What You Need To Prove In a Slip And Fall Accident Case

In a slip and fall accident, a person slipping or falling on another’s property can potentially hold the property owner liable for their injuries and other damages. The difficulty in determining whether a given slip, trip, or fall accident actually constitutes legal grounds for a negligence claim is based first determining the potentially liable parties and then, determining whether the potentially liable party was actually negligent in a given slip and fall case. From the perspective of a plaintiff, the critical elements to proving a slip and fall case rely on determining liable parties, proving negligence, and mitigating comparative negligence.

How to Determine Liability in Slip and Fall Claims

In order to hold another party responsible for injuries suffered by a plaintiff in a slip and fall accident, one of these elements must be proven, including:

A property owner, or their employee, should have recognized a dangerous surface and removed or repaired a potentially dangerous surface, which a reasonable person would have identified as hazardous

A property owner, or their employee, must have actually caused an accident or incident resulting in a slip and fall accident, such as creating a slippery surface, leaving a hazardous obstacle, or creating a rip or tear leading to a slip and fall

A property owner, or their employee, knew a dangerous condition or surface existed, but did nothing to prevent injury to a property visitors

How to Determine Negligence in Slip and Fall Claims

The term “reasonable” often appears in statutory language covering slip and fall cases. To determine liability for damages, a property owner or employee must have been unreasonable in their actions or inactions taken to prevent a slip or fall on the premises. Again, each case will differ on the facts leading up to an incident causing a slip, trip, or fall, but the following include some considerations a plaintiff should make:

Did the hazardous condition or obstacle exist long enough that a reasonable property owner or employee could and should have taken action to rectify the hazard

Did the property owner or employee routinely check for potential hazards, and if so, can they document their check procedure

Did the obstacle causing a slip or fall have a reasonable reason for being in a potentially hazardous location, and if so, did this reason still apply at the time of a slip or fall

Could an obstacle, with a reasonable reason for being hazardous, have been made less dangerous through other options, such as relocating, placement of warning signage, or preventing access to a given location

Was poor lighting or visibility a factor in causing a slip and fall

How to Determine if Comparative Negligence in Slip and Fall Claims

In slip and fall cases, a plaintiff may have contributed to their own injuries. State laws vary on how comparative liability affects a plaintiff’s ability to recover compensation. In order to determine whether a plaintiff caused any proportion of their injuries, the plaintiff must consider rules of comparative negligence, including:

Did the plaintiff engage in any action or activity that would have prevented them from noticing a hazard, which an otherwise reasonable person would have done

Did the plaintiff have access to a slip and fall site, or was there a legitimate reason for the plaintiff to be in a dangerous area

Were warning signs and other safety measures ignored by a plaintiff in a slip and fall case

A plaintiff does not necessarily need to prove they were paying attention, but rather, they must simply assert none of their actions contributed to the slip and fall incident.

Getting Legal Help with Slip and Fall Cases

Each slip and fall claim revolves around highly case-specific factors and laws relevant to the jurisdiction where an incident occurred. An attorney is the only effective resource available to plaintiff’s considering pursuing legal action stemming from a slip and fall accident.

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