McKinney Premises Liability Lawyer

When you are hurt on someone else’s property in McKinney, the owner can be held responsible if a hazard they knew about, or should have known about, caused your injury.

 A McKinney premises liability lawyer at Tate Law Offices proves that responsibility and works on a contingency fee basis, so you pay no attorney fee unless we win money for you. 

Call (903) 892-4440 any time, day or night, for a free consultation.

A fall on an unmarked wet floor, a stairway with no working handrail, a dark parking garage where an assault could have been prevented: these are not simple accidents. They result from a property owner ignoring a duty imposed by law to keep visitors reasonably safe. 

The injuries can be as serious as any car crash, and the insurance company defending the property will work just as hard to avoid paying. As a family firm rooted in Collin County, Tate Law Offices holds negligent owners accountable and does it personally, not through a volume-shop assembly line.

Why Choose Tate Law Offices as Your McKinney Premises Liability Lawyer

You get a real attorney building your case, not a file passed around a call center.

Tim Tate, Chris Rehmet, and Claire Tate-Rehmet built this firm around serious injury work, and premises cases reward that attention because they turn on proof that an owner knew better and did nothing.

• No fee unless you recover. We advance the cost of the investigation, the experts, and the litigation. If there is no recovery, you owe no attorney fee.
• A firm that answers. Call (903) 892-4440 at any hour and a person picks up.
• Straight talk. We tell you what your case is worth and what it is not, without inflating a promise to sign you up.

Behind all three is a single idea: an unsafe property injury lawyer in McKinney should carry the risk and the workload so you can focus on healing. That is how we treat every person we agree to represent.

What Is Premises Liability in Texas?

Premises liability is the area of law that holds property owners responsible when an unsafe condition on their property injures a lawful visitor. It covers far more than a slip on a wet floor.

• Slip, trip, and fall on wet, uneven, or obstructed walking surfaces.
• Inadequate or negligent security, where poor lighting or missing measures allow a foreseeable assault.
• Stairway and handrail defects that cause falls.
• Falling merchandise or objects in stores and warehouses.
• Swimming pool and structural hazards left unguarded or unrepaired.

What ties these together is property owner negligence in McKinney, TX, meaning the owner failed to fix or warn about a danger they were responsible for.

Identifying which type of hazard caused your injury shapes the evidence your case will need.

Where Do These Injuries Happen in McKinney?

Almost anywhere the public is invited in, which in a growing city like McKinney is a long list. The setting often points to who is responsible and what records will prove the case.

• Retail stores and grocers near Stonebridge Drive and Eldorado Parkway, where spills and cluttered aisles are common.
• Apartment complexes across McKinney, where broken stairs, poor lighting, and weak security recur.
• Hotels and restaurants along the US-75 corridor and Virginia Parkway.
• Parking lots and garages downtown and at shopping centers, where lighting and maintenance matter for both falls and security.

Because each owner and manager keeps different records, from maintenance logs to security footage, pinning down the location is an early priority.

The sooner we identify it, the sooner we can demand the evidence before it is overwritten.

What Duty Does a Property Owner Owe You?

It depends on why you were on the property, because Texas sorts visitors into three categories and assigns a different duty to each. Your status at the time of the injury shapes what you have to prove.

Most injury claims involve invitees, such as shoppers and tenants, who are owed the highest duty of care.

Knowing your category is the starting point, because it sets the standard the owner had to meet and failed to.

What Do You Have to Prove to Win?

You have to show the owner was negligent, and the hardest piece is usually notice: proof that the owner knew or should have known about the hazard.

A genuine accident with no warning and no time to fix it is different from a danger an owner ignored.

• Duty, meaning the owner owed you reasonable care based on your visitor status.
• A dangerous condition, such as a spill, a defect, or a security gap.
• Notice, meaning the owner created the hazard, knew about it, or should have discovered it with reasonable care.
• Causation and damages, meaning the hazard caused your injury and real losses followed.

Proving notice often comes down to maintenance schedules, inspection records, prior complaints, and surveillance video. Building that proof quickly, before the records disappear, is where an experienced premises firm earns its keep.

Falls alone send millions of people to emergency rooms each year, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention documents, and many of them trace back to conditions an owner could have fixed.

What Texas Law Applies to Your Claim?

Texas is a fault-based state, so a negligent property owner and its insurer are responsible for your damages, and two rules shape nearly every claim. Both are worth understanding before you deal with an insurer.

How Long Do You Have to File a Premises Liability Claim in Texas?

Two years from the date of the injury, under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003. Miss that deadline and the court will almost certainly dismiss your case no matter how clear the owner’s negligence was.

 You can read the statute on Texas Legislature Online, and because surveillance video and maintenance records vanish quickly, acting well before the deadline protects your case.

Can You Recover If You Were Partly at Fault?

Yes, as long as your share of the blame is 50 percent or less. Texas reduces your recovery by your percentage of fault and bars it only if that share tops half, which is why owners so often argue that you were not watching where you were going. Countering that blame with clear evidence of the hazard is central to protecting your recovery.

Taken together, the deadline and the fault rule reward quick, well-documented action. Waiting or negotiating alone is what lets an insurer use the law against you.