Trip and Fall: Who Is At Fault in a Florida?
If you have suffered a slip and fall or a trip and fall in Florida, you may not have the slightest idea who the right party to seek damages from for your injuries would be. An important concept to understand in premises liability cases like slip and fall or trip and fall scenarios in Florida is that legal liability for failing to maintain property when someone becomes injured as a result of a hazard on the property most often follows control of the property. Whatever party has legal control of a particular property or the portion of the property where an accident like a slip and fall or a trip and fall takes place is most often legally responsible for inspecting, repairing and maintaining that property to ensure that no hazards exist so that slip and fall or trip and fall incidents don’t occur.
If you slip and fall inside a grocery store, for example, the grocery store is most likely to be the party on the hook for your injuries because the grocery store has control over its store and is in the best position to maintain that store in a safe condition for customers and visitors to the store. Therefore, if you injure yourself because of a slippery substance on the floor in that grocery store, you would naturally expect the grocery store would be legally responsible for your injuries.
Nevertheless, this does not mean the grocery store is the only party that owes you a legal duty to ensure those premises are kept safe and free of hazards for visitors. In the grocery store example, the grocery store may also have a janitorial services provider that is responsible for cleaning the premises periodically throughout the day. Given you slipped and fell and were injured as a result of a liquid on the floor, the janitorial services provider, could also be responsible for your injuries if it did not properly clean the premises and/or ensure the store floors were sufficiently clean and free of hazards so that someone would not be injured like you were.
If you trip and fall in a large pothole in the parking lot of the same grocery store, then who you would pursue for your injuries would depend on who had responsibility and/or control over that particular portion of the parking lot. The grocery store chain may be leasing its space from a shopping center owner that is responsible for inspection, maintenance and repair of the entire parking lot. However, if you tripped and fell because you were avoiding a shopping cart that was left by a grocery store patron in a place it should not have been left, then the grocery store owner and the shopping center may both be on the hook for your injuries.
As anyone can see from these examples, each scenario is different but the common denominator is that multiple parties may be liable for your injuries. This is good because the more parties that can potentially be held responsible for the hazardous condition that led you to suffer injuries, the better your chances of obtaining full compensation for your injuries. However, determining all the proper parties against whom you may have a potential claim for your injuries can be difficult and time-consuming. This is where an experienced personal injury attorney like the attorneys of Schwed, Adams & McGinley will do the necessary investigation to find out and pursue every party that may potentially have any role in and/or liability for the incident in which you were injured.
A Good Attorney Will Figure Out The Responsible Party or Parties and Seek Compensation from As Many as Possible
Figuring out who was responsible for maintaining the area in which you slipped and fell or tripped and fell may be difficult, but it is not an insurmountable task for an experienced personal injury attorney. An experienced, and thorough, personal injury attorney will be able to help you sort through who may have been responsible for maintaining an area in which you were injured by obtaining and reviewing all of the pertinent contracts and other documents, conducting depositions under oath, etc. While it may seem confusing as to figuring out who to pursue for compensation when you have been injured, it is your attorney’s job to figure out who the appropriate parties against whom you may have a claim would be. However, the general rule is the more parties involved, the better off you will be, as that means more potential sources to recover your damages from.
Contact Schwed, Adams & McGinley
At Schwed, Adams, and McGinley, P.A., our experienced personal injury attorneys have more than 200 years of experience representing individuals who have been injured by someone else’s negligence, including in slip and falls and trip and falls. We know how to do the due diligence required to determine who exactly was responsible for maintaining the area where you may have suffered an injury as well as how to cast a broad net to ensure that we pursue claims against every party possible who may have had any role whatsoever in the incident in which a client was injured. Our attorneys know that the more parties we can hold responsible for the incident in which you are injured, the better your chances of recovering the maximum amount possible for your injuries, the better your chances of recovering maximum compensation for those injuries. If you have been injured by someone else’s negligence and need representation by an experienced Florida personal injury attorney, contact the experienced personal injury attorneys at Schwed, Adams and McGinley, P.A. today at 877-694-6079 or contact@schwedlawfirm.com to schedule a free consultation regarding your situation.