We’ve all seen the commercials where someone has fallen and can’t get up. Chances are, each of us has taken a few tumbles of our own—usually owing to our own clumsiness. But what happens when your fall isn’t your fault? What if someone else is to blame?
Slip and fall cases in Indiana are very common, but they’re also some of the most difficult cases to prove. It’s very rare for a premises owner to simply step up and accept responsibility for someone else’s injury. Instead, they usually get defensive and lawyer up.
In a personal injury case, an attorney will stand up in court and tell the jury with a straight face that the victim should have been watching where they were walking. Never mind that retail stores are designed to draw your attention, and staring at your feet as you walk is also a good way to run into things.
In a slip and fall case involving premises liability, the most challenging task is proving negligence on the part of the property owner. Generally speaking, all businesses are required to maintain their property in a reasonably safe condition. If they’re able to do that, they’re usually shielded from liability.
Just because someone falls at a store, that doesn’t mean the business automatically owes them money. Proving premises liability requires you to show that employees knew—or should have known—about the unsafe condition.
For example, let’s say you’re shopping at the grocery store, and you slip in a puddle of bean juice that’s leaked out of damaged can. You fall hard, and you suffer injuries. What are the important details in this scenario?
The most important consideration is going to be the circumstances leading up to your slip and fall. The fact that you slipped in bean juice (as opposed to a tea or mustard spill) is far less important than the question of how long the puddle had been there.
If the bean juice had only started collecting a few minutes before you fell in it, it may be difficult to prove that store employees should have known about it. On the other hand, if the puddle had been there for hours, and employees had walked past it a number of times without taking corrective action, you have a much stronger case that staff was actually aware of this unsafe condition.
If a store or business:
- knows about an unsafe condition on its premises,
- invites people in anyway,
- doesn’t warn visitors of the danger, and
- allows visitors to be harmed by the danger,
this is a textbook example of negligence in action.
If you’ve been the victim of a slip and fall on someone else’s property, it’s important to immediately collect as much information as possible about what happened, including details about the unsafe condition that caused your slip and fall, how long the unsafe condition had been present, and whether there were any witnesses to the incident. It’s a good idea to create an immediate paper trail, as well. Tell a manager what happened so they can make a report.
If you’ve suffered a slip and fall on someone else’s property, the attorneys at the Marc Lopez Law Firm are standing by to help. Call us at 317-632-642 for a free consultation.
