You’ve been hurt on someone else’s property. Now the owner’s pointing fingers at you. Property owners and their insurance companies will do whatever they can to avoid paying what they owe. If they can convince anyone that you caused your own injury, they’ll try. That’s how they protect their bottom line. Understanding how Massachusetts handles these blame games matters. A lot.
How Massachusetts Assigns Fault
Our state follows something called modified comparative negligence. You can still win compensation even if you share some blame for what happened, but there’s a limit you need to know about. If you’re 50% or less at fault, you can recover damages. Cross that line to 51% responsibility? You get nothing.
Let’s say you’re walking into a grocery store and trip on a massive crack in the pavement. But you were looking at your phone when it happened. A jury might decide the store was 70% responsible for ignoring that dangerous crack, and you were 30% at fault for the distraction. You’d still get compensation, just reduced by your share of the blame. A Newton premises liability lawyer can look at your situation and figure out how comparative negligence might play out. More importantly, they’ll build the argument for why the property owner carries most of the responsibility.
Common Defenses Property Owners Use
When property owners want to dodge liability, they lean on predictable excuses:
- You were trespassing
- The danger was obvious, and you should’ve seen it
- You weren’t paying attention
- You were drunk or impaired somehow
- You ignored warning signs or barriers
- Your own behavior created the hazard
Insurance adjusters get paid to find these angles. They’ll dig through witness statements and security footage. They’ll analyze every word you said right after the accident. Anything they can twist to make you look careless, they will.
What You Should And Shouldn’t Say
Those first moments after you’re injured? They matter more than you’d think. Don’t apologize. Don’t say “I should’ve been more careful” or “I wasn’t watching where I was going.” These statements feel harmless in the moment, especially if you’re shaken up. But insurance companies will use them to argue you admitted fault.
Stick to basic facts when you talk to the property owner or their insurance representative. Describe what happened without guessing why it happened. Actually, you’re better off politely declining to give any detailed statement until you’ve talked with an attorney. Document everything while it’s fresh. Take photos of whatever caused your injury. Photograph your injuries too. Get names and phone numbers from anyone who saw what happened. Note the lighting, the weather, anything that seems relevant. You can’t go back and recreate the scene later.
Building Your Case
Property owners have a legal obligation. They must keep their premises reasonably safe for visitors. When they fail at that, they’re liable for the injuries that result. It doesn’t matter if you made a minor mistake. The real question isn’t whether you were perfect. Nobody is. The question is whether the property owner met their responsibilities. Did they know about the dangerous condition? Should they have known? Did they fix it or warn people about it? A Newton premises liability lawyer knows exactly how to counter the blame-shifting tactics insurance companies love. We dig up evidence showing the owner knew that the hazard existed. We prove the danger wasn’t as obvious as they claim. We demonstrate that your actions were completely reasonable given the circumstances you faced.
Medical records tell part of the story. Expert witnesses can explain why the property’s condition was unsafe. Maintenance logs often reveal that the owner ignored problems for months. Prior complaints from other visitors show a pattern of negligence. The more evidence we gather about the owner’s failure to maintain safe conditions, the harder it becomes for them to pin responsibility on you. Your case gets stronger when we can show the property owner had multiple opportunities to fix the problem and chose not to. That’s negligence, plain and simple.
Get Legal Guidance
Don’t let an insurance company talk you into accepting blame for an injury that wasn’t your fault. You deserve better than that. Fogelman Law LLC understands how premises liability works in Massachusetts, and we know how to build cases that hold negligent property owners accountable for their failures. Reach out to talk about what happened and learn what legal options you’ve got.
