Personal Injury Wolf
Slip and fall incidents commonly take place at restaurants, hotels, shopping malls, department stores, fast food restaurants, and other locations. A property owner or business is liable for the injuries caused by a slip and fall incident or accident if the property owner or business knew or should have known that there was a dangerous condition on the premises and it failed to either warn guests of the dangerous condition OR failed to take remedial measures to clean up or correct the problem. While slip and fall cases are quite common, the proof required to successful pursue a case or claim on behalf of a personal injury victim is not always so simple or easy to present. To successfully pursue a slip and fall case to a settlement or jury verdict, there must be four elements established as follows:
Duty;
Breach of Duty;
Causation; and
Damages
Let’s discuss an example as to how the elements of a slip and fall case can be established. Let’s say that a person is visiting a hotel. There is water in the lobby area that accumulated as a result of a leaking water fountain. The water fountain had been leaking for a few days. The water accumulated on a marble floor area. There were no signs in place. A guest of the hotel slipped and fell in the area where the water had accumulated. The front desk clerk acknowledged that another guest told him about the wet area about 1 hour before the incident but he got busy and did not have time to clean up the area OR get another staff member to clean up the area. The guest, who slipped and fell, suffered a fracture to the wrist that required surgery. These facts would establish a fairly compelling slip and fall case to pursue by a Florida Personal Injury Attorney. There was a duty on the part of the hotel to maintain the common areas including the floors in a reasonably safe manner. The hotel and its staff breached the area by failing to shut down the water fountain, failing to put wet floor signs in place, and failing to timely clean up the area where the incident took place. As a result of the fall, the guest suffered damages in the form of a broken wrist that required surgery. It should be noted that a slip and fall case will need to be evaluated on its own merits, facts, circumstances, witness statements, and evidence.
David Wolf is an experienced Florida Personal Injury attorney with over 27 years in practice. He only represents injury victims and has appeared in courts and cases throughout the State of Florida. He is the author of 11 books that focus on personal injury issues. David Wolf is an AV Preeminent Rated attorney on the Martindale Hubbell Legal Directory and is designated as a 10.0 Superb Attorney on the Avvo Legal Directory. Contact attorney David Wolf for a Free Consultation. David Wolf firmly believes in Giving a Voice to Injury Victims and Their Families.