Slip and Falls

Slip and falls occur on private and public property and can result in a wide range of injuries from sprained ankles to broken limbs, torn knee cartilage, spinal fractures, and serious head trauma. Even in cases where liability might seem obvious, injury claimants face many obstacles. You will need the resources, knowledge, and skills of attorneys from Green & Gillispie to navigate through these often-difficult claims to get you the compensation you deserve for your medical expenses, lost income, diminished income capacity, and pain and suffering.

Where Do Slip and Falls Occur?

Any time you fall on someone else’s property because of an unsafe condition and suffer an injury, you have a potential claim for compensation. Many of these cases occur in the following settings:

• Parking lots
• Grocery stores
• Department stores
• Restaurants
• Construction sites
• Rental units
• Driveways
• Sidewalks
• Parks
• Bars
• Entertainment venues
• Public buildings

What are the Causes of a Slip and Fall?

Any hazardous condition can be a factor in causing your accident. Typical causes of slip and fall accidents include:

• Icy surfaces
• Wet floors
• Torn carpeting
• Toys or equipment left on floors or stairs
• Lack of illumination on stairways or parking lots
• Uneven walkways
• Defective steps or stairs
• Lack of guardrails

What are the Elements in a Slip and Fall Claim?

Any claim for personal injury has certain elements or components, each of which must be proved by the “preponderance of the evidence” standard. In other words, does the evidence indicate that it is more likely than not that the element has been proved?  In a typical slip and fall case, these elements are:

1. A dangerous or hazardous condition existed
2. The property owner was responsible for maintaining the premises or area where the accident occurred in a safe condition
3. The property owner knew or should have known of the hazardous condition
4. The property owner failed in the exercise of reasonable care to fix, remove, or to sufficiently warn others of the hazardous condition
5. The property owner’s failure to remove or to warn the claimant of the hazardous condition was the cause of the claimant’s injury
6. The claimant sustained damages as a result of the injury

How is Liability Established in a Slip and Fall Case?

The first obstacle to overcome in any personal injury case is to establish liability. Even if you slipped and fell on a wet floor in a grocery store or on an icy surface in a parking lot, this does not automatically impose liability on the property owner.

Liability in a slip and fall claim often depends on the status of the claimant and where the accident occurred. There are three (3) classifications of claimants in a slip and fall case that establishes the degree of care that the property owner must maintain:

1. Invitees—these are persons who generally enter retail or commercial establishments with the implied or express consent of the property owner for their mutual benefit and usually to purchase goods or services. This would include customers in stores and restaurants. In these cases, the property owner has a duty of care to invitees to maintain the property in a reasonably safe condition, but also to protect invitees from any risks or hazards the owner knows about or should know about. To meet the standard of care, the owner should periodically inspect the premises for potential hazards such as fallen items, wet or icy floors, torn carpeting, uneven steps, and poor lighting. But even if there was a hazard that led to the injury, often the owner must have had reasonable notice of its existence.

If someone had dropped a glass bottle that created a slippery surface just seconds before the accident, then there may not have been sufficient notice to the owner of the hazard so that, in the exercise of ordinary and reasonable care, it could have removed, remedied, or a sufficient warning given. But if the owner had no inspection policy or maintenance schedule, or failed to adhere to it, and there was evidence the hazard had been present for several hours or days depending on the nature of the hazard, then the owner might have had constructive notice of the risk that would trigger the obligation to remedy, remove, or warn of the danger in a clear and timely manner.

2. Licensees—a licensee is a person who enters a residence or premises at the implied or express consent of the owner but for his/her own benefit. This would include social guests who are invited to a private homeowner’s residence, as well as fire personnel; mail, package, and delivery persons; and police officers who come to your home in their official capacities.

The property owner owes a licensee no duty until his or her presence on the premises is known or reasonably should be known. Then, the owner owes the licensee only a duty not to cause the licensee injury by willful or wanton conduct. If, however, the owner knows or has reason to know of a condition on the premises which is not open and obvious and which creates an unreasonable risk of harm to licensees, then the owner is under a duty to use ordinary care to make the condition safe or to warn those licensees who do not know or have reason to know of the danger.

The property owner typically has no duty to regularly inspect the premises for possible unknown or hidden hazards. The owner’s duty of care typically only extends to persons whom the owner knew or should have known is on the property, and obligates the owner to use ordinary care to warn those persons of known hazards that are not open and obvious. A hazard or unsafe condition is open and obvious where a person of ordinary intelligence would have been able to discover it upon a casual observation. All persons, with some limited exceptions, have a duty to exercise ordinary care for their own safety and to avoid risks that are deemed open and obvious. Further, landowners must not take measures that intentionally or wantonly injure anyone whom the owner is aware is on their property.