Slip and fall
Ah nothing beats a cup of warm chocolate fudge when the weather is as grumpy like this. I was on my way for my work’s presentation today when I dropped by a coffee shop. Since I want to get early on the office to make some preparations, I immediately get out of the shop as fast as I could but before I could do that I saw this woman slip and fall into the shop’s carpet in the entrance hall. It was really a bad fall because it created a loud “thump” on the floor making all eyes inside the coffee shop stared at her.
It was a miracle that nothing bad happens to her, everyone in the room thought that she break her ankle for that bad fall. The good thing though is that she was immediately assisted by the shop’s crew. Even the shop’s manager was there. Before I passed out of the shop I heard talking that the shop will be liable for the accident.
However it is not always that a victim of a slip and fall accident gets a liable responsibility from the property owner. Yes, it is true. Sometimes our carelessness can be the one to blame with.
Slip and fall is a kind of tort law. In the United States, it is a claim based on a person slipping, tripping or falling. In line with this, the property owner on
where a person experience a slip and fall accident can be consider irresponsible in allowing some dangerous condition for the existence of such slip or trip.
A victim of a slip and fall’s accident has his/her right to file for a complaint and demand a claim. However, to be fair with the property owner the law created an agreement on which certain existing conditions can a victim claim for a liable responsibility for the property owner. A person who experienced the slip and fall accident should have the following information held true:
-The property of the owner must have caused the spill, trip or fall.
-The property owner has already known about the dangerous surface but has done nothing about it.
-The property owner has already known about the dangerous surface because of a reasonable person discovered and repaired it.
In these cases, it is better to seek for the legal advice of your personal injury lawyer. Judges and juries determine whether the property owner was careful to keep their property safe.
On the other hand, property owners have their primary defenses to public liability with regards to slip and fall claims.
-The first defense is that they were not negligent. For example, the owner may claim that the banana that a patron slipped upon had been dropped on the floor only moments ago by another patron and during the incident the store owner acting with reasonable care would not have had time to discover the danger and take steps to mitigate the danger.
- Second and more typical defense is that the person who was injured was at fault. For example, the owner may claim that any reasonable patron should always stay focus on where they are going. It will not be their fault if a person of a slip and fall accident is not careless.