As a personal injury lawyer in South Metro Atlanta, we are often asked this question whether a person can sue a grocery store or home projects store if they have fallen. The answer is: It depends. Slip and fall cases, or trip and fall cases, are referred to as premises liability cases. As a general rule these cases are difficult to pursue successfully because there are a large number of laws that have been passed to provide business owners protection against people getting hurt on their premises. Like most accident or injury cases, to prevail in a premises liability case we must be able to show that the property owner was negligent, or not careful, and that your fall resulted from that negligence. There are several ways to do this. But before we even start to explore whether and to what extent the owner knew or should have known about a danger that might cause injury we have to know the mechanics of why you fell first. Many times people just fall. It may have been the person walking that was not careful. Kids fall all the time as they are learning to walk. As we get older, it happens less frequently, unless you are not watching where you are going, or someone has made it dangerous. So the first question is: “Why did you fall?” Were you careless, or did someone else create or maintain a dangerous condition? Do you have diabetes or some other medical condition that might have played into the fall? Do you wear bifocal glasses? Did these things play any role in your fall? If you were careless, then you do not have a claim or anyone else to blame. That makes sense and that seems fair. If you were acting reasonably, but someone or something made it dangerous, distracting etcetera, then there may be a case. The first question is whether the condition was unreasonably dangerous or should have been known to have posed danger. What is the likelihood that someone would be injured by that condition, and how difficult is it to eliminate that harm? Also, we must show that the property owner either knew or should have known about the dangerous condition or created the dangerous condition.
Finally, where a condition is obviously dangerous and visible, you have a responsibility to avoid the danger and an owner can defend itself by claiming that even if it was dangerous, you should have seen it. Why didn’t you pick up on the danger. When you are not sure if you have a claim or not, often, the best solution is to talk to a personal injury attorney. Every accident attorney should offer a free consultation. Call us today for an appointment to discuss if you were hurt on someone else’s premises and there was more to it than your own carelessness. 770-253-7778.
