Slip & Falls
Slip & Fall
Every single day, slip and fall accidents happen all over Florida. Slip and fall accidents can occur anywhere, on any kind of establishments, from stores, restaurants, boats, stadiums, and businesses to private property that is owned and maintained by a sole proprietor. The owner or manager of the property where an individual slips and falls may be deemed negligent if they were aware of the dangerous condition on the premises that caused the victim to fall, and didn’t do anything to resolve the situation. The property owner or person maintaining the property can be held legally liable if any kind of dangerous condition is left on the property due to their negligence.
There are two defenses against liability for a property owner who is involved in a slip and fall accident. The property owner may claim that they were not negligent in maintaining the property. Typically this involves a “lack of notice defense,” where the property owner claims that they did exercise due diligence when it comes to property maintenance, and that if they exercised due diligence as a reasonable property owner, they wouldn’t have the chance to find the dangerous condition and warn the individual who fell. The other defense that we see more commonly is to claim that the person who slipped was at fault, and that they should have reasonably seen and avoided tripping or slipping on the object.
Grounds For A Slip and Fall
Unfortunately, a serious injury can occur at any point and at any time. Often, the most serious falls happen while people are performing mundane tasks like walking through a wet parking lot or reaching for some groceries. It only takes a fraction of a second for these accidents to occur, but their debilitating effects can impact someone’s entire life. If you were injured in a slip and fall in Florida, then you may have grounds for a personal injury claim against the property owner and/or somebody else. To successfully file a case and receive compensation, you need to prove that negligence on the other person’s part resulted in your injury.
Some examples of negligence that resulted in a slip and fall accidents include:
- Supermarket staff left objects in walkways, and a customer tripped on them
- Grocery store staff made an oversight and didn’t clean up a spilled liquid
- A business owner did not ensure there were sturdy handrails and adequate lighting in stairwells
- A business owner did not adhere to stipulated building codes
- A hidden crack or hole in the sidewalk was not addressed, which resulted in a fall
- Business staff did not post a “wet floor” warning after mopping the area
Essentially, if the owner of a property did not fix a dangerous condition within a reasonable amount of time or warn you about the condition that caused your condition, there may be grounds for a slip and fall claim.