It can happen to anyone, anywhere, and anytime. It might seem like a comedic injury when portrayed on television, but a slip and fall injury is serious and can leave the victim coping with lifelong consequences. A personal injury attorney is the professional you should seek out when trying to move on with your life and get the support you need for your legal claim.
How Does Florida Law Define Common Law and Standard Principles of Negligence?
In general, standard negligence principles show that a person or entity has failed to exercise reasonable care. It means that they deviated from how another person would have exercised care in that situation. This can include both doing something and not doing something, which can make that party liable for damages.
Negligence can arise when a person fails to use due care, breaches that duty, and someone else sustains injuries due to that breach of care. As a personal injury attorney can tell you, most slip and fall cases in Florida rest on this legal standard to allow a victim to recover compensation.
You’ll need evidence to show negligent failure in Florida, such as pictures or videos of the scene of the accident. If there are any witnesses in the area when the incident happens, you must plan to collect their contact information in the event they might become part of your injury claim. Your Florida personal injury attorney will help you with the other aspects of your legal claim so that you can stay on track with your treatment plan.
Who is Responsible for Paying Damages in Florida?
When your FL personal injury attorney can show either in settlement negotiations or in court that the other party breached their duty of care and that you suffered injuries as a result, that same person could be responsible for paying your damages. Damages can include medical bills, lost wages from an inability to go to work, diminished quality of life, expenses for medications needed to treat the injury, and even punitive damages if you can demonstrate that something malicious caused the injury.
An Overview of Florida Premises Liability Law
In Florida, a property owner or manager (such as a landlord) has a responsibility to keep their property reasonably clear. If they discover a hazard, they should place proper warning signs in that location to prevent serious injuries. Suppose an accident happens because the property manager failed to remove the danger or to warn people about the risk adequately. In that case, it can become the basis of a personal injury claim. As your personal injury attorney in a FL slip and fall claim can tell you, you must act quickly if you get hurt on someone else’s property.
The medical bills for a slip and fall injury can be significant, so you need to be prepared to fight back and to hold the other party accountable for the damage caused.
Highest Duty of Care Under Florida Premises Liability Law
Florida breaks down the duty of care based on the person’s status on the property on which they sustained an injury. It means that the property owner owes the least duty of care to a trespasser or other person illegally on the property, but the highest duty of care to someone they either invited or who was on the premises legally. A property owner has the responsibility to keep their property reasonably free and clear of hazards.
The Most Common Slip and Fall Accidents in Florida
Slip and fall accidents can and do happen anywhere, due to a variety of negligent premise issues, such as:
- Cracked sidewalks
- Torn floorboards
- Wet or icy floors
- Poorly lit staircases
- Floor height differences
- Obstacles in walkways that could have been avoided
Common places where these accidents often happen include curbs, sidewalks, shopping malls, restaurants, bars, public restrooms, grocery stores, and nightclubs. One of the most important things you can do immediately after an accident in one of these locations is to get medical attention. Sadly, too many slip and fall accidents yield significant or long-lasting injuries. Getting a diagnosis and a treatment plan in place is critical for your next steps.
Contact Menendez Trial Attorneys If You Sustained An Injury In A Slip and Fall Accident
With years of experience working in this field on behalf of injured victims, Menendez Trial Attorneys take it seriously when someone contacts our office with a slip and fall injury. Often, the business or other person involved might try to convince the victim that they will have difficulty recovering compensation. The truth is that FL law is there to protect you when someone else breaches their duty of care, but it’s up to you to move quickly and file your claim in a timely fashion.
Contact our office today at 305-930-7247 or complete our online form to schedule a free consultation and learn more about filing your claim. We serve clients throughout Miami-Dade and South Florida.
Copyright© 2021. Menendez Trial Attorneys. All Rights Reserved.
Disclaimer: The information in this blog post (“post”) is provided for general informational purposes only, and may not reflect the current law in your jurisdiction. No information contained in this post should be construed as legal advice from the individual author or the law firm, nor is it intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter. No reader of this post should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any information included in, or accessible through, this post without seeking the appropriate legal or other professional advice on the particular facts and circumstances at issue from a lawyer licensed in the recipient’s state, country or other appropriate licensing jurisdiction.
Menendez Trial Attorneys
113 Almeria Avenue
Coral Gables, FL 33134
305-930-7247
https://menendeztrialattorneys.com/
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