Premises Liability Lawyers in Montgomery, Alabama

What to do first after an injury on someone else's property

Get medical attention, even if you think you can walk it off. Hip, shoulder and head injuries often show up a day or two later, and the gap before the first treatment note is the first thing an adjuster points at. Report the injury before you leave.

Photograph the condition that day, before anyone touches it. The condition is the case, and no evidence has a shorter life — the spill gets mopped, the broken tread is replaced by Friday.

Be careful with a recorded statement. Alabama is a contributory negligence state, and the adjuster's questions aim at one thing: where you were looking.

What the owner owed you depends on why you were there

Every Alabama premises case starts with the same question, because "the duty owed by a landowner to an injured party depends upon the status of the injured party in relation to the landowner's land…" Miller v. Liberty Park Joint Venture, LLC (Ala. Civ. App. 2011).

An invitee is there for a purpose that benefits the owner — a customer, a tenant, a delivery driver. The owner must "exercise reasonable care and diligence to keep the premises in a reasonably safe condition for the uses contemplated by the invitation, and to warn the invitee of known dangers, or dangers that ought to have been known." Simply put, a business has to go looking for hazards, not merely refrain from creating them — though it is still not an insurer of its customers' safety.

A licensee visits "with the landowner's consent or as the landowner's guest, but with no business purpose" — a neighbor at a cookout. The duty drops sharply, to "abstain from willfully or wantonly injuring the licensee and to avoid negligently injuring the licensee after the landowner discovers a danger to the licensee." Tuders v. Kell (Ala. 1999).

A trespasser is owed only the duty "not to wantonly or intentionally injure [them] and to warn [them] of dangers known by [him] after [he] was aware of danger to [them]." Copeland v. Pike Liberal Arts School, 553 So. 2d 100 (Ala. 1989). Children are the exception. Tolbert v. Gulsby, 333 So. 2d 129 (Ala. 1976) adopted Restatement (Second) of Torts § 339 for artificial conditions dangerous to children too young to appreciate the risk — whatever the child's status.

The open and obvious rule, and what the owner knew

This is where most Alabama premises claims die. The duty to make safe or to warn "applies only with respect to hidden (or nonobvious) conditions," and a hazard is open and obvious "if it would be apparent to, and recognized by, a reasonable person in the position of the invitee" — an inquiry that is "objective, not subjective." Walter v. Branch Hays Farm SC Associates LP (Ala. Feb. 27, 2026).

The reason sits in the theory of the claim. "[T]he entire basis of [a store owner's] liability rests upon [its] superior knowledge of the danger which causes the [customer's] injuries. Therefore, if that superior knowledge is lacking, as when the danger is obvious, the [store owner] cannot be held liable." Denmark v. Mercantile Stores Co., 844 So. 2d 1189 (Ala. 2002). Obviousness can negate the duty outright, before contributory negligence is ever reached. Ex parte Mountain Top Indoor Flea Market, Inc., 699 So. 2d 158 (Ala. 1997). However, whether a condition truly was obvious is frequently a jury question.

Notice is the other half. Actual or constructive notice of the condition "must be proven before [the store owner] can be held responsible," unless the owner or its employees created it. Denmark, id. How that gets proven in a wet-floor case is covered on our page on slip and fall injury claims in Alabama.

Who can be held responsible

Landlords, and apartment common areas. Where a landlord leases units and keeps the halls, stairways, porches and walkways for the tenants' common use, Alabama has long held the landlord liable for injury to a tenant "due to defects in the portion of the leased premises of which the landlord so retains control, provided the defect is ascribable to the negligence of the landlord." Prudential Insurance Co. of America v. Zeidler, 171 So. 634 (Ala. 1936), quoted again in 2024 in Ex parte Housing Authority of the City of Talladega. That decision rests on Restatement (Second) of Torts § 360, which applies "irrespective of whether the lessee or those upon the land in his right know or do not know of the dangerous condition."

Security, and crimes committed by other people. Alabama is a hard state for this claim. "[A]bsent special relationships or circumstances a person has no duty to protect another from criminal acts of a third person." Carroll v. Shoney's, Inc., 775 So. 2d 753 (Ala. 2000). The exception needs foreseeability, the defendant's "specialized knowledge" of the criminal activity, and that the crime was a probability, and the Court confines it to "the most extraordinary and highly unusual circumstances." Prior violence at that address, known and ignored, is the fact worth chasing.

Dog owners. Ala. Code § 3-6-1 makes an owner liable where a dog bites without provocation on property the owner owns or controls — or where the person was on that property and was pursued off it by the dog — and the person bitten had a legal right to be there. That is not quite strict liability: under Ala. Code § 3-6-3 an owner who proves he had "no knowledge of any circumstances indicating such dog to be… vicious or dangerous" is "liable only to the extent of the actual expenses incurred."

