People who slip, fall, and hurt themselves on others' property often deserve compensation. But not all slip and fall accidents are valid personal injury cases. The only way to know whether your accident qualifies is to talk, free of charge, to a lawyer.
Frisco Slip & Fall Injury Lawyer
At The Law Office of Vern D. Richards, PLLC, our attorney has personally handled more than 2000 personal injury cases. He will sit down with you, free of charge, and listen to your story. He will tell you honestly whether you can get compensation. If you can, he will fight for you, charging no attorney's fees until you get compensation.
Premise Liability Attorney in Texas
Many people do not understand the laws governing a slip and fall accident. Slips and falls are part of "premises liability" law, which covers accidents caused by the negligence of a property owner, including dog bites. If a property owner allows an obvious hazard to remain and the hazard causes an injury, the property owner may be liable for medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages, and other consequences.
Just a few examples of a slip and fall accident that make for valid cases are:
- Fractures from slipping on a pool of water in a supermarket
- Back injury from a cracked sidewalk
- Stairs, ladders, or hand rails giving way
But the type of accident is not the only important factor -- your recovery also depends on you relationship to the property owner. There are three different classifications, each of which carries different responsibilities for the property owners.
- Invitees are people who have been invited into an establishment, either explicitly or implicitly. For example, you are an invitee to a retail store, even if the store didn't explicitly invite you in. The burden of proof in a slip and fall accident case is to show that the property owner should have known about the hazard through reasonable diligence.
- Licensees are people who have a license to enter an establishment. An example would be a health club of which you are a member. Your lawyer must prove that there was a specific defect causing the injury, and that the property owner knew about it.
- Trespassers are people who have not been invited in any way to visit a property. An example would be a child who snuck into a neighbor's pool. If the child injures himself, he typically won't have a case unless there was no fence or a fence was wide open. Property owners are not required to provide any warnings about hazardous conditions unless they are very dangerous.
Contact Our Frisco Slip & Fall Accident Attorney
If you are not sure what your slip and fall accident qualifies as, do not worry. Contact us for a free initial consultation with our lawyer and let him use his years of experience to determine whether you have a case. We can make home or hospital visits.
