It’s possible to slip and fall in any setting, from the parking lot of an apartment complex to a grocery shop to your place of business. All slips and falls share the common denominator of carelessness on the part of the property owner or occupier.
You might want to put the responsibility for your fall squarely on your own shoulders, but the truth is that falls rarely happen without a cause.
In order to avoid liability, building owners must ensure that their properties are safe for occupants, visitors, and customers at all times. If the property owner fails to do so and you have injuries as a result, you may be able to file a slip and fall case to recover damages for the victim’s injuries and medical expenses.
A skilled slip-and-fall lawyer or attorney can assist you in filing a slip-and-fall lawsuit against the property owner whose negligence caused you harm.
You slipped and fell, and it wasn’t because you were careless or clumsy. Property owners who were aware of a danger on their premises but did nothing to fix it may be to blame for your injury, leaving you with costly medical expenses and no income while you recover. Not acceptable!
It’s not your fault if there’s a spill on the floor that hasn’t been cleaned up, that a railing or stair is broken, that there’s an obstacle in the way or any of the other myriad problems you’re now facing that the property owner knew about but chose to ignore. You don’t have to take this any longer.
Common Questions About Filing a Personal Injury Claim
In case you have any pressing concerns about filing a slip and fall lawsuit, you should consult a competent slip and fall attorney who can study the details of your case and give you proper guidelines for the appropriate course of action.
Do major injuries always result from a slip and fall? Absolutely. Insurance companies and property owners may try to diminish the seriousness of your injuries by portraying a slip and fall as a “frivolous” mishap. The data show a different picture.
According to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, over 33,000 people lost their lives due to accidental slips, trips, and falls in 2015.
If I fell at my landlord’s property, can I sue him?
It’s possible to hold a landlord responsible for an injury sustained by a renter because of a hazardous condition. A slip-and-fall lawyer can make your case strong by showing that the landlord knew about the hazardous condition that caused your injuries but did nothing to remedy it.
To What Extent Can Someone File a Claim Because they Slipped and Fell?
It takes more than just showing that the property you landed on was in a dangerous state to win a slip-and-fall case in court. Proving negligence and recklessness is essential in slip and fall litigation, including questions like:-
Did the property owner create unsafe conditions? Is it possible that they were aware of the risk and chose to do nothing about it? Had enough time gone that a reasonable property owner would have observed the unsafe condition and repaired it, even if they were unaware of it?
Slip and Fall Accident and Burden Of Proof
A victim of a slip and fall on someone else’s property usually has the burden of proving two things: (1) that the property owner or possessor was aware of the dangerous condition and (2) that the condition caused the victim’s injuries. The injured party must have been exposed to an unreasonable risk from the dangerous situation, and the injured party must not have been able to foresee the existence of the dangerous condition under the given circumstances. The second condition mandates that individuals be alert to and stay away from obvious threats.
Evidence of knowledge of a hazardous condition on the part of a business owner or possessor can be established by showing that:
The condition was either made by the owner or possessor or the owner or possessor was aware of its existence but did nothing to fix it.
Because of how long the hazard had been present, the property owner or possessor should have seen it and fixed it long before the slip-and-fall accident that occurred there.
In order to establish liability, it must be shown that the defendant’s negligence actually caused the hazard in question. Some may argue that a hardware store’s failure to inspect its aisles and clean up spills makes it reasonably likely that a customer will slip and be injured on a spilled item, such as paint, the following day.
What Can a Lawyer Do for You If You’ve Been Injured in a Slip and Fall?
Let a skilled attorney handle the legal details of your slip-and-fall case while you focus on getting better. Your lawyer will conduct an exhaustive investigation and collect evidence in an effort to prove negligence and recklessness of the owner of the property, including but not limited to the following: taking pictures of your wound, getting a copy of your medical records, filling out an accident report, and checking if any violations were made of regional building ordinances.
Case Results from Slip and Fall
Litigation lawyers have experience with hundreds upon thousands of slip and fall cases and can advocate on your side to establish that the property owner’s negligence caused your fall. They have taken inadequate pretrial offers and won landmark cases, and can assure a successful positive result.
Occasionally, a victim of a slip-and-fall accident might prove carelessness by showing that the property owner broke the law. The installation of railings and other safety elements, for instance, is frequently mandated by local ordinances. A customer may have a legal claim against the building owner based on his or her building code violation if the customer sustains injuries after falling on stairs that lacked suitable handrails.
The burden of proof in criminal cases is a technical and tricky procedure that can’t be proven without the assistance of a slip-and-fall lawyer.
Conclusion
To seek compensation for a personal injury received as a result of a slip and fall on someone else’s property, the injured party must prove that the other party’s carelessness was the direct cause of the accident. While it may seem obvious, many people do not take into account the possibility that their own carelessness contributed to their injury.
For instance, if a person is seriously injured on someone else’s property but falls because he was not paying attention to his surroundings, he has no legal recourse against the business or property owner.
A partially at-fault injured party may still be able to recover from another party, but the amount of that compensation may be reduced. But in case of such injuries received by the victim due to the carelessness of the owner of the property, an attorney specializing in slip-and-fall cases can help you protect your rights and get compensation.
