Slip, Trip, Fall and Injury

The quick explanation of a slip, trip and fall legal case is a person who fell after slipping or tripping on something like a puddle of water or a raised cement block.

There isn’t too much of a mystery about what a slip, trip and fall case is all about. The definition in this instance lies in the description of the actions that take place prior to a personal injury sustained as a result of the fall. While the definition is reasonably clear, there are certain circumstances that need to happen in order for a person to be able to file a lawsuit for damages against an entity or a person.

The first thing may seem rather obvious, but surprisingly isn’t to a lot of people who have been in the difficult situation of having fallen after tripping or slipping, and then found out they had no case. There needs to be an actual dangerous condition. In other words, the fall must come about as the result of a dangerous condition on private or public property.

The reason the law is exceedingly specific in this instance that a person “must” have fallen due to a genuine dangerous condition is because we all land on our rears or other parts of our anatomy many times over. It’s a fact of life. Obviously, the law would not allow you to recover damages every time you fall. Imagine trying to convince a court that tripping over the cat on the way to the bathroom at 3:00 am in the morning is worthy of compensation.

The law will, however, allow recovery of damages for personal injuries that happened because of a dangerous condition on private or public property with the caveat that the owners or people responsible for that property knew or should have known about the dangerous condition.

Knowing what a dangerous condition is may help a person assess whether or not they may have a valid case to discuss with an attorney. Some examples of hazardous conditions include cracks in sidewalks or other areas where people walk, badly maintained handrails or stairs, wet substances on the floor, uneven stairs, debris on the floor, food or other random objects left on a floor and dangerously slippery surfaces. There are a multitude of potentially precarious situations that have the real potential to cause a slip, trip and fall accident.

Another requirement to file a lawsuit is that the owner of the property where the accident happened, or whoever controls the property must either be aware of the treacherous condition, or in the alternative, known about the risky condition as a result of “reasonable” inspections. If they didn’t know or couldn’t have known, a person is not able to recover against them. To find out further specifics, it’s best to discuss a case like this with a highly skilled attorney.

In many instances, slip and/or trip and fall cases require an expert witness to prove an unsafe condition did exist and the owner, etc., either knew or should have known about it. This would shape up as the battle of dueling experts, as the defendant would also have an expert that states the exact opposite.
If someone has fallen as a result of a perilous condition, then consult with a qualified lawyer to determine if there is a potential lawsuit.

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