You Have a Right to Expect Safety
If you’ve ever slipped on a wet floor in an apartment hallway, been injured by malfunctioning equipment in a public space, or found yourself attacked in a dimly lit parking garage, you already know how fast things can go wrong. What you might not know is that the law holds property owners accountable when they fail to keep those spaces safe — especially when the hazard was foreseeable and preventable.
In my work as a civil litigator, I’ve represented individuals who were seriously harmed due to unsafe conditions on someone else’s property. That includes not just falls, but equipment malfunctions, repeat thefts, security failures, and dangerous environmental conditions that building owners or businesses ignored — until someone got hurt.
What Makes a Premises Unsafe?
Property owners — whether residential landlords, commercial businesses, or public agencies — have a legal duty to maintain reasonably safe conditions for people lawfully on their property. That duty includes:
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Fixing known hazards
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Conducting regular inspections
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Installing and maintaining proper lighting
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Hiring and supervising competent security
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Preventing repeat incidents once notified of a danger
It’s not enough to put up a warning sign or claim ignorance. If something has happened before — and nothing changed — that’s often enough to put an owner on legal notice.
Contributory Negligence: A Harsh Rule in D.C.
In most states, if a jury finds that you were partially at fault for your injury, your recovery is just reduced proportionally. But in Washington, D.C., we still follow a rule called pure contributory negligence. That means if you’re found to be even 1% at fault, you can be barred from recovering anything.
It’s a rule that has persisted through case law, even as most of the country has moved toward a more balanced approach. And for people who’ve suffered real harm, it can feel deeply unjust.
Juries Are Better at Getting It Right
Fortunately, juries in D.C. are often reluctant to apply contributory negligence harshly — especially when the defendant is a landlord, a transit authority, or a company with control over the environment. Jurors tend to think in terms of fairness and common sense. They ask: Was the plaintiff being reckless? Was there really something they could have done to avoid this? And why didn’t the property owner fix the problem before it happened?
These are the kinds of questions that can help balance the scale. They’re why I often fight hard to keep these cases in front of a jury — where real people can decide what’s reasonable and what’s not.
What You Can Do If You’ve Been Injured
If you’ve been hurt due to unsafe conditions on someone else’s property, there are a few things you should do immediately:
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Take photos or video of the scene as soon as possible. Conditions can change quickly.
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Ask for incident reports or contact building management or security immediately.
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Get names of witnesses — even if they just saw the aftermath.
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See a doctor, even if the injury seems minor. Some injuries worsen over time.
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Speak to a lawyer early. The property owner’s insurance company will try to get ahead of your claim — and may blame you from the start.
You don’t have to figure it out alone. And you shouldn’t assume you’re out of luck just because a sign said “enter at your own risk” or because someone told you, “that’s just how it is in this city.”
Why This Work Matters to Me
I don’t take these cases because they’re easy. In D.C., with the contributory negligence rule, they’re anything but. I take them because I believe people deserve safety, accountability, and dignity — regardless of what zip code they live in or what property they walked onto.
I’ve seen what happens when an unsafe condition is ignored until someone gets hurt. I’ve seen how quickly the blame shifts to the victim. And I’ve seen how powerful it is when someone finally stands up and says: No. You don’t get to walk away from this.
Whether you were injured in a fall, harmed by a security failure, or hurt by a dangerous or defective structure, you deserve to be taken seriously. And I’m here to help make sure that happens.
About the Author
Nick Harrison is the founding attorney of Harrison-Stein PLLC, a Washington, D.C.–based law firm focused on civil litigation, military defense, and nonprofit advocacy. He has represented individuals and organizations in complex liability cases involving negligent security, premises hazards, and structural failures — helping people fight back against powerful institutions that failed to protect them.
