You could lose your balance and slip just about anywhere given the right conditions. Wearing shoes with bad traction or moving too fast can certainly increase your risk of a slip-and-fall incident. However, property maintenance is often one of the main contributing factors to someone’s risk for a slip-and-fall injury.
When an apartment building’s owner or the manager of a business does not prioritize keeping spaces clean, they may create a situation in which someone has a significantly elevated risk of slipping, falling and getting hurt. Sometimes, people hurt on someone else’s property because of dangerous conditions will have grounds for a premises liability claim.
How can you determine if a property owner or business might need to blame for a slip-and-fall incident?
Was negligence a factor in the incident?
Typically, for you to have grounds for an insurance claim or a personal injury lawsuit against someone else, you need to have evidence supporting the idea that the other party was negligent or broke the law. There are many behaviors that could be negligent when it comes to facility maintenance.
Establishing what is technically negligence and what is not can be a bit confusing. The standard used in the court system involves the judgment of a reasonable person. If a reasonable person would agree that the situation was risky, then failing to address it may constitute negligence.
Both intentional actions and omissions can be negligent. Failing to do what a reasonable person would recognize is necessary or doing something that a reasonable person would believe is unsafe could lead to premises liability claims.
Understaffing that results in product spills going unattended is an example of negligence that most people would agree causes unsafe conditions. A property owner’s decision to delay certain repairs, like fixing a leaking pipe, could also be an actionable form of negligence.
If non-compliance with property codes or other forms of negligence contributed to your incident, you may have grounds to file a premises liability insurance claim or possibly even a personal injury lawsuit against the property for business. Such claims can help cover property damage expenses, medical bills and even lost income related to your injuries. Educating yourself about personal injury claims can help you decide if you should take action after falling and getting hurt on someone else’s property.