Who Can Be at Fault for a Slip-and-Fall Accident?

By Edward Bishop

Slip and fall cases are pretty standard. Every year thousands of people get themselves injured by slipping on a wet floor, falling through a staircase, or tripping on a rough patch of sidewalk.

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In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over a million Americans suffer from varying cases of slipping and tripping. In some states, such as New Jersey, Nevada and Florida, slip-and-fall accidents are the most common causes of injuries, so it is common to contact slip and fall lawyers nj to solve these problems.

Slipping and falling can be severe and require a lawyer if you slip and fall on someone’s property. If you are a resident of Florida, specifically Pensacola, then you have the best slip-and-fall lawyers at your disposal.

Fault in Slips, Trips, and Falls

Now, the question is “who is at fault for a slip-and-fall accident?” Like every other disaster or personal injury case, there are certain indicators that can determine who’s responsible for a slip-and-fall:

  1. If you slip and the owner of the area is aware of the greasy or slick material on the surface, then undoubtedly the owner is responsible for the injuries.
  2. In the case of a slip-and-fall accident, the owner may have deliberately caused the surface to be unsafe for passerby.
  3. In this case, the owner should have known about the dangerous surface and gotten it repaired as soon as possible.

The three pointers detailed above are enough to determine who’s at fault. However, in the third case, there can be exceptions. The third case comes under the umbrella of negligence claims, meaning that your Pensacola slip-and-fall lawyer and the court will determine if the property owner acted reasonably. The law states that to determine a person’s reasonableness, there must be an investigation of the person’s efforts to keep the property clean and in good condition.

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When Negligence Is Involved

Below are a couple of points that determine if a person is responsible for your slip-and-fall accident, when negligence is involved:

  1. When you tripped or fell on someone else’s property, was the rough or slick patch always there, or did it recently occur before the owner could take action?
  2. Is the property owner conscientious about making sure cleaning and repair of the property is done correctly, or is the property owner low maintenance and uncaring about the state of the area?
  3. If you fell and hurt yourself by stumbling on an object, was there a concrete reason for the object to be there?
  4. If the object previously needed to be there but this is no longer the case, could the object have been removed so that it was no longer a threat to passersby?
  5. Could a sign or flag have been installed to warn passersby of the danger?
  6. Was the area not properly illuminated?

Can the Victim Be Responsible?

The above points define the property owner’s liability and carelessness, but the injured victim could also be at least partially responsible.

  1. Did you see the dangerous spot, or were you aware of it, yet did not avoid it?
  2. Did you see but ignore posted warnings?
  3. Do you have night-blindness?
  4. Were you distracted or intoxicated?

Depending on the owner’s statement, your statement, the severity of your injury, and your case as a whole, your lawyer can quickly determine who is at fault.

Interesting related article: “What is an occupational accident?”