If you are like most people, you probably think slip-and-fall accidents cause minor injuries such as strains, sprains or possibly a broken bone.
While some slips and falls do indeed result in these types of painful but non-serious injuries, others can be catastrophic. Unfortunately, a slip-and-fall could result in significant injuries, such as:
- Traumatic brain injury
- Partial or total blindness
- Spinal cord injury with partial or total paralysis
To sue and prevail against the person who owns or manages the property on which you slipped or fell, you will need to prove the property contained a dangerous condition. Furthermore, you will need to prove the property owner/manager knew or should have known about this condition and failed to take the proper steps to fix it and/or warn of it.
Specifically, you will need to prove the following:
- That the dangerous condition existed
- That it created an unreasonable risk to you and other people legitimately on the property
- That you could not have anticipated that the condition existed
- That the property owner/manager should have known that it existed
- That it existed long enough that (s)he could have alleviated it or, at the very least, warned you about it
Basically, a slip-and-fall suit represents a civil premises liability lawsuit. In other words, the property owner/manager bears the responsibility to make his or her property reasonably safe for anyone who legitimately comes on it. If (s)he does not, (s)he is guilty of negligence and liable for your damages. These can include hospital and medical bills, pain and suffering and more.