Can You Make a Claim Against Property Owner for a Dangerous Sidewalk Adjacent to Their Property?

Author: Attorney Dennis Schaefer

The answer is yes in most cities and counties in Florida. The particular location generally has a law that mandates the responsibility of the adjacent land owner to public property. The land owner generally has the duty to repair and maintain the public area, or at a minimum inform the city or county of problems on the public land.

In many different cases, attorneys Dell & Schaefer, has represented injured clients in claims against land owners whose property created dangerous conditions on public land, resulting in an injury. Two examples of such cases are as follows.

Our client was riding his bicycle on the sidewalk. The private homeowner adjacent to the sidewalk had large trees lining his property, next to the sidewalk. The trees created a very shady area blocking the sun, as well as a landing area for the trees leaves. The combination of the shade, leaves and Florida rain created a sidewalk that was full of very slippery mold. Our client, while trying to stop on the surface slide into the street and was injured.

The second example is quite common in parts of Florida. In this case a tree, often a ficus tree, close to a sidewalk pushes the sidewalk cement blocks up. This created an unevenness in the sidewalk. Our client was walking on the sidewalk and tripped over the uneven sidewalk. His inability to see the unevenness was created by the shade of the tree. He was walking from glaring sunlight to dark shade and tripped on the uneven sidewalk he wasn’t able to see.

Both cases represent land owners, who were held to be legally responsible for injuries happening on adjacent public property. Call Dell & Schaefer if you have any questions about legal responsibility.