‘Slip and fall’ is a term used for personal injury cases where a person slips or trips and is injured on someone else’s property. These cases typically fall under a broader category of cases known as ‘premises liability’. Slip and fall accidents usually occur on property that is owned or maintained by someone else, and the property owner may be held legally liable.
Some examples of dangerous conditions that may cause slip and fall accidents include –
– Torn carpeting
– Changes in flooring
– Poor lighting
– Narrow stairs
– Wet floors
– Broken or cracked public sidewalks
– Outdoor accidents due to rain, ice, snow or hidden hazards such as potholes in the ground.
In any event, it is important that the plaintiff must have suffered some kind of injury in order to be in a position to file a claim.
How Slip and Fall cases work
There is no precise manner in which it can be determined whether someone else is responsible for your injuries when you slip or trip. Assigning liability in each case depends on whether the property owner acted in a manner that ensured slipping or tripping was not likely to happen, and whether it was carelessness on your part for not seeing or avoiding the condition that caused you injury.
In most cases involving slip and fall accidents, the person injured on someone else’s property must prove that the cause of the accident was a ‘dangerous condition’, and that the owner of the property was aware of that condition. A dangerous condition must present an unreasonable risk to a people on the property and also a condition the injured person should not have anticipated under the given circumstances. This latter requirement implies that people must be aware of, and avoid, obvious dangers.
To establish that the property owner was aware of the presence of the dangerous condition, it must be shown that –
– The owner/possessor created the condition;
– The owner/possessor knew about the condition and negligently failed to correct it; or
– The condition existed for a sufficient period of time for the owner/possessor to have discovered and corrected it prior to the slip and fall accident in question.
In order to hold a property owner/possessor liable for damages, it must have been foreseeable that negligence on his or her part would create the dangerous condition in question.
To know more about slip and fall cases, and whether you stand to have a legitimate claim, call us on 954-961-3466 or email us at schiffrinlaw@bellsouth.net. We offer you this consultation free of charge and assure you of our timely services.