Legal Issues in Slip-and-Fall Cases

Slip-and-fall accidents at birthday parties, grocery stores, gender reveal parties, and other public places send over eight million Americans to hospital emergency rooms every year. A disproportionate number of these victims are over 65. Victims in this age group also sustain a disproportionate amount of serious fall-related physical and emotional injuries.

Physical injuries, such as broken bones, often permanently impair mobility. Emotional injuries, such as PTSD, may be even worse.

In a perfect world, property owners would step up to the plate and properly compensate these victims. But since we don’t live in a perfect world, an Oceanside personal injury lawyer must go to court and obtain the compensation these victims need and deserve. This compensation usually includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.

Duty of Care

In general, the duty of care requires property owners to go out of their way to prevent accidents, much like the Good Samaritan went out of his way to help an injured traveler. How far out of their way must property owners go? The answer to that question usually depends on the relationship between the victim and property owner:

• Invitee: An invitee is a business or commercial guest who has permission to be on the property (an open for business sign in the window or a dinner invitation over the phone) and benefits the owner financially or nonfinancially. Window shoppers benefit business owners financially even if they don’t buy anything. Since the relationship is so close, these owners must practically bend over backwards to provide safe and secure environments.
• Licensee: A licensee is someone with permission to be on the land, but whose presence doesn’t benefit the owner. A guest of a hotel guest is a licensee, as are children who cut across parking lots on their way to and from school. The duty of care is lower since the relationship between an owner and a licensee is more distant. Owners must normally warn invitees about latent (hidden) defects, and that’s about it.
• Trespasser: This awful-sounding word simply means no permission and no benefit. Tenants who overstay leases or break other property rules are typically trespassers. Usually, owners owe no duty of care to trespassers. Stories of injured burglars who successfully sued homeowners are mostly urban myths.

These categories are fluid. If Max goes into Macy’s during business hours, he’s an invitee. If he goes into an Employees Only or other restricted area, he’s a trespasser. When he leaves that area, he’s probably an invitee again.

Knowledge of Hazard

An Oceanside personal injury lawyer can obtain compensation if the owner had a duty of care and the owner knew about, or should have known about, the injury-causing hazard. Attorneys must prove actual or constructive knowledge by a preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not).

Smoking guns such as restroom cleaning reports and “cleanup on aisle nine” announcements are direct evidence of actual knowledge.

The time-notice rule applies in circumstantial evidence fall injury cases. Think about a banana peel on the floor (yes, people actually slip on banana peels). If the peel is yellow, like it just fell on the floor, the owner isn’t liable for damages. But liability attaches if the peel was black and gritty, as if people had walked on it.

Contact a Thorough San Diego County Lawyer

Injury victims are entitled to substantial compensation. For a confidential consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in Oceanside, contact the Pursley Law Firm. Virtual, home, and hospital visits are available.

Source:

stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=falls-injury-statistics-and-incidence-rates-90-P02974