4 Things You Need To Prove In Your Slip And Fall Case
If you've been injured in a slip and fall accident, you may have grounds to sue the responsible party for allowing the accident to happen and receive compensation for your injuries. However, in order to prove your case, you'll need to show evidence of at least four different things to prove your case. You'll need to prove your damages, prove that the conditions were dangerous and caused your damages, prove that the person you're suing was actually the person responsible, and prove that the responsible party knew that conditions were dangerous. If all of that comes together, you can win your case. Take a look at each of these elements and find out how to decide if you have a valid slip and fall case.
Damages
In a slip and fall case, your damages are the losses that you incurred due to the accident – usually medical bills, and perhaps pain and suffering as well. You may think that this is the easiest part of the case to prove. After all, injuries that require medical treatment are usually well-documented.
However, it may be more difficult than you think to prove that your injuries actually occurred as the result of your slip and fall, especially if you didn't seek medical treatment immediately following the accident. Many times, the effects of an injury can take hours or days to manifest themselves. However, it's always best to see a doctor and have yourself evaluated immediately after a slip and fall. That way, any injuries will be directly traceable back to the incident.
Dangerous Conditions
Next, you'll need to show that the conditions on the property where you had your slip and fall were dangerous. Not every slip and fall is caused by the conditions of the property, and if you can't show that yours was, then you don't have a case.
For example, if you were taking the stairs and fell because you were trying to take them two at a time, the condition of the staircase didn't cause your fall, and you won't have much luck attempting to hold the property owner responsible. On the other hand, if you fell because a step on the staircase was broken or missing, or because there was no handrail on the staircase, then you'll be able to show that the conditions of the property directly contributed to your fall.
Responsible Party
Another thing that you'll have to prove is that the person or entity that you're suing is actually the person who is responsible for the condition of the property. How straightforward this is depends a lot on the property where the accident occurred.
Many slip and fall lawsuits are over slips and falls that occur on commercial property. When a slip and fall accident occurs on a property that is owned by one company but leased and used by another, who is responsible for the injury, the property owner or the lessee? This is a question that many people can't easily answer off the top of their heads. The answer is that the landlord is not usually considered responsible for the condition of rented property – the lessee is the one that has control of it, so they are the responsible party. However, there are a number of exceptions to this rule. It's important to make sure that your lawsuit names the correct party or parties as defendants.
Knowledge of Dangerous Conditions
Once everything else is in place, you'll need to be able to show that the person responsible for the condition of the property knew that the condition of the property was dangerous. Or, in the event that the responsible party wasn't aware of the dangerous conditions, you'll need to be able to prove that they should have known.
For the most part, a lack of awareness of the dangers won't absolve a defendant if you can show that they should have known. It's standard practice in grocery stores, for example, to visually check for spills or broken merchandise every so often. If you slip because an employee failed to check the floor for spills, the grocery store is still liable for your injuries, because someone should have been checking the floor. In order to argue that the person responsible for the property should have known of the conditions, you'll need to know the common practice or industry standard for checking on the condition of similar properties.
You could try to pursue a slip and fall case yourself, but as you can see, there are a lot of things that you'll need to know and be able to prove in order to sue successfully. Your best chance at success is to enlist the help of an experienced personal injury lawyer who has the legal expertise to answer your questions and prove your case. For more information, contact a firm such as The Law Offices of Gregg Durlofsky.
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