The National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI) reports that falls account for over 8 million hospital emergency room visits each year, representing the leading cause of visits (21.3 percent). Slip and fall accidents — where the victim slips on a wet floor or other slick surface—account for over 1 million visits or 12 percent of total falls.
If you or a loved one suffered a serious injury after a slip and fall due to someone else’s negligence, you may wonder if you have a claim against them. One thing your Virginia Beach slip and fall lawyers would look into is whether the negligent party had “notice” of the risky or dangerous conditions that led to your accident.
But just what is “notice,” and what does it have to do with your claim?
What Is “Notice” and How Does It Apply to a Slip and Fall Injury?
In a slip and fall personal injury case, there is a “notice” standard, which means that the injured party must be able to prove that the allegedly negligent party had “actual or constructive notice” that a dangerous condition existed on the property.
Another way to put it is that the property owner knew (actual notice) or should have known (constructive notice) about the dangerous situation.
Let’s say you went into a grocery or retail store in Virginia and slipped and fell because of a water puddle on the floor. Maybe that water was leaking from underneath a vending machine or cooler. There was no sign alerting you to the dangerous condition, but employees were walking around that should have noticed it.
Could you prove that the property owner had notice of the condition?
The answer is, “it depends.”
Why You Need a Virginia Beach Slip and Fall Lawyer
The law is complicated in slip-and-fall cases. You may think that if you slip and fall in a store or other public building, the property owner would be automatically liable for your injuries.
But that is rarely the case.
The property owner is liable only if they were negligent and the negligence directly caused your accident. Proving negligence is not always easy.
A Virginia Beach slip-and-fall lawyer can help. We understand how the law works and how defendants will try to wriggle out of their responsibility. We know that to prove negligence, we have to show at least one of the following:
- The property owner placed the substance on the floor
- The owner knew the substance was on the floor
- The condition existed long enough to give the owner a reasonable opportunity to discover it
What might qualify as supportive evidence in our example case above? Maybe an employee warned a manager about the puddle of water, but nothing was done about it. Perhaps another witness noticed the puddle and notified personnel hours before you were injured. Or maybe the vending machine or cooler had a history of malfunctioning and leaking, and the management had failed to get it repaired.
As another example, imagine it’s a snowy December in Virginia, and you slip and fall on an icy walk in front of a store. No signs were warning you of the dangerous condition. In that case, your slip-and-fall attorney would work to show that the property owner didn’t require “actual notice.”
They should have been aware of the dangers of ice and snow during the winter months and either cleared off the walk, applied salt and sand, or, at the very least, posted warning signs to help prevent accidents.
Other Critical Factors in a Slip and Fall Case
The notice standard is only one factor to consider in a slip-and-fall incident, but it is a big one and can make or break your case. Other factors include where the hazard was on the property, how dangerous that hazard was, how long it was there, and how conspicuous it was.
Our Virginia Beach slip and fall lawyers will carefully examine all the evidence to determine whether you have a strong claim. We have a sound track record of securing settlements and trial verdicts for slip-and-fall victims, as we did for this Virginia client who slipped on a set of stairs and broke his left pelvis. The jury awarded him $800,000 in damages.
If you’re thinking about filing a claim against a property owner for negligence in a slip-and-fall accident, contact us today. We’d be happy to provide you with an initial free consultation. Besides Virginia Beach, we also have offices in Portsmouth, Hampton, and Norfolk.