Falls are considered the primary reason for injuries from accidents. Although many people may not understand the severity of slip-and-fall accidents, these incidents are responsible for more than a million visits to the emergency room. This type of accident actually represents about 12 percent of all emergency room visits.
Slip-and-fall accidents can easily occur in a store. Here are a few indications that a slip-and-fall incident in a store may result in injury compensation:
The hazardous condition was easily recognizable before your fall.
If a large puddle is present on the floor of an establishment and no attempts are made to clear the hazard in a timely manner, the store will likely be found negligent for your injuries. Still, negligence may not be assigned if there was not enough time to remedy the hazardous issue. The best chance of compensation occurs when hazards are easily recognized and not appropriately handled to protect store patrons.
Situations in which a slip-and-fall accident occurs but there was no time to remove a hazard may have less chance of victim compensation. For instance, if you slipped and fell because the customer in front of you was carrying a dripping umbrella, the store may not be deemed liable for the incident.
The negligence of store representatives contributed to your fall.
If you slipped and fell because you did not realize that the stores floor was wet, your injury may have been avoidable if appropriate actions had been taken by store employees. Wet floor signs should be posted to indicate that there are wet, slippery areas on a floor. These signs should be displayed as soon as a floor becomes wet from mopping. In addition, signs should be posted near spills or puddles as soon as they are found.
Some slip-and-fall injuries occur because of poor lighting. If bulbs are not replaced in a timely manner and you fall because of poor visibility within an area of the store, store representatives will likely be at fault.
There is recorded proof of inappropriate lags of time between a hazard's discovery and correction.
If a store employee recognized a hazard and completed a hazard log with the time that the hazard was found, the log should support the quick cleanup of the area. However, if there is a large amount of time between the identification of the hazard and the signing off of its remedy, compensation for your injuries is likely.
Other records of proof may include store video camera footage and eyewitness testimonies.
To determine whether or not your store slip-and-fall case is sufficient to pursue compensation, schedule a consultation with a personal injury attorney in your area. Many accident attorneys offer free initial consultations. Contact a firm like Smith & O'Hare PS Inc to get started.
Share15 April 2016
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