Although you may call your slip-and-fall injury an accident, the truth is that many kinds of slip-and-fall injuries can be prevented. You may have been at a store when you slipped on a puddle, or maybe you were enjoying your walk through a park when the path suddenly bunched up or crumbled under your feet. It’s the responsibility of the owner of these facilities to make sure their properties are safe. Falling and hurting yourself isn’t your fault in these cases; you were not being negligent, but the owner of the property may have been.
Hazardous conditions must be corrected by property owners. If an owner knows there is a sharp item hidden in the grass, for instance, it would be unreasonable to allow people to walk around it without informing them. In fact, the owner should remove it if it’s not meant to be there. The same goes for owners of stores who don’t repair cracks in the flooring or missing sections of concrete stairs. It’s not your responsibility to make sure the facility is safe; that burden falls on the business or property owner.
After your injury, you’ll need to prove that the owner knew about the condition but did nothing about it. Or, you will need to show that the property owner overlooked the issue. Doing this can be difficult, but with the right documentation and witness testimonies, you may be able to do so and get the compensation you need to cover your lost wages, medical costs, or other financial losses.
Our website has more information on slip-and-fall injuries, so you can learn about them and the responsibilities of property owners.
