DC Personal Injury Lawyer Slip and Fall
Let’s say a person is in the grocery store. She is alone, walking down an aisle. On the ground, in the middle of the aisle lies a banana peel. The person does not notice the peel, slips on it, and breaks her wrist.
Is the grocery store liable? Was the grocery store negligent in some way? In this case, probably not. If the lighting was normal, and the person had perfect vision and should reasonably have seen the banana peel, then she likely will not win her slip and fall case.
What if, instead of the banana peel, there was water on the floor, no sign, and a light in the aisle was out, so the patron could not see the water? The patron falls again, and breaks her wrist. Can the grocery store be held liable? In this case, possibly. The grocery store has a duty to maintain a safe environment. Part of safety includes adequate lighting and signage.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people are impacted by slip and fall accidents, with injuries ranging from minor bruises and cuts to broken bones and even death. These accidents are especially dangerous for the elderly.
Slip and falls a
re particularly present in the workplace. The construction industry, manufacturing, and transportation have the most fall fatalities annually. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) consistently cites fall protection violations on construction sites as one of the most frequent safety violations. Some common forms of slip and fall negligence are wet floors without warning signs, loose floorboards, and damaged sidewalks and parking lots.
A property owner may be liable if he or she should have known about an issue (like poor lighting) and failed to remedy the situation. Property owners must take reasonable measures to ensure safe conditions, but this is balanced against the actions of a reasonable person.
To be awarded damages in your slip and fall case, you need to prove liability and negligence. Did the liable party cause the slip and fall, or did the liable party fail to prevent the slip and fall in some way? Should the property owner have known about the condition, or did the owner know about the condition and fail to fix it?
You’ll want to ask other important questions: how long had the defect been present? What kinds of daily cleaning of the property are in place? Were you at all negligent? Did the property owner have sufficient warning and proper barriers in place?
Damages you may be entitled include compensation for medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, and household assistance. If you’ve been injured in a slip and fall accident, the experienced attorneys at Cohen & Cohen can help get you the compensation you deserve. Contact us today for a free case evaluation.
