People expect to be safe from any harm or danger when they visit another person’s property, whether it is a personal home or a type of business. However, the property owner may not maintain the property well or has allowed hazardous conditions to remain on the property. If this happens, the owner, management, or possible third-party contractor can be held liable for any injuries that happen as a result of their negligence.
These accidents can happen in public settings like hotel swimming pool areas, conference rooms, office lobbies, apartment buildings, stores, and restaurants. Other slip and fall accidents may occur on government or public properties, like state parks, legislative buildings, courthouses, and similar places.
If you have suffered injuries after a slip and fall accident, it may be in your best interest to report the injuries and get medical treatment right away. You can also seek advice from a personal injury attorney. They can help you analyze the complexities of a personal injury lawsuit arising from a slip and fall accident.
Contact Pintas & Mullins Law Firm. A Glendora slip and fall lawyer from our law firm can help you seek awards. Call us for a no-fee consultation at (800) 223-5115. Our team will gather details from you and suggest a strategy to move ahead with a personal injury lawsuit.
Understanding Premises Liability
If you have been involved in a slip and fall accident on a commercial property, you might seriously injure yourself as a result of a large defect or an unsafe condition on the property. If you choose to move ahead with a personal lawsuit, this lawsuit will be pursued under a law tort known as premises liability.
The premises liability law allows someone to seek compensation after they have been injured on the responsible party’s property due to its negligence.
The law of premise liability makes clear that property owners have a specific responsibility to maintain safe conditions for all who visit the property. In a case involving slip and fall accidents and charging premises liability, a plaintiff and the legal team must prove the elements that are shown in the Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instructions (CACI) §1000.
These include the following:
- Ownership and Responsibility: A plaintiff must prove that a particular property where the accident happened was owned, leased, or controlled by an owner (defendant)
- Negligence: A plaintiff must prove that that the owner defendant showed negligence in the property’s use or care, or allowed hazardous conditions to be accessible, and that the owner was willfully aware of the conditions.
- Injuries: The plaintiff must show that the injuries suffered were a direct cause of the defect or unsafe condition.
- Harm: The plaintiff must show that the plaintiff’s injury was because of the defendant’s negligence, and this negligence was a significant factor in causing the injury. This is where reporting the accident right away and having a medical report showing the nature of the injuries is very important. This will prove the connection of the defect with the injuries.
A slip and fall accident could be a person twisting an ankle on an uneven sidewalk. Alternatively, it could be a fall involving a person walking down the stairs holding the handrail for support. If the handrail breaks, the support is lost, and the victim can fall down the stairs. The fall could result in a concussion, broken bones, fractured wrists or hips, or a spinal cord injury.
In these cases, call Pintas & Mullins Law Firm, so a Glendora slip and fall lawyer can help you establish who was negligent in your case.
Prove Negligence to Recover Compensation
Because of the injuries you suffered, you may choose to file a lawsuit against the property owner due to their negligence. Here is some background information you’ll need for your case to be successful:
Conditions that Should Have Been Repaired
You fell because of a defect, an unsafe condition, or a hazard that should have been fixed or at least sectioned off to warn visitors to the property. This may have been an uneven sidewalk, wet flooring, outdoor hole, or something similar.
You need to prove that these conditions should have been noted by the property owner (or manager of the property, or agent/employee of the property), and should have been repaired. The negligence occurred when the property owner did not undertake any repairs for the unsafe condition. The court will determine if the hazard was truly dangerous for you and if the defendant could have used better judgment to repair the condition in order to avoid the accident.
Caused by Careless Property Owner
You must show that the carelessness exhibited by the property owner led to your slip and fall accident. You must prove in court that it was reasonably foreseeable that the hazardous condition caused your fall.
To determine the reasonable aspect of that element above means that a variety of detailed questions will come to you about the condition of the property.
You might have to:
- Describe the condition of the property where you fell and show photo or video evidence
- Note warning signs about a hazard on the premises
- Determine if your fall was caused by work equipment or large objects left behind by a maintenance crew
- State that the owners knew about this condition
- State that the owners should have known about the hazard
For a free legal consultation with a Slip and Fall Injury Lawyer serving Glendale, call (800) 223-5115
Seek Help from Our Law Office Today
Act quickly, because the statute of limitations explains that you have to file your personal injury insurance claim or lawsuit within the two years of your accident, according to California Code of Civil Procedure (CCP) §335.1.
If you become seriously injured because of these hazardous conditions in a slip and fall accident, contact Pintas & Mullins Law Firm at (800) 223-5115 at your earliest convenience, so our Glendora slip and fall lawyer can help you fight for the compensation you could be entitled to.
Call or text (800) 223-5115 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form