Accidents can happen anywhere and at any time. However, when someone gets injured on another person’s property, the injured person may be entitled to compensation from the property owner. So what should a person do following an injury, like a slip-and-fall accident on someone else’s property?
Slip-and-fall accidents injure thousands of people, including many in the Ocala area, every year. Not all slip-and-fall accidents result in lawsuits against the property owner. But, when these types of accidents are the result of a dangerous property condition, the victim should understand what he or she can do to assert a legal claim.
Following injuries from a slip-and-fall, or any other kind of accident, a person should always go to a doctor to get the proper treatment. Not all injuries are immediately apparent, and just because a person is not in excruciating pain does not mean that he or she doesn’t have some kind of serious injury that requires medical attention. In addition, a doctor’s diagnosis is an important component for a personal injury claim.
After getting appropriate treatment, the injured slip-and-fall victim should next start to seek out the answers to a few critical questions about the incident. For example, if the accident resulted from a defect in the floor, the injured person should find out how long the defect existed prior to the accident. Likewise, the victim should determine whether the property owner kept a regular inspection and maintenance schedule. Another important question to look into is whether the property owner could have taken reasonable steps to prevent the accident.
Property owners are not always at fault when it comes to slip-and-fall injuries. In many cases, though, the victim can show that the owner’s negligence did, in fact, cause an injury. In these situations, victims should consider seeking out an experienced personal injury attorney to help them answer a few basis questions and to see whether they have a valid legal claim.
Source: FindLaw, “Proving Fault in Slip and Fall Accidents,” Accessed on Aug. 25, 2014
Source: FindLaw, “Proving Fault in Slip and Fall Accidents,” Accessed on Aug. 25, 2014
