Slip and fall accidents are common and can happen to anyone, in private or public places. If you fall on property owned by a company, you can seek responsibility from the manager or owner. If the accident happens at home, it could be due to various factors like prescribed medicine that caused you vertigo or other health issues that affected your balance.
You have to prove several elements for slip and fall accidents to work out in your favor. Without enough evidence, the case won’t be complete.
To prove your slip and fall accident you should show that certain factors contributed to it. The best way to do this is to contact a New York slip and fall attorney.
Elements to Prove the Slip and Fall Accidents
When suing for slip and fall accidents, you should be sure that the person controls, operates, or owns the property where you have fallen. This should be proven in court. It’s essential to prove that the conditions that may harm people were known and if the owner or manager knew about the potential risk of accidents.
The injuries you got must be because of the fall, not by another problem that may have occurred. If you can’t prove these elements, your case is at risk to fail and you won’t get paid by the defendant.
Duty to the Victim
The owner or manager of the property has the responsibility to maintain the property and ensuring there the place is safe without harmful conditions. There should be warning signs displayed so everyone can see them so the problem may be avoided. The victim should prove that the owner or manager had control of the dangerous area when the accident happened. If you cannot prove that the owner or manager knew about the dangerous area (that they knew but did nothing to prevent the accident), you don’t have a case.
Dangerous Circumstances
You must be able to prove the case, even if there are obvious dangers in the place where the accident occurred. The injured person should provide evidence that the defendant knew or had reasonable suspicion that someone could get injured in their object. The owner or person in control should have taken care of the hazard in some manner to guarantee that others on the property knew of the potential for harm or were able to avoid it. Another important aspect of this situation is that the property was utilized properly. For example, a supermarket is used for shopping and not for practicing a sport.
Proving Damages
This element will help you prove your injury that occurred by the slip and fall through dangerous conditions on the premises. This is the most difficult to prove because many people wait until the physical discomfort can no longer be ignored. There has to be proof that the diagnosed conditions happened as a result of the hazards of the property. In most cases, your lawyer should advise you about your next steps and how to apply these elements to your lawsuit.
Difference Between Trip and Fall and Slip and Fall Accidents
The walking surface in slip and fall accidents is usually coated with ice, water, and detergent which reduces the friction between your feet and the floor, which makes the foot slip from under you as you take another step. In most cases, when a person slips and falls, they fall backward, but forward slips aren’t uncommon. Most backward falls lead to spine, back, neck, arms, and pelvis injuries.
When it comes to trip and fall accidents, they occur as the person starts stepping forward, but the foot they’re about to place in front of them gets caught in an obstacle. This often happens on broken pavement, when there are carelessly placed objects (buckets, toolboxes, etc.), or other objects that interfere with your balance.
If your hands are free and your reflexes are good, most of the force of the impact will be directed on your arms and knees, as your body instinctively tries to guard your vital organs against injury. You may also injure your ankles (twist them and compress them during the fall). Trip and fall accidents lead to torn tendons and strained ligaments, injured muscle tissues, and so on. If your hands were full, then the accident can lead to face and head injuries.
If you were injured in a slip and fall accident (on private or public property), call our office today. We offer you a free case evaluation.
