What is a Slip & Fall Case?

Part of our Personal Injury Thursdays series

What is a Slip & Fall case? First, there must be an injury or accident (the Slip & Fall) that happened on someone else’s property or land. Second, the Slip & Fall must have happened because the property was unsafe and the owner did not use ordinary care under the circumstances to keep their property reasonably safe. The land does not have to be 100% risk free, just reasonably safe.

In Maine, we have snow an ice on the ground for about half the year. Perhaps because it is so ever present, the courts in Maine often rule in favor of the property owners when there is a Slip & Fall due to ice. The courts look at many factors when deciding if the property owner took ordinary care to keep the land reasonably safe. What if I am walking into a store and slip on ice on the sidewalk into the entrance? Here are some questions that may be raised:

1. Did the store owners or employees know about the ice?
2. Did they try to salt or sand or warn customers?
3. Was the customer ignoring signs or obvious warning about the ice?
4. Was there a sudden freeze, or had the ice been present for a while?

These are just a few of the factors that courts look at to determine whether a property owner is responsible for the Slip & Fall.

Do you know what a Health Insurance Lien is? We talked about it last week – if you missed out, click here: https://www.mccuelawoffice.com/personal-injury-thursdays-5

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