As per the law, the owner or occupier of a property has the legal obligation to prevent harm and protect others while they are in your care or employment. If a person suffers an injury, they become liable. Slip and fall accidents can happen in schools, parks, offices, and places of business. In the United States, slips and falls account for 5% of job-related fatalities for women vs. 11% for men.
But slip and fall accidents aren’t easy to prove. For this reason, plaintiffs need to be aware of liability laws and how these apply to a case. A reliable slip-and-fall injury lawyer can guide you through this process.
This article will discuss how you can prove negligence in a slip-and-fall case. You’ll learn more about filing a slip-and-fall lawsuit.
Filing a Slip and Fall Lawsuit
Approximately eight million visits to the emergency room at a hospital each year are due to falls. And more than 800,000 are hospitalized because of fall injuries each year. Most of these patients suffer from hip fractures and head injuries.
But not every stumble can result in a slip-and-fall accident lawsuit. A property holder can only be accountable for the mishap when you pursue a claim. This means you need legal advice from a slip-and-fall lawyer to prove negligence.
Owner Vs. Occupier
A slip-and-fall incident can get complex when the person who occupies the property is not the legal landlord but rather a tenant.
The opposing party, in this case (one who owns the real estate), should maintain the property’s upkeep by doing regular repairs and checks. A landlord must also issue an appropriate warning to avoid future penalties.
Those who fail to uphold a property’s structural integrity are considered negligent.
In Florida, a person who suffers an injury in a rented space often files a slip-and-fall lawsuit if the property owner has failed to address the problem. As the person who has suffered from any injury, you have a claim against the property owner if the:
- The property owner fails to disclose the hazards before renting the place to an occupant.
- As mentioned in the legal contract, the property owner is responsible for repair and maintenance but has failed to uphold tasks.
Components of Negligence
Whether you’re filing a lawsuit against the occupier or the property owner, proving negligence is substantial to your case. Before pursuing a claim, your personal injury lawyer will analyze certain factors like:
- Whether the property owner or occupier had knowledge of the hazard or was responsible for causing a hazardous condition
- If the property owner or occupier failed to respond to the condition or failed to warn anybody about the hazard
- Whether the owner or occupier’s failure to respond caused a direct injury that led to a considerable level of harm and damage
- Whether any photographs, witness statements, or medical records have been released surrounding the slip and fall incident
Florida Laws Around Slip and Fall Cases
Both the landlord and its occupants are accountable for keeping the premises clean, safe, and habitual. If either party is aware of a hazard in the rental space, they must inform someone or make appropriate amends before it becomes a risk.
As per Florida Law 768.0755, when a person slips, falls, and injures themselves on a transitory substance, they need to prove the business had constructive knowledge of the dangerous conditions and failed to address them.
Slip and fall lawyers can demonstrate a business possessing constructive knowledge by proving that the hazard existed long enough for a check to have taken place or happens on a regular basis and is therefore foreseeable.
For instance, spills present on the floors of a commercial retail business can result in injuries. The business that owns the space becomes responsible for the slip and fall incident. This could be a restaurant, a bar, a grocery store, or a supermarket.
How to Address Slip and Fall Claims?
According to Florida Statute 95.11, plaintiffs have at least four years to file for compensation for injuries sustained. The severity of a slip-and-fall lawsuit depends on the location and the type of property you’re referring to in your casefile:
- If the slip-and-fall accident occurs on government property, you can pursue a claim by proving a government entity is liable for your fall. You must issue a formal notice about your injury and submit medical records. The statutory amount is set in this case, so you’ll only get limited compensation.
- If the accident takes place in a commercial store, you can pursue a claim. You only need to prove that a store owner has been negligent, owing to which you suffered a fall. All retail businesses must identify the hazard and address risks. This is because they’re inviting people to visit the said property to conduct business.
- If it takes place in a rented property, you can pursue a claim by proving the landlord is responsible for the damage. For instance, you fell because of uneven tiles or water leakage. You will need to prove the landlord was aware of the hazardous condition and failed to maintain upkeep.
- If a slip-and-fall accident happens in the workplace, you can issue a workplace claim under the Workers’ Compensation Law. Whatever task you were performing when the injury took place will determine liability. As long as it happened during your working hours, you are eligible for compensation through workers’ insurance.
Reporting a Slip and Fall Claim
Regardless of who’s at fault, most parties in Florida settle slip-and-fall cases in between negotiations. To resolve the case faster, the party responsible for the fall agrees to pay the plaintiff a one-time settlement amount.
A typical slip-and-fall settlement in Florida will include the following:
- Reimbursement for hospital bills, physiotherapy, rehabilitation, ambulance costs, and other medical expenses
- Settlement for economic damages, such as lost earnings and lost job opportunities as a result of the injury
- Reimbursement for noneconomic damages, such as mental anguish, physical inconvenience, pain, and suffering
If you’re facing trouble in a slip-and-fall incident, get legal counseling from a reliable lawyer.
