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Written by Kigan Martineau, Managing Attorney at BAM Injury Law.
Utah premises liability law holds property owners accountable when unsafe conditions on their land or buildings cause injuries to visitors. Under Utah Code Section 78B-6-802, property owners owe invitees the highest duty of reasonable care, including the obligation to inspect, maintain, and warn of dangerous conditions. BAM Injury Law represents injured Utahns throughout Salt Lake City, Utah County, and the surrounding region in slip-and-fall cases, trip-and-fall incidents, and other premises liability claims.
Utah law divides visitors into three distinct categories, and the duty owed by a property owner depends entirely on which category applies. Knowing your category is the first step toward understanding whether you have a viable claim after a property-related injury. The legal distinctions come from Utah Code and decades of case law interpreting landowner obligations.
The three categories are invitees, licensees, and trespassers. Each triggers a different standard of care, and courts frequently dispute which category a particular visitor belongs to. A personal injury attorney at BAM Injury Law can evaluate the facts of your visit and identify the correct legal standard for your situation.
| Visitor Category | Examples | Duty Owed | Legal Authority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invitee | Retail customers, restaurant patrons, office visitors | Reasonable care: inspect, maintain, and warn of hazards | Utah Code Section 78B-6-802 |
| Licensee | Social guests, contractors with permission | Warn of known hidden dangers; no duty to inspect | Utah Code Section 78B-6-801 |
| Trespasser (adult) | Uninvited entrants | No duty, except avoid willful or wanton harm | Utah Common Law |
| Child Trespasser | Children drawn by attractive features | Attractive nuisance doctrine applies | Utah Common Law (Mack v. Utah State Dep't of Commerce) |
If you are unsure which category applies to your case, contacting a premises liability attorney early preserves your options. Visitor status can change depending on the area of the property and the purpose of the visit, so detailed fact-gathering matters significantly in these cases.
Invitees receive the strongest legal protection under Utah premises liability law. Under Utah Code Section 78B-6-802, a property owner must exercise ordinary reasonable care to inspect the premises, correct unsafe conditions, and warn visitors of hazards that the owner knew about or should have discovered through diligent inspection. Retail stores, restaurants, office buildings, and other commercial properties deal with invitee claims most frequently.
Common invitee injury scenarios include slip-and-fall accidents on wet floors without warning signs, trip-and-fall injuries on broken sidewalks or uneven pavement, injuries caused by defective stairs or handrails, inadequate lighting in parking lots or stairwells, and dog attacks on commercial or residential property. Each of these fact patterns can satisfy the elements of a negligence claim if the owner had actual or constructive notice of the hazard.
Landowner liability may also extend to independent contractors performing work on the premises. Under Utah common law, a property owner who retains control over the manner or method of work, or who hires a contractor to perform inherently dangerous activities, may be held responsible for injuries the contractor causes to visitors. This is an important but frequently overlooked theory of recovery in construction and maintenance injury cases.
To explore whether your situation qualifies as an invitee claim, review the BAM Injury Law practice areas page or speak directly with a Utah personal injury attorney. Acting quickly preserves critical evidence including surveillance footage and incident reports that property owners may otherwise erase or lose.
For an invitee claim to succeed, the injured person must show that the property owner had actual or constructive notice of the dangerous condition. Actual notice means the owner knew about the hazard directly, such as when an employee created a spill and did not clean it up. Constructive notice means the condition existed long enough that a reasonable owner exercising proper inspection procedures should have discovered and corrected it.
Courts look at how long the condition existed, whether it was visible, whether prior complaints or incidents were reported, and whether the property had a regular maintenance and inspection schedule. Surveillance footage, maintenance logs, employee witness statements, and incident report histories are all critical pieces of evidence in establishing constructive notice. An experienced Utah premises liability attorney knows exactly where to look and how to preserve this evidence before it disappears.
Licensees, under Utah Code Section 78B-6-801, receive a reduced level of protection. A property owner must warn a licensee only of known hidden dangers, but has no affirmative duty to inspect the premises for hazards the owner does not already know about. A social guest cannot sue a homeowner for an undetected defect the owner was unaware of, but can sue for a known hazard the owner concealed or failed to disclose before the visit.
Utah follows a modified comparative fault rule under Utah Code Section 78B-5-818. If you were partially at fault for your own injury, your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault. Importantly, you can still recover as long as your fault does not exceed 50 percent. If you are found 51 percent or more at fault, you are barred from recovery entirely.
