King County Premises Liability Attorney
A wet entryway, a stairwell with a failed handrail, a parking garage with burned-out lights: the hazard is usually small, and the injury it causes often is not. Property owners across King County carry a legal duty to keep their premises reasonably safe, and when they fail, the person who gets hurt is left holding the medical bills. Injury Law Group NW is a personal injury firm that represents people hurt by dangerous property conditions throughout King County, including the Eastside, Seattle, and the surrounding communities.
Finding a hazard is the easy part of a King County premises liability attorney‘s work. The harder question is who knew about it, who should have known, how long it sat there, and what the owner did or failed to do about it. Those facts decide premises cases, and they are time-sensitive in a way that people rarely appreciate: surveillance footage gets overwritten, maintenance logs get reorganized, and the broken stair gets repaired the week after you fall.
Why Choose Injury Law Group NW for a Premises Liability Claim
Injury Law Group NW represents injured people and grieving families in King County and across the Puget Sound region, working on contingency so there is no attorney fee unless we recover money for you. Consultations are free and confidential. Our attorneys spent decades defending insurance companies before representing injury victims, and that history matters in premises cases, where the property owner’s liability insurer almost always controls the response. We know which records an adjuster pulls first, how a claim gets valued internally, and what a carrier looks for when deciding whether to settle or dig in.
Troy Hunter, our founding partner, spent 16 years in insurance defense litigation, mostly as a partner at Floyd, Pflueger & Ringer, and he also serves as a dispute mediator. David D. Mordekhov spent two decades at Gardner Trabolsi & Mordekhov, a Seattle defense firm, trying wrongful death, catastrophic injury, and product liability cases to judges and juries. Both are rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell. David has been selected to the Super Lawyers list and teaches trial and deposition skills as faculty at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy. Associate attorneys Warren Barreiro and Hannah Shergold complete the team, and the firm is a member of the Washington State Association for Justice. Our attorneys have argued at every level of the Washington court system, from district court to the Washington Supreme Court.
We prepare every claim as though it will be tried, because insurers pay more fairly when they believe the lawyer across the table will actually go to court. Our results reflect that approach, including more than $1 million recovered for parents whose newborn died after a hospital failed to adequately test for Group B Strep, a case that also led the hospital to change its procedures. Clients consistently describe the same things in their reviews: fast responses, honest advice, and clear communication. Case managers on our team return calls and texts promptly, and David Mordekhov speaks Russian and Warren Barreiro speaks Spanish. If your injuries make travel hard, we will meet you at home or at the hospital.
Common Premises Liability Situations in King County
- Wet and slippery floors: Grocery stores, big-box retailers, and restaurants track in water for much of the year in the Puget Sound climate. Liability often turns on whether employees had a cleaning routine, placed warning signs, and noticed the spill within a reasonable time.
- Icy and unmaintained entryways: Cold snaps and overnight frost create hazards at apartment entrances, office parking lots, and sidewalks, especially in the higher-elevation Eastside communities. Owners and property managers who ignore known problem areas can be held responsible.
- Broken stairs, railings, and walkways: Crumbling steps, loose handrails, and uneven pavement are classic maintenance failures. These cases are often strong because repair records and prior complaints can show the owner knew about the defect.
- Inadequate lighting and security: Dark parking garages, stairwells, and apartment common areas cause falls, and in some situations they also contribute to assaults. The question is whether the owner took reasonable steps given the risks it knew about.
- Falling merchandise and stocking hazards: Heavy items stacked on high shelves, pallets left in aisles, and unsecured displays injure shoppers every year. These are retail liability claims where staff attentiveness is central.
- Apartment and rental property defects: Tenants and their guests are hurt by faulty railings, broken balconies, poor common-area upkeep, and unsafe stairs. Landlords and management companies can share responsibility.
- Dog bites on private property: Washington law makes a dog owner liable when the dog bites a person in a public place or someone lawfully on private property. A prior history of viciousness and the owner’s knowledge of it are not required to establish liability under that statute.
- Construction-site and public hazards: Open excavations, unmarked trip hazards, and falling debris near active work sites can injure passersby as well as workers, and several parties may share fault.
What to Do After a Fall or Injury on Someone Else’s Property
Get medical attention first, and be honest with providers about every symptom, including ones that seem minor. Head, neck, and back injuries from falls frequently reveal themselves hours or days later, and a gap in treatment gives an insurer something to argue. Report the incident to the owner, manager, or property management company and ask that it be recorded in writing, but do not sign anything or give a recorded statement to their insurer before speaking with a lawyer.
Evidence is the part people lose by waiting. Photograph the exact spot from several angles, including the surrounding area, the lighting, and any warning signs or the lack of them. Photograph your footwear and your injuries. Collect names and phone numbers of witnesses. Ask whether cameras covered the area, and have an attorney send a preservation request quickly, since many businesses overwrite footage on a short cycle. Keep your receipts, medical records, and a record of missed work.
Deadlines matter. Washington generally gives you three years to file a personal injury lawsuit, and wrongful death claims follow the same three-year rule counted from the date of death. A lawsuit is commenced by filing or by serving the defendant, but the other step must follow within 90 days or the filing does not stop the clock. If the property belongs to a city, county, school district, or other local government, you must first present a claim on the official standard tort claim form to the entity’s designated agent, and you cannot sue until 60 calendar days after presentment. Email and fax generally do not count as valid presentment for local government claims. Claims against the state follow a similar 60-day waiting period after the claim is presented to the state’s office of risk management. Missing these notice steps can end a valid claim before it starts.
