How To Prove Liability In Slip, Trip And Fall Accidents
Posted on June 28, 2022 in Premises Liability
As a customer, you would assume that the business owner would have invested reasonable effort and care in maintaining its condition whenever you enter a commercial property or premises. But, unfortunately, slip, trip, and fall accidents are often unpredictable and unexpected when they happen. However, this may not also mean that the property owner will be responsible or liable in these cases. Usually, you have to prove that negligence was involved and that the owner had not performed his duty to ensure that the premises are reasonably safe.
What Does Negligence Mean?
In short, slip, trip, and fall accidents occur due to a certain party’s negligence. For example, an off-bounds area was not clearly indicated and someone got hurt in that area. If these accidents occured due to the property management’s participation in negligence, to the customer gets to file a claim.
If the property owner knows about the dangers and hazards that could potentially harm customers and has not taken adequate action to prevent the accident, they would be found negligent and liable for the injury. This considers and assumes that the owner should have acted reasonably and done their due diligence to prevent the hazards from causing harm,
What Should You Do to Prove Negligence?
You can collect circumstantial evidence that might have caused the fall, as a direct proof is difficult to obtain. This includes taking photos and videos of the environment, your surroundings, and the hazard that most likely caused the slip, trip, or fall accident. For instance, if there was a spill on the floor and there was no “Wet Floor” sign, this would prove that negligence was involved, as the maintenance staff did not take action to prevent the hazard from causing harm. The rule of thumb is to provide photos and videos where inferences of negligence can be made from the evidence and prove you have a valid premises injury case.
Get Medical Attention and Keep Your Treatment Bills as Evidence
When it comes to substantiating and strengthening your case, proving economic damages that you have sustained due to the slip, trip, and fall accident caused by their negligence is integral to getting a claim successfully. In these cases, some of the most common injuries include sprains, fractures, head and back injuries, and sometimes ligament tears. These medical treatment costs can be recovered as part of the damages claim. Often, settlement discussion will occur when the injuries have healed and been treated to a point where there is no further progress or improvement in condition (also known as Maximum Medical Improvement).
Contact a Premise Liability Attorney from Pazer, Epstein, Jaffe & Fein, P.C.
If you are in a situation where you have slipped, tripped, and fallen due to no fault of your own, contacting our lawyers at Pazer, Epstein, Jaffe & Fein, P.C. should be your next course of action. We are committed and dedicated to helping you fight for the best possible compensation for the damages you have sustained. However, as many insurance companies of the premises are looking to limit their responsibility and will not have your best interest in mind, you should consult with a premise liability attorney who will advise on the rights you’re entitled to legally.
For more information about our premise liability services, please do not hesitate to contact us at (212) 227-1212 in New York and (631) 864-2429 in Long Island.