How To Establish a Slip and Fall Personal Injury Case
Every property owner from a landlord, to a shopkeeper, to a private resident has the responsibility to keep their property safe and free from hazards for visitors, customers, or tenants. If you have received injuries due to a slip and fall on someone else’s property due to their negligence, you may have the right to compensation. Slip and fall cases are extremely common, and your accident may have left you with medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. The following can help you understand if you have a strong basis for a slip and fall injury case.
Do You Have a Valid Claim?
Contacting a personal injury attorney can help you determine if your slip and fall injury was due to someone else’s negligence and if you have a case under the law. If you are curious if you have the right to receive compensation for your slip and fall injury consider the following questions:
- Were you on the other person’s property legally?
- Would the owner or resident have known that someone might be on their property?
- Would an average person notice the dangerous or hazardous area?
- Was there a sign or barrier established by the owner near the hazardous condition to warn people of the danger?
- Were you texting or talking on your cell phone, or in any other way distracted at the time of your accident?
This list of questions is not exhaustive or comprehensive, however, they can establish whether or not a reasonable person in the same or similar circumstances and conditions would also have slipped, tripped, or fallen due to a property owner’s negligence.
Establishing Your Case
Four specific criteria are required to establish a personal liability case involving a slip and fall injury. These four criteria are required by law to prove that another person’s negligence, recklessness, or carelessness caused your injuries and therefore, they are liable for your damages.
- Duty of Care. Property owners have a legal responsibility to keep their premises in a safe and habitable condition free of hazards and dangers. This is a duty of care towards any customers, patrons, guests or visitors that would come on to the property.
- Breach of Duty. If it is determined that the property owner failed in some way to keep the premises in a safe condition for any visitor, guest, patron, or customer, they will be deemed to have breached that required duty.
- The property owner’s breach of duty must have directly caused your slip and fall accident, which led to your personal injury and any damages.
- Actual injuries (physical or emotional) or damages must have occurred due to the breach of duty.
Let Us Help You Today
Slip and fall accidents can be legally complex cases. Contact an experienced personal injury lawyer to help you understand your rights, and help you determine how to build your case to receive compensation for your injuries. Under Pennsylvania law, you only have two years to file your claim, so contact the Scranton slip and fall attorneys at the Needle Law Firm at 570-344-1266 or online today for your free consultation.
Resource:
nfsi.org/nfsi-research/quick-facts/
legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/LI/consCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&ttl=42&div=0&chpt=55&sctn=24&subsctn=0
/pennsylvania-slip-and-fall-accidents/
