Personal injury attorney at Sette Law Office in Davis has a passion for the practice of law. We are also interested in educating the public about some important fundamentals of our profession as personal injury lawyers serving Davis clients. We understand that most of our clients do not have the advantage of our lengthy legal experience and education, and that the law is often complicated and challenging. In this blog, our Davis accident attorneys will discuss the basics of “slip and fall” injuries that lead to legal actions.

According to personal injury lawyers, slip and fall accidents are among the most common cases in civil courts across the nation and in Davis . Our accident attorneys report that injuries from slip and fall incidents range from inconvenient and costly, to very serious and debilitating. But, whatever the extent of personal injury, lawyers know that the first order of business is to identify the party responsible for the accident.

Our attorneys report that slip and fall victims often assume that liability rests with a property owner. This, according to practicing personal injury lawyers, may or may not be the case, and a careful examination of details surrounding the accident is crucial to successfully gaining compensation for slip and fall personal injury. Our attorneys in Davis explain that property owners do have an obligation (a duty of care) to protect the public from personal injury. But lawyers are also aware that courts will often see limits to the vigilance of property owners, even in the case of a slip and fall accident.

Attorneys suggest that people, such as consumers in a store, should be aware that they too have responsibilities to avoid situations that might cause personal injury. Our lawyers know that some situations are unavoidable for property owners and can’t always be prevented. Consider this example: a customer in a local nursery shops in an outdoor garden area, trips on a hose, falls and suffers a hip injury. Attorneys say the customer may have some fault in the accident because there could be an expectation that hoses would be in use as part of a nursery business in Davis . Personal injury attorneys say that items, like a hose or drains, in a nursery environment would likely not constitute negligence on the part of the property owner in Davis .

Accident lawyers say that normal aspects of daily living and doing business will be considered by courts when identifying liability for personal injuries. Our attorneys point out that we all – consumers and average citizens – have a responsibility to be reasonably careful and aware of the environment we’re in. But, since Davis personal injury attorneys routinely litigate slip and fall cases in which property owners are accused of negligence, we know that ownership does involve heightened duty of care to safeguard against accidents and personal injury.

Attorneys agree that slip and fall cases involve a great deal of judgment about who is responsible for an accident. Lawyers say there are no overarching rules outlining the parameters of liability, and interpretation of circumstances often plays a role in determining fault for a slip and fall personal injury. An attorney may argue that a business owners allowed a dangerous condition to exist and that carelessness led to the Davis accident. Lawyers for the property owner (defendant) might counter that the plaintiff was the careless party and that a reasonable person could have avoided the impediment that led to the slip and fall accident.

Lawyers Consider Complex Responsibility for Personal Injury

Our attorneys point out that, to establish a property owner’s responsibility for a slip and fall, one of these circumstances must exist and be provable: The instrument of the personal injury (spill, dangerous floor, etc.) is traced to the property owner or an employee; The plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer will work to verify the owner or employees knew about the danger but didn’t act to prevent an personal injury, or lawyers seek to show a “reasonable” business owner or employee should have been aware of the dangerous environment and taken appropriate steps to prevent the possibility of personal injury.

Attorneys add that basic liability precepts also apply to any premises accident. Our lawyers explain that property owners have a responsibility to anyone on the property to keep them safe from unreasonable risk of harm from the condition of the property, its design or construction. After all, Davis personal injury attorneys point out that the owner has the greatest control over property. For instance, if an owner is aware the handrail of a staircase is broken and a visitor grabs the rail that subsequently breaks, sending the visitor falling down the stairs and sustaining serious personal injury, attorneys would identify the owner as the responsible person.

Property Owners Protected From Harm

But our Davis personal injury lawyer says that law provides protection for property owners also. Premises liability, lawyers explain, requires that visitors use property as intended. For example, if skateboarder chooses to use a set of stairs as a launch pad for a jump and is injured in a fall, the property owner’s liability attorney would claim the stairs were not being used in a normal or an intended manner.

Davis personal injury attorneys say that liability is more complicated when the owner and occupier of a property are different people. This can happen in the case of retail store which is rented from a property owner. Say a customer slips and falls, sustaining a serious hip injury. Her lawyer would most likely file a notice of claim with both parties building owner and tenant) and then allow the insurance companies to identify which party is responsible for the accident and personal injury.

Attorneys caution that responsibility in premises liability often depends upon the kind of property and ownership verses occupancy. Consequently, the arena of law that applies to slip and fall accidents often requires attorney expertise and some in-depth knowledge of state statutes. Consider the possibilities – owner, occupant, tenant, property manager, shared properties, commercial, private and other nuances that only complicate premises liability. Attorneys for slip and fall victims can help guide clients through this sometime formidable legal maze.