Slip and fall accidents are often thought of as minor incidents that may lead to bumps, cuts, scrapes or bruises that do not require hospitalization. In reality, these accidents can result in serious injuries that impact victims for months or even years afterward. No matter where a slip and fall accident occurs, you are likely dealing with mounting medical bills, physical pain and other damages – all for an incident that could have been prevented. You may also have to take time off of work to recover from your injuries. If you were the victim of a slip and fall accident, the property owner can be held liable under certain conditions for that injury. Property owners have a duty to ensure that their property is safe for visitors. Speak with a Brunswick slip and fall attorney at Roden Law to see if you are entitled to compensation. We have helped recover millions in verdicts and settlements on behalf of our clients.
Contact our personal injury lawyers in Brunswick to determine if you have grounds for a claim. We can review your situation during a free consultation. Our firm can represent you at every stage of the legal process and aggressively pursue the compensation you need to recover and move on with your life. All of our lawyers work on contingency, so we only get paid if we help you obtain fair compensation.
Get started today by calling 1-844-RESULTS for your free case evaluation.
Common Slip and Fall Accidents
Slip and falls can happen anywhere. They can occur in homes, businesses or private property. We are prepared to take action against all types of negligent property owners, including those that operate:
- Apartment buildings
- Grocery stores
- Shopping malls
- Sports stadiums and arenas
- Restaurants
- Movie theaters
- Office buildings
- Private residences
- Public areas
- Parking lots
- Hotels or resorts
- Nursing homes
- Construction sites
- Parks, including amusement parks
When it comes to dangerous walking surfaces, there are three types of situations one can encounter:
- Trip and fall – This occurs when you trip over an unexpected object in your walking path
- Step and fall – These accidents happen when you fall over an unexpected hole or low spot
- Slip and fall – This occurs when you lose your footing and slip on a wet or slick surface
Some of the most common hazards that can cause slip and falls include:
- Wet or slippery floors
- Worn or loose carpeting
- Snow or ice
- Uneven curbs
- Defective stairs
- Inadequate lighting
- Potholes or ditches
- Cluttered hallways, aisles or walkways
- Lack of handrails
- Poorly-placed fixtures
- Broken floor tiles
- Holes in flooring
- Spilled food or drink
- Cracked pavement
- Mopped or waxed floors
- Lack of warning signs
Property owners who fail to properly post signs or warn visitors about a potentially hazardous or dangerous situation should be held accountable for their actions.
Protect your legal rights by contacting one of our dedicated Brunswick slip and fall attorneys. We can conduct a detailed investigation to uncover the cause of your accident and help to identify any hazards the property owner should have been reasonably aware of prior to your injury.
Complete a Free Case Evaluation form today.
Injuries Caused by Slip and Falls
Slip and falls can leave victims with life-changing injuries. In many cases, these injuries may require extensive medical care and physical rehabilitation or result in disability or even death.
According to the National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI), falls account for more than eight million hospital emergency room visits each year, representing the leading cause of visits (21.3 percent). Slips and falls also account for over one million visits, or 12 percent of total falls.
Among the more common injuries suffered in slip and fall accidents are:
- Traumatic brain injury
- Broken bones
- Hip fractures
- Knee damage
- Shoulder dislocations
- Sprained ankles or wrists
- Spine and nerve damage
- Scarring or disfigurement
- Internal organ damage
- Lacerations and contusions
If you or a loved one has been involved in a slip and fall accident, it is important that you seek immediate medical care because your injury may be more serious than you think. Let a doctor conduct the proper diagnostics and exams in order to rule out or identify any hidden injuries you may have suffered. Many slip and fall injuries may not become apparent or noticeable until days or weeks later.
Once you seek treatment, you should get in touch with a skilled Brunswick slip and fall lawyer to evaluate the extent of your injury and how it has impacted your life so that we can pursue the maximum compensation you deserve.
Call 1-844-RESULTS now to schedule your free consultation.
Liability for Slip and Fall Accidents
In Georgia, owners, occupiers and landlords of land and premises have an obligation to make their property safe and free from harm for visitors. This includes maintaining sidewalks, landscaped areas and flooring, cleaning up spills, removing debris and fixing broken items, among other things.
