Your Guide to Understanding Slip and Fall Lawsuits
Building a strong slip-and-fall claim requires careful documentation, expert opinions, and the guidance of an experienced personal injury attorney. To help you make a solid case, we’ve compiled this comprehensive guide on four key elements of a negligence claim:
Duty of care
Establishing the defendant’s negligence is crucial to a slip-and-fall case. It involves showing that the hazard caused your injuries and that the property owner knew or should have known about the danger and failed to fix it, rope off the area, or warn you. Landowners owe different care duties to other people on their property. Invitees, such as customers at a store or visiting a private home, receive the highest duty of care. In these situations, the property owner must periodically check it for possible hazards, clean it, or notify guests of any potentially hazardous conditions.
It could mean checking a convenience store floor for puddles every 15 minutes or ensuring employees are on hand to clear any spills quickly. It may also involve following building codes. Proving this will help your slip and fall lawyer Jersey City NJ, build a strong case for negligence and damages.
Damages
Several variables influence your potential damage recovery. Furthermore, you might receive payment for your suffering. While there are many circumstances where slip and fall accidents can occur, public businesses are typically the scene of most. Store owners and landlords must keep their properties safe and correct or warn of hazardous conditions such as spills, cracks, uneven surfaces, and inadequate lighting.
Gathering as much evidence as possible before filing a slip-and-fall lawsuit is important. Photographs from the accident scene, witness testimony, expert opinions, and medical records can all help strengthen your case. Your attorney will recommend keeping track of all your expenses, which is also an important part of the case’s valuation. Many states use the theory of comparative negligence, which means that if you share in the fault for your injury, your compensation award will be reduced by your percentage of responsibility.
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Liability
For a slip-and-fall lawsuit to be successful in court, the occupier or property owner must be shown to have broken their duty of care. Generally speaking, it is required to show that the property owner knew or should have known about a hazardous condition and took no action to address it before the accident. It can be a difficult task, and evidence is crucial. It can include scene photographs, surveillance footage, witness testimonies, maintenance logs, etc. It is also important to understand the laws regarding premises liability, comparative negligence, and statutes of limitation in your area.
Despite being preventable, slip and fall accidents can cause serious injuries. Often, victims suffer from fractures, head lacerations and concussions, spinal cord damage and even death. A successful slip and fall lawsuit may result in compensation for medical bills, lost wages, cost of future treatment and pain and suffering. However, it is important to work with a qualified attorney.
Statute of limitations
The statute of limitations must be followed when filing a claim, or the court will reject it. This time limit is set by state law and usually starts on the date of the injury. The statute of limitations only refers to when the case must be filed with the court and does not include steps like gathering evidence or negotiating with the defendant’s insurance company.
According to certain states’ application of the discovery rule, the statute of limitations may begin to run when an injury should have been discovered. In addition, some states use pure comparative negligence rules where you can still seek compensation even if you play a small role in the defendant’s case, and your payout will be reduced.
