What is a Slip and Fall?
A slip and fall is a type of claim that invokes the doctrine of premises liability. As the name suggests, a slip and fall occurs where a dangerous surface causes a person to slip and fall. Whoever caused the dangerous condition may be liable for losses incurred by the injured in their fall. Often this liability lies with business owners or homeowners. However property users like renters or leasers may be liable for slip and fall accidents that result from conditions under their control. Liability may also lie with public entities, like cities, that allow dangerous conditions to occur on publicly controlled surfaces like potholes on public roads or cracks in sidewalks. What Do You Have to Show to Win a Slip and Fall Claim?
Slip and fall claims must contain the basic elements of any personal injury case, i.e., they must show that person (or entity) in control of the surface had a duty not to allow dangerous conditions, that they breached that duty, that injury occurred and that the breach of duty caused the injury. The duty breached may be a statutory duty, like that a code that requires stairs to be a certain height, or the duty my result from the reasonable standard of care that requires every person to take care not to injure others. |
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