Deadlines — two of them much shorter than two years

The general deadline is two (2) years, for "[a]ll actions for any injury to the person… not arising from contract." Ala. Code § 6-2-38(l). A death belongs to the estate's personal representative, also within two (2) years. Ala. Code § 6-5-410.

Two exceptions catch people. On city property — a public sidewalk, a park, a city building — Ala. Code § 11-47-23 provides that "[c]laims for damages growing out of torts shall be presented within six months from the accrual thereof or shall be barred." That is a written claim to the city clerk, not a lawsuit filed.

Hurt on federal property and the claim is against the United States. It is "forever barred" unless presented in writing to the appropriate federal agency within two years. 28 U.S.C. § 2401(b).

Alabama's contributory negligence rule

Alabama never adopted comparative fault. If the jury is reasonably satisfied the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence, "the plaintiff cannot recover for any initial simple negligence." Sims v. Crates (Ala. 2000). Not reduced — barred. The Supreme Court of Alabama declined to change this, holding in Golden v. McCurry, 392 So. 2d 815 (Ala. 1980), that it should "leave any change of the doctrine of contributory negligence to the legislature."

Here it bites unusually hard, because the defense is built into the facts. You were walking, and whether a reasonable person would have seen the hazard is both the open-and-obvious question and the contributory negligence question. There is a limit, though: contributory negligence "is not a legal defense to the plaintiff's cause of action based upon [wantonness, willfulness or wantonness and willfulness]." Sims, id. Where an owner knew of a dangerous condition and left it for months, wantonness may be in play.

What affects a premises case's value

No lawyer can tell you what a case is worth at a first meeting. The factors that move value are largely the ones that decide whether there is a case at all: hidden or obvious, notice or no notice, contributory negligence. After that the medical picture does the work — treatment, surgery, permanent restrictions, lost earning capacity.

In Montgomery specifically

A premises case filed in state court here goes to the Circuit Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, at the Phelps-Price Justice Center on South Lawrence Street. Where the owner is a citizen of another state and more than $75,000 is at stake, it can often be removed to the Middle District of Alabama. 28 U.S.C. § 1332.

A great many premises calls in our city involve apartment complexes — common stairways, exterior lighting, parking areas — which is the § 360 common-area analysis, not the grocery-aisle one. Montgomery also holds a great deal of federal ground: an injury at Maxwell Air Force Base, at Gunter Annex or inside a federal building is a Federal Tort Claims Act matter.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to prove the property owner knew about the hazard?

In most cases, yes — actual or constructive notice of it. Denmark v. Mercantile Stores Co., 844 So. 2d 1189 (Ala. 2002). Where the owner or its employees created the condition, notice is presumed.

What happens if the hazard was open and obvious?

It usually ends the claim. The duty to make safe or warn reaches only hidden conditions, judged objectively. Walter v. Branch Hays Farm SC Associates LP (Ala. Feb. 27, 2026).

Can I recover if I was partly at fault for my own fall?

In many cases, no. A plaintiff guilty of contributory negligence recovers nothing on a simple negligence claim. Golden v. McCurry, 392 So. 2d 815 (Ala. 1980). Contributory negligence is no defense to wantonness, though.

How long do I have to file a premises liability claim in Alabama?

Generally two (2) years. Ala. Code § 6-2-38(l) governs injury claims; Ala. Code § 6-5-410 gives the estate's representative two (2) years from the death.

I fell on a City of Montgomery sidewalk. Is the deadline different?

Yes, and dramatically. Ala. Code § 11-47-23 requires tort damage claims to be presented to the municipality within six (6) months of accrual or be barred — a written claim to the city clerk, not a lawsuit.

What if I was hurt on Maxwell Air Force Base or in a federal building?

That is a Federal Tort Claims Act claim against the United States, presented in writing to the responsible agency within two (2) years. If the agency denies it, suit must begin within six (6) months of the mailing of that denial. 28 U.S.C. § 2401(b).

Can I sue after being attacked at a business or an apartment complex?

Sometimes, but Alabama sets a high bar. Absent a special relationship there is no duty to protect anyone from a third person's crime, and the exception requires foreseeability, specialized knowledge and probability. Carroll v. Shoney's, Inc., 775 So. 2d 753 (Ala. 2000).

What does it cost to talk to a lawyer about a premises injury?

Nothing. We handle these cases on a contingency fee, and there is never a fee for legal services unless we collect for you.

Talk to a Montgomery premises liability lawyer

Barfoot & Schoettker is a small Montgomery firm whose practice focuses on personal injury. We handle premises cases — stores, apartment complexes, parking lots, negligent security and dog bites — across Alabama.

If you were hurt on someone else's property, contact us for a free consultation at (334) 834-3444 or request a free case evaluation. There is never a fee for legal services, unless we collect for you. Where a city or a federal agency owns the property, the clock runs in months.