Slips and falls are some of the most common types of injuries that can occur while visiting another person’s property. Unfortunately, while common, these incidents can result in severe physical injuries, impact your ability to return to work, and damage your emotional well-being. As a result, an unexpected slip or fall can impact almost every part of your life.
If your slip was caused by a property owner’s negligence, you likely have options for seeking monetary damages. However, collecting the compensation that you deserve can be challenging without the help of a personal injury attorney. The burden lies on you to prove the extent of your losses and show that a landowner was negligent in allowing the incident to occur. A Hutto slip and fall lawyer can help you prove these concepts, assemble a personal injury claim, and demand proper compensation through insurance settlements or lawsuits.
Every demand for compensation following an injury that occurs on another’s property is filed as a premises liability case, including slips and falls. This means that, according to state law, there are two main things that a plaintiff must prove to hold a landowner liable for a tripping accident.
The first important element is to demonstrate that a property owner was negligent in allowing a slip and fall to occur. This usually means proving that the owner failed to provide protection against foreseeable harm. As applied to slip and fall cases, a plaintiff could argue that a property owner failed to clean up spilled liquid on a floor or adequately warn guests about another known danger.
Second, a slip and fall plaintiff must be able to connect their losses to the accident in question. To do this, they might compile medical records that document their injuries and prove that they missed time at work due to their fall. It might be difficult for a plaintiff to collect the necessary evidence while recovering from injury, but a detail-oriented Hutto attorney can help with this part of filing a slip and fall claim.
When you enter someone else’s property, the amount of care (“duty”) they owe you depends on why you are on the property. The legal terminology is confusing, and you may need a Hutto attorney to explain it more fully.
When someone comes onto the property for business that benefits themselves and the property owner, they are called an invitee. Despite the name, an invitee is there for commercial purposes. If you go to a grocery store, you are an invitee of the store. If a homeowner hires a contractor to fix their roof, the contractor is an invitee.
Property owners owe invitees an “ordinary” duty of care. They must actively inspect their property for hazards, repair known risks, and warn invitees of known hazards. If hazards cannot be reasonably repaired or made safe, property owners must prevent invitees from encountering them. For instance, if a floor is damaged and cannot be fixed before the store opens, the owner must block it off so shoppers cannot trip over it.
If you go to a location for social purposes, you are a licensee. Licensees are at a property for personal reasons or entertainment. When you stop by a friend’s house for a barbecue, you are a licensee.
Property owners owe licensees a lower duty of care. They have no duty to actively look for hazards or repair damage. Their only duty is to warn licensees of known risks that the licensee is unlikely to discover on their own. For instance, your friend must warn you if the back steps are loose, but has no responsibility to call in a contractor to repair the steps before their barbecue.
Property owners have no duty to trespassers who are on the property unlawfully. The exception is the “attractive nuisance” doctrine. This legal doctrine recognizes that small children may not understand property lines, and may explore interesting places like swimming pools and unguarded trampolines. Property owners who have these things must secure or remove them to prevent children from using them.
As an invitee, you must show two key things: the first being that the owner reasonably knew or should have known about the hazard. This may mean showing the hazard is in a location that reasonable inspection would have revealed.
You must also show that the property owner failed to correct or warn of the hazard. The correction or warning must have been done in a reasonable amount of time. For instance, if someone dropped a soda ten seconds before you slipped on it, the owner could not reasonably have fixed it before your accident.
A licensee has a higher burden of proof in a slip and fall case. You must show that the owner had actual notice of the hazard and failed to notify you in a meaningful way. Actual notice means they knew the hazard existed, and that the hazard was one you were unlikely to find on your own. For instance, if the ceiling tiles in a store are loose, and the owner had been putting off repairing them, shoppers would be unlikely to know about it until one falls. An attorney could show this notice by reviewing employee statements and maintenance records.
Most property owners will have an insurance policy that protects them against accidental injuries. Therefore, most demands for compensation after a trip and fall will flow through an insurance company. These companies are well-versed in the law and will make every attempt to limit their financial liability.
This is why a hardworking Hutto lawyer is prepared to help with a slip and fall claim from day one. Our legal team can work to gather the evidence necessary to prove that a property owner was responsible for the fall. Valuable evidence might include security camera footage, witness statements, and commercial maintenance logs. Using this information, a skilled attorney can form comprehensive demand packages that outline a person’s entitlement to compensation.
Most slips and falls end with a fair settlement that occurs out of court. However, some situations might require pursuing compensation through a formal lawsuit. An attorney can take the lead in submitting these cases to the relevant courthouses.
Even though most tripping accident cases end in a settlement, it is vital to understand that strict time limits usually apply to these claims. According to Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code §16.003, most people only have two years after the date of their injury to file their case. Therefore, it is best to contact an attorney as soon as possible.
After a slip and fall accident, victims are entitled to economic and non-economic damages, which consist of the following.
Economic damages are those that can be calculated from bills and invoices. The physical costs of your injury may include medical bills, doctor’s expenses, lost wages, loss of income, rehabilitation, and even future costs and lost income if your doctor believes your condition could prevent you from working in the future.
Non-economic damages reflect the emotional cost of your injury. These costs are less readily calculated. In most cases, courts will calculate your economic damages, then use a “multiplier,” a number from one to five depending on the severity of your injuries. Non-economic damages may include pain and suffering, emotional trauma, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of consortium.
In serious cases, your attorney may request punitive damages. These are only awarded by a court if the conduct of the defendant is grossly negligent or shows disregard for human safety.
While we might imagine slipping and falling as a minor accident, tripping at a dangerous property can result in serious injury. Thankfully, if you can prove that a property owner’s negligent maintenance or upkeep caused you to slip, trip, or fall, you can likely file a claim for compensation.
A Hutto slip and fall lawyer can help you understand the legal nuances of collecting this compensation. Our legal team can explain the laws that control your case, gather evidence of landowner fault, and seek out payments in and out of court. Contact us today to schedule your consultation and get started.
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