If you or someone you love was involved in a slip and fall accident caused by someone else’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation.
Our Harrisburg slip and fall attorneys will evaluate your case and help you pursue the compensation you deserve. Contact us today for a free, no obligation consultation.
The at-fault party could be held legally liable, but proving your case for a slip and fall injury comes down to four important elements of negligence.
Duty of Care
Land owners owe a duty of care to persons on the property, depending on the type of visitor.
- General visitors on the property for non-business related reasons, such as friends and family, are owed a simple duty by the property owner. The owner must keep the property safe, warn visitors of any known dangers on the property, and keep from creating dangerous conditions on purpose.
- Visitors on the property for the benefit of the owner are known as licensees. This can include shoppers in a retail store, contractors, utility repair workers, or people entering property that is open to the public. Property owners must take all reasonable steps to prevent harm to guests resulting from existing or foreseeable hazards, even those that are hidden. This includes conducting routine inspections of the property, repairing hazards and warning people about dangers.
- Persons on the property who are there without permission are trespassers. Typically, there is no duty owed to a trespasser because the trespasser does not have permission to be there. The property owner does not have to warn trespassers of dangers on the property, but the property owner cannot intentionally create a danger on the property that could harm a trespasser, such as creating a trap.
Breach of Duty of Care
Once you determine what type of duty you are owed by a property owner, you must prove the duty was breached in some way. A property owner breaches his or her duty by failing to take reasonable action to prevent visitors from suffering an injury.
If the land owner knows about a hazard on his or her property and fails to take action to correct it or does not do so within a reasonable period of time, the duty of care may have been breached.
If a property owner does not inspect the property for hazards, he or she may have breached the duty of care even if he or she was not aware of the hazard.
Link Between Breach of Duty and Injuries
To prove your case for a slip and fall injury, you must show that the property owner’s breach of duty directly caused your injury. A property owner simply failing to fix a hazard that causes a fall on the premises is not basis for a claim – that failure must have caused you to suffer an injury.
For example, if you slip due to a puddle of water on the floor at a business you are visiting causing you to fall and injure yourself, your injury can be linked to the hazard. If you slip and fall but are not injured due to the hazard, a claim can be harder to prove.
Damages
A slip and fall accident claim must also result in damages. This means suffering a loss or damage due to your injury.
In a typical slip and fall injury claim, damages may include:
- Medical bills
- Lost wages
- Pain and suffering
Contact an Attorney Now
If you suffer an injury due to a slip and fall accident, contact a Harrisburg personal injury lawyer at Schmidt Kramer who can help review your case and let you know your legal options for pursuing damages.
Request a free, no obligation consultation now. When you work with our firm, there are no upfront fees and no risk to you. Legal fees and expenses are only owed if we recover adequate compensation for you.
Call (717) 888-8888 or fill out our Free Case Review form now.