Any surface that is wet, uneven, covered with debris, or poorly lit can lead to a slip and fall injury. These injuries can end up being more severe than you might think, as they might require you to have extensive medical treatment and be unable to work.
If your injuries occurred while you were on the property of others, they could be responsible for the circumstances that led to your fall. Determine if you have a valid personal injury claim with the help of a South Gate slip and fall lawyer.
In some cases, a store might fail to clean up or warn customers of a spill, which results in your slipping and falling. In other cases, cracked and uneven steps leading up to an office might cause you to slip and fall. Whatever the case may be, you may have a claim against those property owners for their negligence in failing to keep their property safe for customers.
You do not have to bear the unexpected expenses related to your injuries on your own. Call (800) 223-5115 to learn more about the legal services that Pintas & Mullins Law Firm has to offer you.
Proving Premises Liability in Slip and Fall Claims
Premises liability refers to the legal concept that property owners are responsible for accidents on their property that occur when they fail to properly maintain the property and eliminate or warn of dangerous conditions.
The California Civil Code (CIV) §1714 outlines the responsibility of property owners to care for their property and prevent situations that could cause others harm. Under this code section, property owners owe a legal duty to others to maintain their property and keep it in a reasonably safe condition.
To prove a slip and fall claim under premises liability law, you must provide evidence that:
- The property owner knew about the dangerous condition, such as a spill, hole in the ground, or debris, and failed to remedy it or warn others of the situation.
- The property owner should have known about the dangerous condition from regularly inspecting and reasonably maintaining the property.
Injury victims also have a duty to look out for harm. So, if people are injured when they slip and fall into an obvious and readily apparent hole in the floor, the property owners may not be responsible for the lack of care of the injured parties.
Comparative Negligence in Slip and Fall Cases
Injury victims might be eligible for compensation under premises liability law even if they did contribute in some way or bear some fault for their own injuries. As explained in Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instructions (CACI) §405-406, just as injury victims must prove that property owners are negligent in slip and fall claims, property owners must prove that the injury victims also were negligent to some degree, and their own negligence was a substantial factor that led to their injuries.
If the property owners are successful in proving that the injury victims were negligent in some way, they may only have to pay a reduced amount of compensation to the injury victims.
The legal doctrine of comparative negligence allows injury victims to seek compensation for their injuries from property owners, even if the injury victims are negligent to a degree.
For instance, suppose that a jury finds that injury victims were 30% at fault for the slip and fall accident that led to their injuries. In this situation, the most that the injury victims could collect from the property owners is 70% of their total losses. Under the rules of comparative negligence, injury victims must pay the percentage of their losses that directly relates to their percentage of fault for the accident.
For a free legal consultation with a Slip and Fall Accidents Lawyer serving South Gate, call (800) 223-5115
Compensation in Slip and Fall Claims
Injury victims can seek various types of compensation in slip and fall claims, which also are called damages. These damages fall into two broad categories: general compensatory damages and special compensatory damages. A South Gate slip and fall lawyer can assess your situation and determine all types of compensation that you can seek in your legal claim.
General Compensatory Damages
General damages are those that are non-economic in nature, or those that do not always easily translate into dollars and cents. These damages compensate injury victims for their intangible losses due to an accident, such as pain and suffering, anxiety, depression, loss of companionship, and loss of enjoyment of life.
Special Compensatory Damages
On the other hand, special compensatory damages are physical expenses that the injury victims have as a result of their accidents. These damages can include items of compensation such as medical bills, rehabilitation expenses, costs of prescriptions and medical equipment, and emergency medical treatment expenses.
Special compensatory damages also may include your economic losses from being unable to work following an accident. You may be able to recover compensation for your lost wages while you are unable to work.
South Gate Slip and Fall Accidents Lawyer Near Me (800) 223-5115
Contact Our Law Firm Today for Advice
When you have injuries from a slip and fall that the negligence of the property owner caused, you likely are in pain, confused about your options, and unsure where to turn for help. A South Gate slip and fall lawyer can be a significant source of information about your legal rights to compensation after this type of accident. When you have the correct information and understand how the law works, you can better protect your legal rights following your slip and fall accident.
Finances are often tight following a slip and fall accident, especially when your injuries keep you from working temporarily or, in some cases, permanently. However, you do not have to worry about paying us money upfront to handle your case.
At Pintas & Mullins Law Firm, we can handle your slip and fall claim on a contingency fee basis, which means that you never have to come up with the money to pay us out of pocket. Instead, we wait and get our fees after you have received compensation for your injuries from the responsible parties. Call (800) 223-5115 and get more information about your rights to compensation after a slip and fall accident.
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