Is It Hard to Prove a Slip and Fall Case?

In personal injury law, slip-and-fall cases fall under the category of “premises liability.” This simply means a person is injured on someone else’s property.

A premises liability case can involve someone’s home, a business, or even a large commercial property such as a sporting arena. Some common premises liability cases include dog bite injuries, injured social guests at a home, or injuries at a store due to poorly maintained conditions. However, any injury that happens at someone else’s premises can fall under this umbrella.

There are a few factors that determine whether you can recover damages in a slip-and-fall case. In order to successfully prove a premises liability case, you must show the following:

• the owner or occupier of the property had a duty to protect;
• the owner/occupier breached that duty;
• the breach caused an injury; and,
• you suffered some physical, mental or emotional harm.

What is “duty of care,” and how does it affect premises liability cases?

Your reason for being on the property affects the owner’s responsibility to you, and in turn affects any damages you might be entitled to if injured.

If you enter the property of another for their financial gain (in other words, to buy something), then you are called an invitee. The owner has the legal responsibility to protect invitees from known and unknown dangers, which means they must not only correct any hazards, but they must also reasonably inspect the premises to discover and fix any unsafe conditions.

Example: When you walk onto the premises of your local big-box home improvement store, you are an invitee, and owed the highest duty of care by the owner.

Note: In a premises liability case, a lot may hinge on the word reasonably, and if the case goes to trial, it is left to the jury to decide what is “reasonable.”

A licensee is someone who is there for purely social reasons. A licensee is owed a lower duty of care than an invitee. In short, a licensee is only owed a duty to protect him from known dangers and from any willful harm on the part of the owner.

Example: If there is a faulty step, and the homeowner knows about it, the homeowner needs warn all guests of the danger and take reasonable care to protects guests from injury on that step. However, the owner does not have a duty to inspect and discover unknown dangers.

A trespasser, someone who is on someone else’s property illegally or without permission, is owed the lowest duty of care. The owner has no duty to protect a trespasser, but may not intentionally hurt them. 

What can be called a “hazardous condition?”

Spills or debris in a walkway, loose handrails, unrestrained animals, unfenced swimming pools, inadequate lighting—any condition that causes an injury might be a hazardous condition. 

Time is of the essence in most slip and fall and premises liability cases. We (your attorney) must move quickly to preserve the evidence. This involves inspecting the scene, gathering pictures and witness statements, preserving any videotape of the incident, etc.

It bears repeating — time is of the essence!

How do insurance companies fight premises liability cases?

Insurers and defense attorneys often use a couple of common defenses to premises liability claims, including “open and obvious” and contributory negligence. 

The “open and obvious” doctrine states that if a reasonable person would have noticed and avoided the accident due to the particular peril being “open and obvious,” then the injured should not be able to recover against the land or property owner.

Contributory negligence is a bar to recovery in the state of Alabama. This doctrine states that if the injured party’s own carelessness contributed to their injuries, they may not recover any damages from the property owner. Quickly moving to retain an attorney can assist in overcoming these defense tactics.

If you are injured by any condition or animal while on the property of another, contact the law firm of Snable Stevenson & Silva. Let’s get you in the office, sit down, and discuss. It’s always free to meet and talk.