When you visit someone’s home or shop at a local business, the last thing on your mind is that you might get hurt. Unfortunately, careless property owners or managers often fail to address safety issues that can cause dangerous conditions and lead to slip-and-fall accidents.
A slip-and-fall accident can result in devastating physical injuries and financial strain that stems from missed work and mountains of medical expenses that result from your fall. At The Bruner Law Firm, our Panama City, Florida, personal injury lawyers understand Florida premises liability laws and can protect your legal rights after an accident.
Since 1992, our firm has worked with Florida accident victims, advocating for them and pursuing maximum compensation. Let our slip-and-fall injury team help you recover and rebuild your life after an accident.
What Is Slip and Fall Accident Liability?
Slip-and-fall accidents are governed by premises liability law. Under premises liability laws, property owners or managers have a legal obligation to maintain a reasonably safe environment for visitors, guests, and patrons. That means addressing potential safety issues like tripping hazards and removing dangerous conditions as soon as possible.
When a slip-and-fall accident occurs due to property owner or manager negligence, victims have the legal right to pursue compensation for their injuries through premises liability claims or a personal injury lawsuit. Anyone who owns or manages a property can be liable for a slip-and-fall accident in Florida. That includes:
- Property owners
- Landlords
- Property managers
- Easement owners
- Contractors
While Florida law dictates that property owners must maintain a safe environment for all invitees and licensees, it does not extend the same legal rights to trespassers. Invitees, such as retail customers, enter a property with the owner’s permission, typically to benefit the owner. Licensees are individuals who enter a property with the owner’s consent for their benefit, such as social guests, delivery drivers, or repair technicians.
Trespassers are in a separate category and enter a property without express or implied permission. Property owners are typically only liable for injuries to trespassers if the property owner maliciously or intentionally set out to harm the trespassers.
Factors Determining Slip and Fall Liability
Numerous conditions and hazards can make a property dangerous. Liability for harming someone on the property of another can come down to unsafe conditions like:
- Slippery or wet surfaces
- Spills
- Torn carpeting or uneven rugs
- Uneven walkways
- Cracks in the sidewalk
- Potholes
- Exposed wires or loose cords
- Products or boxes blocking store aisles
- Loose floorboards
- Loose or broken stairs
- Loose or broken handrails
- Stairs without handrails
- Unmarked stairs or tripping hazards
- Poor lighting conditions
- Inadequate security
- Exposed electrical wiring
Conditions such as these can point to property owner negligence. Successful premises liability claims and slip-and-fall lawsuits are built on four key elements.
Duty of Care
The first element that must be proven is that the property owner owed the accident victim a duty of care. In premises liability cases, or slip and fall cases, the duty of care is a legal obligation to maintain the property in a manner that makes it a safe environment for others, like licensees and invitees.
Breach of Duty
The second element is proving that the property owner violated, or “breached,” their duty of care by not addressing the safety hazard or the condition that existed on the property for a length of time when the owner should have reasonably known about and addressed the situation.
Causation
The next essential element of a slip-and-fall case is establishing that the dangerous condition directly caused a slip-and-fall accident.
Losses
Finally, an accident victim needs to demonstrate that the slip-and-fall accident caused them injuries and measurable losses.
Proving slip-and-fall liability comes down to evidence. To prove that the property owner or manager was at fault for your injuries, your lawyer must obtain evidence that supports your version of events and proves that the property owner’s careless actions, or lack of action, caused significant injuries and losses.
Some of the evidence that may help support your slip-and-fall case can include:
- Accident report
- Photographs and videos of the scene
- Surveillance footage of the incident
- Medical records
- Witness statements
- Expert witness testimony
Evidence is vital to pursuing maximum compensation for a victim’s injuries because the property owner or their insurance may resort to tactics that shift blame for the accident to the victim. This strategy is prevalent in personal injury lawsuits because of Florida’s modified comparative negligence rule.
Under modified comparative negligence, a victim’s compensation decreases by the same percentage as their fault for causing an accident. Anyone 51 percent or greater for causing an accident cannot recover compensation for their injuries. Blaming a victim for a fall can help property owners or insurers lower a victim’s slip-and-fall compensation.
Florida Premises Liability Statute of Limitations
Accident victims must take immediate action to protect their rights and start the process of pursuing maximum compensation for their injuries. Individuals in Florida have two years from the accident date to file a personal injury lawsuit. Insurers understand the significance of this legal deadline and may drag out premises liability claims or negotiate in bad faith, leading you to miss this filing deadline.
If a case is filed after the legal deadline, the court can dismiss it. An accident victim can lose valuable negotiating leverage and be barred from having their day in court.
How a Florida Slip and Fall Accident Lawyer Can Help
Suffering a slip-and-fall accident can be embarrassing. However, now is not the time to get up, dust yourself off, and move on with your life. Now is the time to fight against careless property owners and pursue the compensation you deserve for your injuries. At Bruner Law Firm, our personal injury attorneys focus on helping slip-and-fall accident victims in Panama City hold negligent property owners accountable.
Call our office today at (850) 243-2222 or contact us online and ask for a free case evaluation with a Florida slip and fall attorney. We can review the circumstances of your incident and discuss your rights and options for seeking compensation for your injuries.
