Proving Fault in a Slip and Fall Accident

Premise Liability Accident Rules

When determining who is at fault for your slip and fall accident, there are two basic premise liability accident rules to keep in mind:

1. The Owner Must Keep Their Property Safe

The owner or person or who occupies the property has a legal duty to anyone who may enter the property not to subject them to an unreasonable risk of injury. This rule is in place because the owner has control over the safety of the property, not the visitor.

2. The Property Visitor must use the Premise Normally

This means that premise liability applies to the conduct of the injured person. For example, if someone is injured while acting in an unauthorized, dangerous, unexpected, or careless way, the owner is not going to be responsible for any injuries or damages that the visitor obtained.

Rules to Determine Negligence

As said previously, the property owner or occupant must keep their property safe. But, there are still a few standards that need to be met to make be able to justify a slip and fall case. One of the following situations needs to be met to prove fault in slip and fall cases:

• The dangerous surface that was the cause of the fall was due to the owner/occupant.
• The owner or employee knew or should have known of the dangerous condition and did nothing to clean or repair it.
• The owner should have known about the danger and from the viewpoint of a reasonable person the danger would have been noticed and fixed, but in this case, was not.

In some slip and fall cases, it may be difficult to prove these things, which is why an experienced personal injury lawyer helps.