Slip and Fall Accidents: Proving Premises Liability for Wet or Icy Conditions
Property owners have a legal responsibility to ensure their buildings and exterior grounds are properly maintained and free of dangerous conditions that could cause injuries. If a visitor slips, trips, or falls due to unsafe wet, icy, or slippery conditions on someone else’s property, the property owner may be held financially liable through a “premises liability” personal injury lawsuit.
Proving Liability for Slip and Falls
To successfully establish the property owner’s negligence and liability in a slip and fall accident injury case involving wet floors, icy patches, or other slippery conditions, several key legal elements must be definitively proven with supporting evidence:
- Duty of Care
- Breach of Duty
- Actual Cause
- Proximate Cause
- Injuries
Proving Causation in Slip & Fall Cases
Providing clear evidence definitively demonstrating that the property owner’s negligent maintenance directly precipitated the fall is critical for sufficiently proving liability and causation. Plaintiffs rely on a variety of evidentiary sources, such as:
- Photographic evidence of the dangerous conditions
- Video surveillance footage capturing the actual fall
- Eyewitness statements describing the incident
- Police reports filed shortly after the incident
- Medical records indicating injuries consistent with a slip-and-fall
- Expert opinions from safety engineers who can assess negligence
Vital evidence can disappear quickly after an accident. It’s important to gather as much proof as possible – by taking photos, getting contact info for witnesses, requesting video evidence preservation, reporting injuries/treatment, and contacting specialized legal counsel.
Common Defenses in Slip and Fall Cases
Property owners and insurance companies often dispute liability through various defense arguments, such as:
- Contending regular maintenance conducted and reasonable care taken
- Disputing the cause – claiming another reason for falling
- Blaming the victim for not being careful enough
- Arguing the person went out of their way to access dangerous areas
An experienced personal injury lawyer can evaluate defense claims, challenge unreasonable excuses, and fight back against victim-blaming arguments. An attorney knows how to build a persuasive case with evidence proving the property owner’s negligent maintenance directly led to foreseeable slip and fall incidents.
Pursuing Rightful Compensation for Your Injuries
If you were injured on someone else’s property when you slipped and fell due to unsafe premises they failed to maintain, you may be legally entitled to monetary compensation for all your damages, including:
- All past and future medical expenses – both already-incurred and expected future costs for treatment directly relating to the injuries suffered in the accident
- Lost income from being forced to take time off work while recovering
- Loss of future earnings or diminished earning capacity if left partially disabled with permanent limitations that reduce the ability to work
- Physical pain and emotional suffering endured
- Loss of enjoyment and pleasures of life – inability to participate in favored activities, hobbies, and interests the same way prior to injuries
Financial compensation not only covers quantifiable bills and expenses but also intangible aspects such as personal anguish, lifestyle impairments, loss of vitality, and difficulties enjoying life fully. An accomplished personal injury law firm can determine what total compensation should reasonably amount to for a case, negotiate more effectively with resistant insurance carriers, and be fully prepared to take the case to court before a judge and jury if warranted – significantly increasing the chances of obtaining the maximum fair compensation.
If you’ve been involved in a slip and fall accident that wasn’t your fault, we can help. You can visit our offices at:
- Orlando – 315 Park Lake Cir., Orlando, FL 32803
- Tampa – 11700 N. 58th St., Ste. A, Temple Terrace, FL 33617
- Kissimmee – 1052 E. Osceola Parkway, Kissimmee, FL 34744
- Poinciana – 4663 Old Pleasant Hill Road, Poinciana, FL 34759
- Davenport – 40230 US Highway 27, Suite 140, Davenport, FL 33837
- Bradenton – 409 6th Avenue East, Bradenton, FL 34208
Call now for a free consultation on (888) 522-0222.
