Dallas Personal Injury Lawyer - Property Owner's Liability (Slip & Fall)

Proving Fault in Slip and Fall Accidents

RLF Staff — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 07:49:31 GMT

These guidelines will help you determine who is responsible if you slip or trip and fall on someone else's property.

Many thousands of people are injured each year -- some very seriously -- when they slip or trip and fall on a dangerous floor, a flight of stairs or a rough patch of ground. If you have been injured in this way, first consider that it is a normal part of living for things to fall or to drip on a floor or the ground, and for smooth surfaces to become uneven. Also, some things put in the ground -- a drainage grate, for example -- serve a useful purpose there. Therefore, someone who owns or occupies property cannot always be held responsible for immediately picking up or cleaning every slippery substance on a floor. Nor is a property owner always responsible for someone slipping or tripping on something that an ordinary person should expect to find there or should see and avoid. We all have an obligation to watch where we're going.

There is no precise way to determine when someone else is legally responsible for something on which you slip or trip. Each case turns on whether the property owner acted carefully so that slipping or tripping was not likely to happen -- and whether you were careless in not seeing or avoiding the thing you fell on. Here are some general rules to help you decide whether someone else was at fault for your slip or trip and fall injury.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by RLF Staff

Slip and Fall Accident

RLF Staff — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 16:25:30 GMT

If you've been injured in a slip and fall accident, you may be eligible for compensation depending on the circumstances in which your injury occurred and evidence gathered about the incident.

A personal injury case that falls under this category includes:

Trip and Fall - an object in the walking path creates the fall
Stump and Fall - there is an impediment on the walking surface
Step and Fall - the actual walking surface fails or has a hole
Slip and Fall - where the shoe loses contact with the floor

The property owner and the injured person can both hold different degrees of responsibility for the injury. While the property owner must keep the property safe, the injured party should exercise reasonable caution and watch where they are going. The term "comparative negligence" refers to the comparison of the injured party's responsibility in comparison to the property owners' responsibility.

In the case of permanent hazardous conditions, such as broken stairs, the property owner is more likely to be held responsible than in temporary conditions like ice on the sidewalk. If you are injured, you should gather evidence, get information from witnesses, and fill out an accident report that can assist determine fault later. You may be eligible for compensation including medical bills, wage loss, pain and suffering and any future medical expenses. Contact a lawyer for more information

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by RLF Staff