Does a Property Owner Have a Duty to Ensure Property Illumination?
You’re visiting someone’s house after dark or you’re making a late-night trip to the store. There’s a light out and you don’t see a step or other obstacle in your path. You trip and fall suffering serious injury. Can you seek damages from the owner of the property (or the person who had the authority to control the lights?) Is there a duty to ensure that residential or commercial property is adequately lit, so that visitors would trip and fall over unseen hazards?
The General Duties of Property Owners in New Jersey
In New Jersey, as in all states, the owner (or person in control) of real property has a duty to maintain the premises in such a way as to minimize the risks of injury to persons legally visiting the property. The duty is not absolute, but instead requires that the owner take reasonable measures to ensure visitor safety. The owner owes no such duty to trespassers who may be on the property without legal right or permission.
The law does not identify the specific measures that an owner must take, but instead asks what a reasonable person would have done in similar circumstances. If the owner’s conduct meets that standard, there will typically be no liability.
Accordingly, the question that must be asked, when a person suffers injury because of inadequate or poor lighting, is what a reasonable owner would have done in the same situation. Would a reasonable owner have regularly monitored the premises for broken or burned-out lights? Upon discovering a lighting problem, what would a reasonable person have done? Would they have replaced the bulb, fixed the light or posted notice of the potential danger from a defective light? Would they have blocked off access to the part of the property that had insufficient lighting? If a jury determines that a reasonable person would have taken specific action, but finds that the defendant did not, the defendant may be held liable for any losses sustained.
Contact the Cintron Firm
At the Cintron Firm, LLC, we offer more than 14 years of experience to people in New Jersey facing a broad array of legal challenges. Attorney Mark Cintron has worked as a prosecutor and has extensive courtroom experience, so he’s always ready, willing and able to protect your interests before a judge or jury. Contact our office online or call us at 201-791-1333 or 917-494-5695 to set up an appointment.
When you have been hurt in an accident caused by the carelessness or negligence of another person, you have a right to file a 
When the careless or wrongful act of another person causes you 
>According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than seven million work-related injuries are reported every year. In New Jersey, all employers not covered by federal programs must either carry workers’ compensation insurance or be approved to be self-insured. When you suffer any type of injury on the job, then, one of your first actions will be to notify your employer and initiate the process of filing a work comp claim. Is that your only recourse when you’ve been hurt on the job? Can you ever bring a 
You’ve been hurt in an accident caused by someone else’s wrongful act. You have a right to file a lawsuit to recover compensation for all your losses. What does that include? What compensation can you expect to recover?
The impact of a personal injury can be widespread. You may be the primary or exclusive breadwinner in your family and be unable to work because of your injuries. You may be the spouse or child of an injured person, and lose the ability to have a close or intimate relationship, because of the injuries. You may be a friend or business associate and experience loss of companionship or contribution to the business.
In New Jersey and across the United States, when parties are preparing a personal injury case, the principle of open discovery applies, ensuring that all parties have equal access to information and evidence related to the lawsuit. It’s important to understand, though, that not all evidence uncovered by the parties may be admissible at trial, as it may be unreliable or may have little relationship to the material issues involved. In fact, it’s customary for the court to hold hearings in advance of trial to determine the admissibility of some types of evidence, so that the jury may not be unfairly prejudiced by hearing inadmissible evidence during the course of the trial.
When you have suffered an injury because of the carelessness or negligence of another person, you have a right to file a lawsuit seeking full and fair compensation for all your losses. Though your lawyer may take all the necessary steps to be fully prepared, should your case go to trial, the reality is that most 
When you’ve been injured in New Jersey because of the wrongful or careless act of another person, you have the right to bring a lawsuit to recover compensation for all your losses. You must, however, bring your claim within a certain amount of time or it will be barred. In New Jersey, as in all other states, the rule of law requiring the timely filling of your claim is known as the “statute of limitations.”
When you’ve been injured in a motor vehicle accident or a slip and fall, you have a right to bring a personal injury claim against any other party who acted carelessly or negligently, causing the accident and your 