The Kind Of Tort A Slip And Fall Is
A slip and fall injury is a type of personal injury tort referring to a situation in which a person slips, falls and gets injured on the property of another person. This personal injury tort is also known as a premises liability claim.
Slip and fall injuries
Liability for these injuries arises due to a defendant’s ownership of the premises where the accident took place. For instance, a store owner will carry the liability of a slip and fall injury that occurred in the store. The store owner will still be liable if he has rented the place because he has exclusive control of the property interior.
The property owner or landlord may have the shared liability for an injury occurring outside the store’s exclusive premises. That includes a slip and fall happening on the sidewalk.
Establishing a slip and fall claim
You will have to prove the following elements to establish a slip and fall premises liability claim.
- The property owner owes a duty of care.
- The property owner or manager breached the duty of care.
- The plaintiff suffered injuries.
- The defendant’s breach was the reason for the injuries.
The duty of care may change based on the reason you are on the property.
- Invitees: These are the people who enter a property for some business purpose.
- Licensees: These people enter another person’s property with permission for some social purpose.
- Trespassers: These are the people entering another’s property without any permission.
Defenses for slip and fall claims
After filing a claim, you have to be ready to face defense from the property owner or manager. That defense will be in the form of an argument to your claims. Here are the two primary defenses put forward by proper owners or managers.
- The defendant will try to prove that they were not negligent in creating the harmful condition. They may also argue that they were not negligent in the property maintenance to correct any such issues. For instance, they may say that the milk spill that caused a customer to slip and fall had occurred only some moments ago by another customer on the premises and that this problem was undetectable in such a short time even for a reasonably responsible property manager.
- The defendant may argue that the injured person himself was responsible for his injury. For instance, any reasonable customer would exercise due diligence for their safety and look at the floor for any spilled liquid to avoid slipping.
Proving your claim against a property owner or manager can be a tough ask due to several factors involved in the accident. A grocery store manager would particularly put forward some strong arguments in their defense to avoid liability. In that case, your best bet is to analyze your case properly and make sure that you were not negligent at the time of the accident. The best thing to do in this regard is to hire a skilled slip and fall attorney. A slip and fall attorney will help you collect evidence from the scene and formulate a legitimate claim.