St. Petersburg Slip & Fall Lawyer
Believe it or not, falls are one of the most common causes of serious injury and even death. Our entire lives are lived on top of hard surfaces: pavement of parking lots, concrete sidewalks, linoleum flooring, hard tiles, and stairs with sharp, unforgiving edges. These incredibly hard surfaces not only make for even harder landings, breaking bones, snapping ligaments, and causing traumatic brain injuries, but they are also prone to low friction. A small puddle of water can be a potentially life-threatening hazard if located at the top of a flight of stairs. Many falls result in serious injury, and if you fell on the premises of another, you may be entitled to compensation due to their negligence. Contact our experienced St. Petersburg slip & fall lawyers today, we handle all types of premises liability.
Determining Fault in a Slip and Fall Injury
All private establishments, be they department stores, restaurants, or private homes, are required to be reasonably safe for all invitees. Specifically, the owners of such premises must obey a strict standard of care to their fellow members of society. When that standard of care is proven to be broken (such as evidence of a slippery walking surface that caused the fall), the owner may be held accountable for financial damages to injured or deceased parties. However, for it to be proven in a court of law that the owner was to blame in this scenario, it must be revealed that they had actual or constructive knowledge of that unsafe walking surface.
Constructive or Actual Knowledge
“If a person slips and falls on a transitory foreign substance in a business establishment, the injured person must prove that the business establishment had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition and should have taken action to remedy it.” Florida statutes 768.0755 goes further by clearly laying out the grounds for determining constructive knowledge, “Constructive knowledge may be proven by circumstantial evidence showing that:
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The dangerous condition existed for such a length of time that, in the exercise of ordinary care, the business establishment should have known of the condition; or
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The condition occurred with regularity and was therefore foreseeable.”
Contact Our St. Petersburg Slip & Fall Lawyers Today
We will help build an undeniable case proving that the owner of the premises knew about or should have known about the dangerous walking conditions that caused your fall, and instead of taking action, did nothing to prevent the accident from taking place. Contact the St. Petersburg slip & fall lawyers of Barbas, Nuñez, Sanders, Butler & Hovsepian today at 1-800-227-2275 if you were injured in a serious slip and fall accident that was caused by another’s negligence.