A slip, fall or trip accident refers to a situation when a person suffers an injury by slipping, tripping and falling due to dangerous conditions in a particular property. This type of accident can occur in different locations under numerous hazardous circumstances.
Hazardous or dangerous circumstances refer to the failure of the landowner or proprietor to provide counter measures to prevent accidents from happening. Usually, a slip and fall or trip and fall accident occur when the location of the accident evidently showed long-term hazards such as poor lighting, broken stairs, slippery floors and the like which the management failed to act upon immediately.
Hence, the landowner or proprietor may be held accountable for the injury if proven that the accident happened due to negligence. For more articles like this, bookmark www.Slipandfallaccident.net
NEGLIGENCE DEFINED
Negligence on the part of the landowner or proprietor (the defendant) is established when the injured or plaintiff proves that the defendant failed to show adherence to certain rules on safety and this failure to do so led to the plaintiff’s injury.
However, proving that the defendant is negligent is not sufficient to file a claim. The defendant also has the right to classify whether the plaintiff is an invitee, licensee, or trespasser to his property.
THE INVITEE, LICENSEE AND TRESPASSER
The plaintiff’s type of entrant shall determine the extent of liability of the defendant.
An invitee is a person who enters an establishment with the formal or actual invitation of the landowner or proprietor. The landowner or proprietor is aware that the invitee is coming. An invitee should receive the highest form of consideration. The landowner or proprietor must ensure that the property is safe from all hazards once the invitee arrives. A thorough inspection is required. Invitees may be shoppers of a supermarket, diners of a restaurant, movie-goers, and party-goers, among others.
No duty falls on the landowner or proprietor if proven that all necessary precautions were done to ensure that the invitee shall not suffer a slip and fall or trip and fall injury other than because of the invitee’s own carelessness.
A plaintiff, on the other hand, is classified as a licensee if he or she enters the establishment with the permission of the landowner or proprietor not for the latter’s benefit but for his own advantage. It is the duty of the landowner or proprietor to give necessary warnings to the licensee of known hazards which a first-timer may not be aware of.
The landowner or proprietor has no obligation to neither inspect nor fix defects but he or she has the responsibility to ensure that the licensee is aware of potential hazards.
A trespasser receives no invitation or permission nor is he or she welcome to enter the establishment. The landowner or proprietor is not liable for possible slip and fall or trip and fall accident when he or she is unaware of a trespasser. Once made known that a trespasser is in his area of responsibility, it should be properly observed that warnings are issued.
CONCLUSION
If you are involved in a slip and fall or trip and fall accident, it is highly advisable to seek legal advice to determine your eligibility to file for a claim.
Author: Benedict Yossarian
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