Property owners and their insurance companies frequently raise comparative fault as a defense in premises liability cases. They may argue that you were distracted, wearing improper footwear, ignoring posted warnings, or otherwise contributed to your own injury. These arguments are common and predictable, and a skilled premises liability attorney at BAM Injury Law can anticipate and counter them with witness testimony, expert analysis, and documentation of the hazardous condition.
Understanding how comparative fault will affect your case is critical to evaluating a settlement offer. Insurance adjusters often overstate the victim's comparative fault to reduce settlement value. An attorney who regularly handles Utah premises liability cases can give you a realistic assessment of how fault apportionment is likely to affect your award. See the BAM settlement value guide for more context on how these calculations work in practice.
Residential tenants and their guests have specific legal protections under Utah Code 57-27-101, which requires landlords to maintain residential premises in a habitable condition. A landlord who fails to address known defects, such as broken stairways, faulty electrical systems, or inadequate exterior lighting, may face premises liability exposure when those defects cause injury to tenants or their guests.
Tenant injury cases often involve questions about notice to the landlord, lease provisions regarding maintenance responsibilities, and the distinction between common areas such as hallways and parking lots and individual units. Landlords typically bear greater responsibility for hazards in common areas, where tenants have no ability to inspect or repair conditions themselves. If you were injured in a rented property or common area, a Utah premises liability attorney can help determine whether the landlord's failure to maintain the property supports a legal claim.
Taking the right steps immediately after a premises injury significantly affects your ability to recover compensation. The actions listed below are designed to preserve evidence, document the hazard, and protect your legal rights under Utah law. The statute of limitations for premises liability claims is four years under Utah Code 78B-2-307(3), but waiting even a few weeks can result in lost evidence.
Following these steps gives your case the strongest possible foundation. Many premises liability claims fail not because the law does not support recovery, but because critical evidence was lost in the days immediately following the incident. If you have questions about what steps apply to your specific situation, learn more about the Utah personal injury claim timeline to set realistic expectations for your case.
Premises liability is a branch of personal injury law that holds property owners responsible for injuries caused by unsafe conditions on their property. Utah law recognizes different duties depending on the injured person's visitor status: invitees receive the highest protection under Utah Code Section 78B-6-802, licensees receive a warning-only duty under Utah Code Section 78B-6-801, and trespassers generally receive no duty except against willful harm. If a property owner's negligence caused your injury, you may be entitled to compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
An invitee is someone who enters property with the owner's express or implied invitation for a business or public purpose, such as a retail customer or restaurant patron. A licensee enters with the owner's permission but for the visitor's own purpose, such as a social guest or contractor. The distinction matters because an invitee is owed a higher duty of care: the owner must inspect the premises and correct hazards, not just warn of known ones. Licensees are only owed a duty to warn of hidden dangers the owner already knows about, with no inspection obligation under Utah Code Section 78B-6-801.
Notice refers to the property owner's knowledge of the dangerous condition. Actual notice means the owner was directly aware of the hazard, such as through a prior complaint or because an employee caused the condition. Constructive notice means the hazard existed long enough that a reasonably diligent owner should have discovered it through regular inspection and maintenance. Courts examine factors including the duration of the hazard, the visibility of the condition, prior similar incidents, and whether the owner had an adequate inspection program. Without establishing notice, a premises liability claim will not succeed.
Under Utah Code Section 78B-5-818, if you were partially responsible for your own injury, your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault. For example, if you are awarded $100,000 but found 20 percent at fault, you receive $80,000. However, if your fault exceeds 50 percent, you are completely barred from recovery. Property owners frequently argue comparative fault to reduce their exposure, and insurance adjusters often inflate the victim's fault percentage during settlement negotiations. A Utah premises liability attorney at BAM Injury Law can push back on inflated fault assignments and protect the full value of your claim.
Under Utah Code 78B-2-307(3), the statute of limitations for personal injury claims, including premises liability cases, is four years from the date of the injury. While four years may seem like a long time, key evidence such as surveillance footage, maintenance logs, and incident reports can disappear within days or weeks of the incident. It is strongly advisable to consult with a Utah premises liability attorney as soon as possible after your injury to ensure critical evidence is preserved and your claim is properly evaluated before deadlines approach.
BAM Injury Law handles premises liability cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning you pay no attorney fees unless we recover compensation for you. Attorney Kigan Martineau and the BAM team investigate the hazardous condition, gather surveillance footage and maintenance records, identify responsible parties including property owners and independent contractors, retain expert witnesses when needed, and negotiate aggressively with insurance companies. BAM serves clients throughout Salt Lake City, Utah County, and surrounding communities in Utah. To get started, contact BAM Injury Law for a free consultation. You can also learn about how hiring an attorney increases your settlement in Utah personal injury cases.
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