If you have ever been unfortunate enough to be injured because you slipped/tripped and fell, you may be curious as to whether or not you have a meritorious claim against someone or some entity for your damages. Laws related to these types of cases fall under the umbrella of the “Premises Liability” law.

Many people mistakenly believe that if they are injured on someone else’s property, then that person’s insurance company is automatically responsible for paying their medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering. The truth is that the property owner and their insurance company will only be obligated to pay damages to a slip and fall plaintiff under very strict guidelines. The following is a simple formula to determine whether or not you have a viable claim:

Dangerous Condition + Notification + Injuries + Causation = Verdict (Less Comparative Negligence)

1) Dangerous condition

Unless your slip and fall was caused by a dangerous condition, then you do not have a case. A dangerous condition can be many things, such as a wet floor, cracked tiles or planks, a broken handrail on stairs, inadequate lighting, etc. If you can establish that he slipped or tripped due to a “hazardous condition,” then you can tackle the next hurdle, which is often the most difficult to prove, “Warning.”

2) Notice

To win in a slip and fall case, you must prove that you slipped/tripped due to a dangerous condition on the defendant’s premises AND that the defendant “knew or should have known” about the dangerous condition. Notice is divided into two (2) types of notice. They are:

a) Actual Notice:

This is the type of notice that proves that the defendant created the dangerous condition or that there is evidence to establish that the defendant actually knew that the dangerous condition existed for a sufficient period of time to have taken steps to fix the dangerous condition.

b) Constructive Notice:

This is the type of notice that is established by evidence showing that the defendant should have known about the dangerous condition if they had been doing their job correctly. An example of “constructive notice” is a soda spill on a supermarket floor that was not cleaned up for more than an hour because the market did not have a standard operating procedure in place to reasonably inspect and clean aisles. .

3) Insults

This element of the slip and fall case is obvious. No case unless there are injuries to discuss. Due to the difficulty of pursuing slip and fall cases, most attorneys will not handle a slip and fall case on a contingency fee basis unless the injury is relatively significant, such as a broken bone or torn tendon. Mere soft tissue injuries rarely result in a monetary recovery sufficient to make the case profitable for an experienced attorney to pursue effectively. If you believe your injury is significant, you should immediately call an experienced personal injury attorney to discuss your case.

The reasons to call an attorney immediately are many. First, it is necessary to have a qualified expert inspect and photograph the hazardous condition. Often the owner will repair the dangerous condition shortly after the accident and then have no proof that it existed. Many otherwise meritorious cases are ruined or severely undermined because the hazardous condition was not properly recorded and inspected in a timely manner. Second, your lawyer needs to obtain witness statements and conduct the necessary research to establish the foundation of your case. Each case is only as good as its foundation. If the foundation is weak, so will the jury’s verdict.

When you hire a lawyer to represent your interests in any personal injury claim, especially a liability case, you need assurances from him/her that the necessary experts will be hired immediately and the required investigation will be carried out. immediate.

4) Cause

Causation is the legal term used to describe the causal relationship between the accident and the claimed injury. Defense attorneys often assert that the injury claimed by the plaintiff was not caused by the accident he is defending, but was “pre-existing.” Defense attorneys will cite all of the medical records generated on you for decades prior to the accident to see if you had any prior complaints of a similar nature, allowing them some latitude to argue that your injury was not caused by the dangerous condition that your client knew about. or should have known.

If you have any pre-existing conditions or complaints in the same part of your body that was injured in the accident, it is imperative that you inform your attorney of these facts. Never think that the defense attorney will not get this information. Never hide it from your lawyer. Be open and honest about any and all past injuries and lawsuits because if you’re not, the defense will find out and paint you as a liar.

5) Verdict

If you establish the above four (4) elements of your claim, then a jury will be forced to award you damages for your medical bills, lost income, as well as pain and suffering…

6) Comparative Negligence

You should also be prepared for the defense to assert that even though they may have been negligent, you were “comparatively negligent.” This is a common defense that is used 100% of the time in the defense of premises liability cases. While, on the one hand, you can argue that the hole you fell into was “huge”, the defense’s argument will be “Okay, we agree, so why didn’t you see it yourself?” Juries are very inclined to buy comparative negligence arguments, and you and your lawyer should be prepared from the outset to deal with this. The question “Why didn’t you see the dangerous condition?” is something that every competent personal injury attorney should ask their prospective client at their first meeting.

In California we follow the law of comparative negligence. This means that if the jury determines that the plaintiff is 50% at fault, then the total verdict is reduced by 50%.

Conclusion

If you believe your premises liability injury was caused, at least in part, by the negligence of another person or entity, then you should immediately contact an experienced personal injury attorney well-versed in the nuances of this area of ​​law. law. You should retain an attorney who also has the necessary resources to retain the appropriate experts and conduct the necessary investigation before the dangerous condition is repaired and/or modified in any way.