A slip and fall claim is a colloquial name for a personal injury lawsuit aiming to hold a property or business owner responsible for failing to keep the premises safe for visitors. Not all slip and fall accidents, however, lead to premises liability and personal injury lawsuits. When they do, however, you are entitled to compensation.
A slip and fall is a lawsuit that stems from an incident where a visitor gets hurt due to a dangerous condition on the premises. While it often involves slipping and falling, it is by no means restricted to that narrow scenario.
To win a slip and fall case, you must be able to prove, at a minimum, that:
These elements of a slip and fall case may seem straightforward, but they can become complex. The standard of proof is a preponderance of the evidence, meaning you must show that more likely than not, the property or business owner
To have a slip and fall case where you can obtain compensation for your injuries, an unsafe or hazardous situation must have existed. Common situations include but are not limited to:
These situations are merely examples. Conditions creating a slip and fall accident can materialize in many different ways.
Common Injuries Sustained in Maryland Slip and Fall Situations
Slip fall related injuries vary greatly. Many of these cases involve injuries such as:
An injured person's existing health condition may also impact the severity of the injury. Elderly and frail victims of slips and falls can suffer hip injuries that, statistically, lead to premature death. Younger victims also suffer when the injury creates significant setbacks and impairs their ability to work in their chosen profession or prevents participation in activities they enjoy for sport or recreation.
Who Can Be Held Liable in Maryland for Slip and Fall Accidents?
Slip and fall victims can hold a variety of people liable for an accident, including:
Proving which one or more of these parties was responsible for keeping the property safe can be a central feature in a premises liability case.
Slip and fall cases are difficult cases because fault is not always clear. So, when you accuse someone else whether that's a property owner, homeowner, or business owner for failing to maintain safe premises, they and their insurance companies are not likely to sit by and let the accusation go without fighting it. With that said, here are three reasons why you need a Maryland personal injury lawyer to represent you in a slip and fall accident.
A personal injury lawyer will investigate the slip and fall accident to establish fault. Finding and proving fault is critical in any slip and fall case. Investigating the accident will involve an assessment of the accident location, reviewing any video, speaking to eye witnesses, retaining the services of experts, among other things.
A Maryland personal injury lawyer will prove damages caused by the slip and fall accident. After a thorough investigation, your lawyer will put the pieces of the puzzle together to prove all the damages you seek. They will do this by painstakingly linking the cause of the accident to your injury and then provide supporting documentation linking the injury to all your losses. The damages you seek will be depending in part on the nature and extent of your injuries caused by the slip and fall accident.
A personal injury lawyer will represent you fully and throughout the course of your case until a settlement is reached or trial has concluded and a verdict awarded. You will not have to deal with the other parties, with the claim, with deadlines, with figuring out the actual value of your case, among other things. Your lawyer will do all of that for you. Mostly, what you will have to do is worry about your own physical, emotional, and mental recovery. When you spend the day at the Maryland Zoo or shopping for groceries at a supermarket downtown on your way home from a Stadium, you expect that those businesses to keep you and other patrons safe.
You may not even think about things like getting hurt or having an accident because you trust that businesses do what’s necessary to keep visitors safe. In fact, it’s an expectation under Maryland law that property owners and businesses make a reasonable effort to maintain a safe environment for visitors and patrons.
When property owners and businesses fail to uphold this expectation, and a visitor gets injured, this brings up premises liability. If you get hurt as a visitor to a property, you may have grounds for a premises liability claim. This type of law can prove confusing and overwhelming.
A Maryland Accident Lawyer can help you navigate your situation and claim. Our lawyers have decades of experience and dedication to protecting clients’ rights to compensation. All cases involve unique facts, and we understand that. We’ve successfully recovered millions of dollars for our clients, always pursuing maximum compensation on behalf of our clients.
To better understand Maryland premises liability law, potential injuries, and other aspects of the claims process, we provide a breakdown and overview below. Remember that all cases involve specific facts that will dictate their specific course of action. Make sure to contact our Maryland premises liability lawyers at Maryland Accident Lawyer for a free consultation to discuss the details of your case and your eligibility to pursue compensation.
Premises Liability is to hold a property owner or other entity responsible for damages that stem from an injury that the person filing the lawsuit sustains on the property. Basically, premises liability cases involve someone who got hurt on someone else’s property because of that individual’s negligence or failure to maintain a safe environment. A Maryland Accident Attorney can be very helpful.
Not everyone who gets hurt on someone else’s property may seek damages, so if you’ve sustained an injury and think the property owner may bear liability, you should contact an experienced Maryland premises liability lawyer to discuss your situation.
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The law divides visitors to any property into three different categories. When determining a visitor’s status, you must consider why the person has entered the property, whether they received an invite whether explicit or implied , and what kind of interaction that person has with the property owner or entity.
A licensee receives a direct or implied invitation to enter a property without any kind of mutually beneficial business relationship. For example, if you receive an invitation to a friend’s house for dinner to celebrate a birthday, you qualify as a licensee, since you have no commercial interest in this dinner party situation
An invitee has he owner’s permission, but the invitee receives an economic benefit. For example, if you visit an apple orchard in Maryland to purchase fruit that you or the farm picked, you qualify as an invitee because of the economic relationship you have with the property.
Trespassers haven’t received an invitation to the property but enter it anyway. Trespassers violate the legal duty to respect another person’s right to property.
Attorneys at Aggressive Injury Lawyer have the tools and know how to help initiate many types of injury claims that involve premises liability.
Some common injuries that may result in premises liability claims include:
When a person slips or trips on someone else’s property and sustains an injury, this constitutes a slip and fall injury. As with any injury, knowing if you have legal grounds for a claim can prove confusing. To determine whether you qualify to pursue compensation for your injuries, contact a Maryland premises liability lawyer at Maryland Accident Lawyer for advice.
Even though this type of injury often involves elderly individuals, everyone faces a risk for slips and falls. These accidents can happen inside businesses or outside on the property, as well due to a variety of unsafe property conditions and hazards.
If you see a brightly colored yellow or orange sign indicating a wet floor, this reflects a business that’s taking reasonable steps to prevent harm to patrons. However, if you slip and fall on a wet floor or spill that has no sign or warning in a department store or grocery store, this may qualify you to pursue a slip and fall claim.
In addition, uneven pavement, flooring changes, or slipping outside due to a walkway slick from rain or ice reflect other types of situations that may result in a slip or trip and injury.
As an example, if you find yourself relaxing at an open area, and a dog runs up and bites you, you may qualify to pursue compensation to cover the cost of your injuries. By the same token, if you visit the Maryland Zoo, you expect the zoo and staff members to take precautions to ensure that none of the animals cause you harm.
Even with strict liability for dog bites and the fact that Maryland law does not consider the dog’s previous temperament, winning these types of claims can still prove challenging to navigate without having an experienced lawyer, like those at Maryland Accident Lawyer, on your side.
Since a private swimming pool in the backyard of someone’s home may entice a child who also may not understand rules that prohibit trespassing , that all pools have a fence or barrier surrounding them. The fence must also reach at least four feet high to prevent children and all other trespassers from using the pool.