Owner’s Liability As a property owner you are liable for certain things. Therefore, you must take reasonable precautions to ensure the safety of anyone on your property. As the owner of a business that is open to the general public, you must take extra measures to maintain a safe environment, both inside and around any buildings. Therefore, parking lots and privately owned paths and walkways must also be inspected for any safety hazards.
American with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 ADA guidelines are something that you need to consider on a regular basis. Your facility must have unobstructed access for handicapped individuals.
A use change could be space that was an office and now it’s going to be something entirely different-for example, a hair salon. If the use changes, many counties in this country today will demand that you bring the building up to ADA standards. This doesn’t just mean it is wheelchair accessible from the outside to the inside-it’s ingress and egress.
These standards also apply to the interior layout of a space as well. Bathroom doors must be wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs, with a specific clear span in which to circle. ADA requirements could even make you move walls. So, you need to be aware of what the ADA requirements are. You can look up this information online at ADA’s official website.
Environmental Issues The major environmental issue today is mold abatement. It’s such a huge issue. Remember lead-based paint in the late 70′s and, early 80′s-in which people were sickened?
Workmen came in, dressed in white hazard suits and masks, and sanded down all of the walls to abate the problem. Today, lead-based paint is not a big issue. Walls can be sanded, primed, and another coat of paint applied to seal it. Perhaps sometime in the future, you may be able to abate mold in a similar manner.
If you are considering buying a building that’s been vacant for a couple of years and has had any leakage or water damage inside, mold may still be a huge problem. In that case, the first thing you ought to do in your due diligence period, is spend $300 to $500 to address the problem. Have a mold abatement and inspection technician evaluate it and give you a professional opinion as to cost and procedures for abatement.
If you don’t properly treat a building for mold, and months or even years later, somebody gets sick from it, you may have a costly issue on your hands. If tenants can show that you knew the building had mold when you bought it, but you can’t prove that you paid for the proper abatement procedures, as the property owner, you may be liable.
Sick building syndrome is another extensive environmental issue that is usually related to mold issues in air conditioning ducts. In your due diligence period, you need to check all of these issues to make sure that you are not leaving yourself vulnerable for an expensive law suit. Also, be sure to look for hazardous materials, such as asbestos, when you’re performing your preliminary inspections.
Common Area Liability Liability is an insurance issue. You should carry solid insurance policies on your properties with reputable insurance companies and carry at least a $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 blanket policy to protect yourself. When you buy protection of this nature, you also buy some of the best attorneys in the world to be on your team.
Make sure that your leases include a clause stipulating that people must conduct business in your buildings, according to local building codes. Be especially wary of signage, since many of these may not be code compliant.
ADA Compliance Go straight to the ADA website for this information. You can download their extensive regulations for details.
When considering a building purchase, thoroughly research anything that could be a potential issue that as the property owner, you may be liable for.
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Posts tagged ‘Liable’
“Cancer” is a scary word, but a diagnosis of mesothelioma cancer is particularly difficult because the disease is considered incurable. What’s worse, many people suffering from mesothelioma were exposed to the substance that can cause it — asbestos — on the job. And in many cases, companies knew about the dangers of asbestos and did nothing to warn workers.
What Did They Know?
Asbestos is a silicate mineral used in manufacturing due to its strength and resistance to heat and fire. When inhaled, asbestos fibers can get inside the membrane that lines the lung cavity, among other tissues. This can cause cells to divide abnormally, and the result is cancer. Another complication from asbestos exposure is asbestosis, which results when the lungs have become scarred from the inhalation of asbestos, resulting in breathing difficulties. The effects of asbestos exposure can’t be reversed; symptoms can only be managed.
As early as 1937, the American Petroleum Institute wrote a document warning about the dangers of industrial dust. Most manufacturers apparently didn’t care. Even the government failed to act until 1972, when the Occupational Health and Safety Administration enacted asbestos safety rules. Meanwhile, people who worked in industries like insulation manufacturing, shipbuilding, refining, construction and mining were exposed to asbestos on a daily basis.
Most often, people who develop this type of cancer get pleural mesothelioma, in which tumors grow along the lining of the pleural cavity that holds the lungs. It’s a particularly painful disease because tumors eventually press on the lungs, kicking off the effects of pleural effusion, wherein fluid rushes to the area. Other times, people develop mesothelioma in the lining around the heart (pericardial mesothelioma) or the stomach (peritoneal mesothelioma). No matter the location, the prognosis of mesothelioma is the same: it will ultimately kill you.
Making Manufacturers Pay
In the last decade, mesothelioma patients and their families have sought to bring employers who knew about the danger to justice through legal action resulting in monetary settlements. Money will never restore a terminal cancer patient to health or bring back a lost loved one, but it helps pay bills and lost wages and sends the message that big business isn’t above the law. The good news is that juries are listening to patients and awarding large settlements like these:
It’s in large part because of mesothelioma lawsuits and their related investigations that proof has come to light about companies’ knowledge of asbestos dangers. It’s been shown that, rather than correcting the problem and protecting their employees, many companies chose to look the other way in the name of profit. They are now paying for that negligence to the tune of millions of dollars.
