Accidents occur all the time and often, the victims involved sustain serious personal injuries that lead to pain and suffering. If you’ve been wondering how to proceed after being injured in a slip and fall accident that you were not legally responsible for causing, we have you covered. There are many legal options available for your case.
The first step to take after being involved in a slip and fall case is to reach out to a personal injury attorney to examine your case. In order to win a slip and fall injury case, your attorney must be able to prove the following three things: liability, negligence, and responsibility/fault.
Liability
Every premises owner – whether private, commercial or government entity – has various levels of duty of care towards individuals who enter their premises. Individuals who are invited to visit the premises are called invitees. Invitees include clients to a business or even customers at a store. The owners have a duty of care to maintain their premises or to repair the premises if dangerous conditions arise. These efforts are in place so that the invitees do not sustain any injuries.
Apart from invitees, entrants may be categorized as licensees and trespassers. A licensee is a person who is on the premises with permission when the premises are closed for general public. On the other hand, a trespasser is someone who is on private property without permission from the property owner. These categories of entrants are owed limited or no duty of care.
If slip trips and fall accidents happen to you, the best chance of winning the case at court is to prove you were an invitee, or at the very least, a licensee.
Negligence
Proving someone’s negligence means that the defendant breached the duty of care and you were harmed. In slip and fall negligence cases, a plaintiff should be able to prove that the defendant didn’t act as a reasonably prudent person. Thus, he or she did not contribute to preventing your injury. It is important to prove that there was no slip and fall prevention in place. Ultimately, the jury will want to know if the hazard existed for a sufficient period of time, providing a window of opportunity for the defendant to discover and remove it.
Responsibility
Be prepared to prove the defendant’s responsibility for your trip and fall injury. Unfortunately, this can potentially be the most difficult part to prove. It’s essential to demonstrate that the plaintiff didn’t act in a manner that contributed to the slip and fall accident.
Additionally, Florida law incorporates and follows a ‘pure comparative fault’ or negligence system. This means that if the jury declares you were 60% at fault, you can still be able to receive 40% of the damage from the opposing party.
If you’ve ever been an injured person from a slip and fall accident and have sustained injuries that prevented you from going to work, then you know how difficult it is to stay financially stable. In order to keep up with your growing pile of medical bills while awaiting your settlement, we suggest pre-settlement funding that will help get your life back on track.
Slip and fall cases are usually extremely complex and it’s best that you hire an experienced attorney to help you. The Law Office of Dan Zohar has quite a number of slip and fall cases won, so don’t hesitate, call us today! Our phones are answered 24/7. Get a free consultation!