Premises cases in King County are typically filed in King County Superior Court, which sits in Seattle and in Kent at the Maleng Regional Justice Center. Smaller claims can be brought in King County District Court, whose civil jurisdiction is capped at a set dollar amount per claimant, but serious injuries almost always belong in Superior Court. If a case involves parties from outside Washington, it can end up in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle.
How Liability and Fault Are Decided
A premises claim rests on a straightforward question: did the owner or occupier fail to use reasonable care to keep the property safe for people lawfully there? Proving that usually means showing the owner created the hazard, knew about it, or should have discovered it through reasonable inspection. A spill that appeared seconds before your fall is a different case from a leak that had been dripping for days, and the evidence that separates them is inspection logs, employee testimony, incident reports, and video.
The visitor’s status and the property’s character shape the analysis, as do the specifics of any warning given. A posted sign does not automatically excuse an owner if the hazard could have been fixed, and a hazard that was open and obvious will draw a fault argument against you.
Washington follows comparative fault. Under the statute, your own share of fault reduces your compensation proportionately but does not bar recovery. Insurers know this and routinely try to push blame onto the injured person, arguing you were distracted, wearing the wrong shoes, or should have seen the hazard. Fault can also be spread among several defendants, such as a landlord, a management company, and a maintenance contractor, which is one reason early investigation matters.
Damages in a premises case can include past and future medical care, lost wages and reduced earning capacity, and pain and suffering. Falls produce fractures, torn ligaments, spinal injuries, and traumatic brain injuries that carry long-term consequences. Insurers tend to undervalue brain injuries because they may not appear on a scan, so building the medical and vocational record carefully is central to a fair valuation.
Premises Liability Questions Answered
How long do I have to file a premises liability lawsuit in King County?
Washington generally allows three years from the date of injury. Claims against local governments or the state require a formal claim to be presented first, followed by a 60-day wait before suit can be filed. Because those steps run alongside the limitations period, waiting makes problems.
What if I was partly to blame for my fall?
You can still recover. Washington’s comparative fault rule reduces your compensation by your percentage of fault rather than barring your claim. An insurer’s estimate of your share is a starting position, not a conclusion.
Do I have to prove the owner knew about the hazard?
Not always. Owners can be liable if they created the hazard, knew of it, or should have found it through reasonable inspection. How long a condition existed is often the key fact.
Who can be held responsible besides the property owner?
Tenants, property management companies, maintenance and cleaning contractors, snow and ice removal vendors, and general contractors can all share liability depending on who controlled the area and who was responsible for upkeep.
Should I give a recorded statement to the property’s insurance company?
You are generally not required to, and it is wise to speak with a lawyer first. Adjusters ask questions designed to minimize injuries or shift blame, and our attorneys spent years on the defense side watching how those statements get used.
How much does it cost to hire Injury Law Group NW?
The first consultation is free and confidential, and we work on contingency. If there is no recovery, you owe no attorney fee.
What if the fall happened at a city park, school, or other government property?
A formal tort claim must be presented to the local entity’s designated agent on the standard claim form, and you cannot file suit until 60 calendar days after presentment. Delivery rules are strict, and email or fax generally does not count for local governments.
Will my health insurance cover treatment while my claim is pending?
Health insurance can pay for treatment now, and your claim can later seek reimbursement of those costs from the responsible party. Getting care promptly is more important than deciding who pays first. We help clients keep medical bills under control while the claim proceeds.
Is it worth hiring a lawyer for a fall that seems minor?
Injuries that look minor at first can turn into lasting problems, and insurers often make early low offers before the full picture is clear. A consultation costs nothing, and a lawyer can tell you whether the claim justifies pursuing.
What if the owner fixed the hazard right after I was hurt?
Repairs after an incident are common and do not erase liability. The condition before the repair is what matters, which is why photographs, witness information, and prompt preservation requests help so much.
Can a premises case involve a dog bite on someone’s property?
Yes. Washington’s dog bite statute makes an owner liable when a dog bites someone in a public place or lawfully on private property, and the dog’s history is not relevant to liability under that statute.
Can family members bring a claim if a premises injury was fatal?
Yes. A wrongful death action is brought by the decedent’s personal representative for the benefit of the spouse or registered domestic partner and children, and if none exist, parents or siblings may be beneficiaries. The three-year deadline runs from the date of death.
Serving Premises Injury Clients Across King County
Our work spans King County, from Seattle’s neighborhoods and downtown core to the Eastside cities of Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Sammamish, and Issaquah. We also represent people injured on property in Kent and Renton to the south, and in surrounding communities such as Mercer Island, Newcastle, Woodinville, Snoqualmie, North Bend, Auburn, Federal Way, Burien, and Shoreline. Whether the hazard was in a Seattle apartment building, a Bellevue shopping center, a Redmond office park, or a Kent retail store, we handle premises claims throughout the Puget Sound region. If your injuries make it hard to travel, we will come to you.
Talk to a King County Premises Liability Lawyer Today
If a dangerous property condition hurt you or someone in your family, the evidence is disappearing while you wait. Speak with a King County premises liability lawyer at Injury Law Group NW. Call or text to schedule a free, confidential consultation. We will listen to what happened, explain where your claim stands, and push for the medical care and compensation you need. We give hope. We get results.
