Slip-and-fall claims are cases that often boil down to very basic questions. Who was responsible for keeping a location safe for foot traffic? Did they have ample warning that an area needed to be dried of water or cleared of ice or snow? For these reasons, it's critical that you get the basic information right early in the case, so take a look at what a slip-and-fall lawyer would tell you to keep an eye out for.
Location, Location, Location
The site of an incident is the deciding factor in exactly whose insurance company you'll be pursuing a claim with. This can seem like a simple issue, but it gets more complex when there are questions about who owns a spot and who might be responsible for its care.
One common defense that many store owners use when presented with a claim by a slip-and-fall lawyer is claiming that they're not the ones who are responsible for maintaining the area where the fall occurred. Say a slip and fall occurs at the entrance to a store inside a mall. Was the wet spot out in the walkway of the mall, or was it inside the store area? This can be a determining factor in whether you sue the business or the mall.
Who Saw What, and When Did They See It?
A second defense that many property owners present is that they weren't given ample notification that there was a problem. For example, if a snowstorm was currently in progress, it's unreasonable to expect the front of the store to be perfectly cleared at the time of an incident. Conversely, if snow had sat on a sidewalk outside for several days, melting and refreezing, you would expect someone to do something about it.
Another example worth examining is a spill that just happened. Say a customer at a convenience store spilled a large soda drink. How long does the spill actually have to be there before the hazard becomes the responsibility of the store to deal with? If a spill occurred in a far-off corner of the store and no one said anything to the clerk about it, there may be a reduced responsibility for preventing an incident.
Fortunately, many businesses have security cameras in place. Footage can be obtained in the discovery process, making it possible to identify exactly when a specific hazard appeared and how long it went unaddressed.
Share8 March 2019
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