Failure do so could result in property owners being held liable for certain injuries that happen on their property. However, you must be able to prove that the owner was negligent in his or her actions and that his or her failure directly caused your slip and fall accident and resulted in your injuries. The type of duty that a property owner owes to an individual will depend on the person’s status at the property.
The state of Georgia recognizes three broad classes of visitors to someone else’s property: invitees, licensees and trespassers.
Invitees
An invitee is an individual who is either invited to the property for business purposes with the owner or is a member of the public who is on the property because it is open to the public. This could include retail shoppers, people in public parks, or visitors to a hospital.
Invitees are owed a higher standard of care than other visitors who enter the property. Under the Official Code of Georgia (O.C.G.A.) § 51-3-1, property owners owe a duty to invitees to exercise ordinary care to keep the premises safe. This means owners must take reasonable steps to inspect the premises and ensure that there are no hazardous conditions.
Licensees
There are two types of licensees – invited and uninvited. An invited licensee is an individual who is invited to come onto the property by the owner, such as a social guest. An uninvited licensee on the other hand is an individual who is not invited onto the property, but whose presence is reasonable under the circumstance, such as a delivery man.
Property owners can be held liable for damages if they knowingly exposed the licensee to a hazard or obstacle that posed an unreasonable risk of harm. As a licensee, you must establish that the property owner knew or should have known about the hazard and that there was intent to cause injury.
Trespassers
A trespasser is an individual who has no legal right to be on the owner’s property under any circumstances. The only duty an owner has to trespassers is to avoid carelessly or willfully causing harm.
Our slip and fall attorneys in Brunswick have extensive knowledge of Georgia slip and fall laws and how to apply them to the specifics of your case. We can help you build a strong case as you attempt to hold a property owner accountable for his or her negligence.
Fill out a Free Case Evaluation form so a member of our team can review your claim.
Comparative Negligence in Slip and Fall Cases
What if I am partially to blame for the accident that caused my injury?
If you did not exercise reasonable care on someone else’s property to protect your own safety, you may bear some amount of responsibility for the incident. Georgia’s modified comparative negligence rule (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33) determines how much you can recover from the property owner. Under the law, you will not be able to recover compensation if you are more than 50 percent at fault for your injury.
This means that as long as you are less than 50 percent to blame for the accident, any damages awarded to you will be reduced according to your percentage of fault. For instance, say a jury awards you $75,000 for your injury but you are found to be 30 percent at fault. Your award would then be reduced by $22,500.
Call Roden Law at 1-844-RESULTS to see how we might be able to help you.
Filing a Slip and Fall Claim in Georgia
If you have been injured in a slip and fall accident, it is critical that you take timely action to protect your legal rights. Georgia follows the statute of limitations, which limits the amount of time you have to file a lawsuit after an accident.
The statute of limitations for personal injury lawsuits, including slip and fall accidents, is two years from the date of the accident, according to O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33. This means you have a two-year deadline to pursue a claim against the property owner that injured you. Failure to file a lawsuit within the deadline can result in the court dismissing your case.
The Brunswick slip and fall lawyers at our firm can discuss the details of your claim. If you decide to move forward, we will work diligently to help make sure your claim is filed before the statute of limitations expires.
Complete our free online form now so we can get started.
Contact a Brunswick Slip and Fall Attorney Now
Filing a claim after a slip and fall accident can be a complicated process. There are many factors involved when it comes to liability, including determining your legal status when you entered the property, the type of hazard that caused you to slip and fall, and whether or not the property owner knew or should have known about any hazardous conditions prior to your injury.
At Roden Law, we know a thing or two about conducting a thorough investigation to collect vital evidence in order to build a strong case on your behalf. We can take pictures of the accident scene, obtain witness statements from those who saw your accident or were aware of the unsafe condition, and help prove that the injuries you sustained and the damages they caused were due to negligence. We have decades of combined experience representing the best interests of injury victims.
Your consultation with us is 100 percent free. There are no legal fees involved unless you win.