If you fell while you were in public because something made you slip, you may assume your accident was the result of your own clumsiness. In reality, you could have been the victim of factors that were beyond your control. It is possible your pain and suffering is the result of dangerous or hazardous property conditions, and you may not be to blame for what happened.
Slip-and-fall accidents may not seem like major personal injury events, but they can leave you with painful injuries that can have a significant effect on your life. Your recovery after this type of accident is crucial, and you may have grounds to move forward with a premises liability claim. The property owner may be legally responsible for what happened to you.
Who is to blame?
It is not always immediately clear who is to blame for your slip-and-fall accident. If you were in public, it could be a property owner or even a government entity to blame for the fall. It can be complex to prove fault in these types of cases, and in order to have a valid premises liability claim, you must be able to prove one of the following about the circumstances of your accident:
- The owner of the property created the dangerous condition
- The owner of the property knew about the dangerous condition and did not do anything to fix it
- The dangerous condition was there long enough for the property owner to know about it and take steps to address it
The key element in a premises liability claim is proving that it was reasonably foreseeable that the dangerous property conditions could cause harm to a visitor to the property. A careful look at the circumstances of your accident could determine if you have a case and identify the liable party.
What can you do?
Premises liability claims are time sensitive. If you think you have a case, it is in your interests to move forward with this process as soon as possible. Quick action will help with the preservation of important evidence that is critical to validate your civil claim.
It is beneficial to work with an experienced Florida personal injury attorney from the first step. After an accident, you may be unsure of what to do next or how to get what you need for a full and fair recovery, but you do not have to walk through the aftermath alone.
