The Slippery Slope of Premises Liability Claims
The typical personal injury lawyer deals in a variety of different kinds of injury cases.
Most commonly, injuries result from all types of motor vehicle accidents including cars and motorcycles, defective products, medical malpractice, and premises liability situations.
Of all the different sorts of cases the latter category premises liability, more familiarly referenced as slip and fall, can often be the most difficult type of case to establish negligence or fault on the part of the property owner, the prospective defendant.
In order to establish negligence on the part of the property owner the law requires that the injured party or plaintiff demonstrate that the defendant knew or should have been aware of the problem which caused the fall.
To illustrate, a plaintiff slips and falls on liquid on the floor of a supermarket.
The injured plaintiff must show that the store knew or should have known that the liquid was on the floor.
Often businesses keep "sweep sheets" to show that they regularly survey the floor.
These sweep sheets help substantiate that although the liquid may have been on the floor they cannot be held responsible for knowing about it.
Another problem for plaintiffs in establishing fault on the part of the defendant in a premises liability case is that the victim, it may be argued, was not watching where they are walking and could have successfully avoided the slip and fall injury had they exercised more awareness of their surroundings.
This argument, if successfully delivered, would make the plaintiff at fault either in whole or in part for their own accident.
To illustrate the particulars of slip and fall responsibility: A landmark case over a slip and fall injury due to a banana peel came down to a critical point.
The main question posed by the judge hearing the case was whether "the banana peel was yellow or brown?" In other words, if the banana peel was yellow then it had fallen shortly before the accident and the store cannot be expected to be watching all places at all times for the possible fallen banana peel.
But, if the banana peel was brown then the implication is that it had been there for an extended period of time and the store, it could be argued, should have known about it and taken action to remove it.
Many plaintiffs' law firms will shy away from slip and fall cases.
When seeking legal representation for a slip and fall injury, it is of great necessity to find an attorney that understands that exhaustive case preparation is necessary in order to marshal all the evidence to have a meaningful chance of showing the defendant is at fault.
While premises liability cases demonstrate unique difficulties not presented in the typical personal injury case, they often can be won through meticulous case preparation and zealous representation.
Most commonly, injuries result from all types of motor vehicle accidents including cars and motorcycles, defective products, medical malpractice, and premises liability situations.
Of all the different sorts of cases the latter category premises liability, more familiarly referenced as slip and fall, can often be the most difficult type of case to establish negligence or fault on the part of the property owner, the prospective defendant.
In order to establish negligence on the part of the property owner the law requires that the injured party or plaintiff demonstrate that the defendant knew or should have been aware of the problem which caused the fall.
To illustrate, a plaintiff slips and falls on liquid on the floor of a supermarket.
The injured plaintiff must show that the store knew or should have known that the liquid was on the floor.
Often businesses keep "sweep sheets" to show that they regularly survey the floor.
These sweep sheets help substantiate that although the liquid may have been on the floor they cannot be held responsible for knowing about it.
Another problem for plaintiffs in establishing fault on the part of the defendant in a premises liability case is that the victim, it may be argued, was not watching where they are walking and could have successfully avoided the slip and fall injury had they exercised more awareness of their surroundings.
This argument, if successfully delivered, would make the plaintiff at fault either in whole or in part for their own accident.
To illustrate the particulars of slip and fall responsibility: A landmark case over a slip and fall injury due to a banana peel came down to a critical point.
The main question posed by the judge hearing the case was whether "the banana peel was yellow or brown?" In other words, if the banana peel was yellow then it had fallen shortly before the accident and the store cannot be expected to be watching all places at all times for the possible fallen banana peel.
But, if the banana peel was brown then the implication is that it had been there for an extended period of time and the store, it could be argued, should have known about it and taken action to remove it.
Many plaintiffs' law firms will shy away from slip and fall cases.
When seeking legal representation for a slip and fall injury, it is of great necessity to find an attorney that understands that exhaustive case preparation is necessary in order to marshal all the evidence to have a meaningful chance of showing the defendant is at fault.
While premises liability cases demonstrate unique difficulties not presented in the typical personal injury case, they often can be won through meticulous case preparation and zealous representation.