety that happened in the same location.
• Helping you file paperwork correctly.
• Negotiating with insurance companies.
• If your case goes to court, presenting your case and arguing before a judge.

Call us at 505.207.4401