Many people who slip and fall on public property do not think to file an injury claim.
When you do, you can receive money for your medical bills and any time you lost from missing work.
A slip and fall lawyer Miami can help you figure out who is to blame when you slip and fall.
There are times when the property owner is not liable for things on their property.
It is normal for things to fall on the floor or for liquids to drip where you could potentially slip on them.
Additionally, there are some things on the ground that you can slip on, but are necessary.
This can include drainage gates or textured rugs to wipe shoes off that you could trip on.
Basically, some owners cannot be responsible for every tiny thing that falls on the floor.
As well they cannot be responsible for things that are common to find on the ground that people should watch out for when walking.
There are some property owners, however, that do not maintain their space and cause dangerous situations.
All slip and fall cases are evaluated on two points.
The first is whether the property owner was acting carefully so slipping and tripping would not occur.
This means it will be determined that you are at fault for not watching where you are going.
The second is whether the property owner was negligent in not providing a safe location for all who enter it.
When owners are responsible for an accident, their role breaks down into a few different steps to make them fully liable.
The owner or employee must have caused the dangerous floor, whether it is a spill, torn spot, or worn spot.
The owner or employee must have known that the floor was dangerous and did nothing about it.
The owner or employee also should have known about the dangerous situation because, if they were properly taking care of the property, they would have removed or repaired the problem before injury could occur.
Usually, liability is judged based on common sense on both the part of the person injured and the owner of the property.
Part of the decision whether the owner is at fault is whether or not the owner makes regular efforts to keep the property safe and clean.
There are some questions you or your lawyer can ask to figure out if the owner is careful all the time.
When tripping over something broken or bulging that is part of the actual floor, such as carpet, you need to figure out how long that problem has been there and how long the owner has known about it.
You also need to find out if the owner has a regular checklist for examining, cleaning, and repairing the location.
There needs to be proof of regular maintenance.
If there was an object on the ground that you tripped over, there needs to be a legitimate reason for it to belong there.
If there was once a good reason that object was there, but the reason no longer applies, then there needs to be another way the object could have been removed but the owner failed to do so.
There should be an investigation into whether there was another safer place for the object to be moved without extreme expense or inconvenience to the owner.
Sometimes the owner neglects to put up a simple warning or barrier that the floor is dangerous, such as a wet floor sign.
You also need to consider if there was poor or broken lighting that contributed to the accident.