Falling on a hard surface can cause serious injury. While older people tend to lose their footing and fall more often, people of all ages can suffer life-altering concussions, spinal injuries, and bone breaks. If you’ve injured yourself falling, you may justifiably feel wronged. Businesses are obligated to clear ice patches, wet hallways, and other potentially hazardous surfaces. So, what is a slip and fall accident you can sue over?
What Is Your Responsibility for Reasonable Care?
When going about our lives, we each have a responsibility to take care of ourselves. When we bump our head on the roof of our car, for example, we don’t usually sue the car manufacturer.
Each person has a duty to take reasonable care of themselves by remaining alert and aware of their environment. If a reasonable person would see an obstacle and avoid it, the property owner may not be responsible for clearing it. If an obstacle forms without anyone’s knowledge, it would be unfair to blame its occurrence on a property owner.
What Is a Slip and Fall Accident, and When Can You Take Legal Action?
Slip and fall incidents are traumatic. When they occur because of someone else’s neglect, you may have grounds for a lawsuit. Although it can sometimes be difficult to determine whether someone else was being negligent, you must demonstrate at least one of the following to win your case:
- The property owner caused the spill, surface distortion, or ice buildup.
- The owner or a company employee “should have known” about a condition hazardous enough that a reasonable person would have removed it and failed to act.
- The property owner or a company employee must have learned about the hazardous conditions but still did nothing to fix it.
What Is a Slip and Fall Accident Attorney Good For?
Generally, you can sue if your fall resulted in an injury serious enough to cause significant financial damage. This damage must be the result of someone else’s neglect, and you must have taken reasonable care.
The law is intentionally vague when it comes to explaining what is “reasonable.” It also incorporates the murky concept of “damage.” In Arizona, one party may not be entirely at fault for an injurious incident, and an adjuster may alter your compensation based on the percentage of fault you inherit.
Regardless of your situation, you can expect a property owner to argue that you weren’t paying reasonable attention to your surroundings, you were wearing inadequate footwear, or you neglected to heed a warning cone or signpost.
Fall injury cases often depend on personal accounts, so it’s important to have proper guidance during your recovery journey. An attorney can collect and present evidence that you acted with reasonable care, suffered damage, and deserve compensation.
Sargon Law Group for Personal Injuries From a Fall
What is a slip and fall accident? It’s a traumatic incident for which you may be awarded compensation, provided you hire a skilled Phoenix slip and fall injury attorney. For a top slip and fall team in Arizona, get a free consultation at Sargon Law Group today.