Missouri law protects individuals who have suffered from slip and fall accidents due to the negligence or fault of a property owner. Personal injuries where individuals fall and get injured are often overlooked, yet they account for many of the most serious forms of injury, some resulting in death. In fact, slip and falls are the second leading cause of injuries in the United States, behind only car accidents, and result in approximately 17,000 deaths every year. Property owners may be liable for slip and fall accidents that occur both inside and outside their property, and can occur in any number of settings, including warehouse stores, mall, hotels and inns, shopping centers, parking lots, sidewalks and any other type of commercial or private building.
Determining Liability
In order to recover from a slip and fall accident, a victim has the burden of proving that the property owner created a dangerous or unreasonable condition on the premises that caused you to fall and get injured. In other words, the slip and fall accident would not have happened but for the property owners failure to take reasonable measures to repair the dangerous condition, or plainly notify of its existence. Consequently, to be held legally responsible when you fall and get injured, one of the following must be true:
- The property owner caused the dangerous condition that led to the slip and fall, or failed to properly maintain the property.
- The Property owner is aware of the dangerous condition of his or her property, but does nothing to remedy to problem
- Most commonly, a reasonable property owner should have known of the dangerous condition because a reasonably prudent person would have noticed and fixed it.
Slip and fall accidents come in all shapes and sizes and can be attributed to a vast number of causes. However, there are several common mishaps that are far more common than other.
Slippery Surfaces: Most commonly this type of injury results as a product of a property owner’s failure to clean an existing spill on the floor, but often results from a freshly cleaned floor that is too slippery to walk on.
Failure to Fix: Often time, property owners are liable when they fail to fix a dangerous condition such as a protruding rod from the floor, holes in the parking lot, or a raised or hollow floor.
Stairs: Property owners may be liable where they fail to maintain a safe stairway. Often, this dangerous condition results from worn down stairs, or where stairs are improperly marked or highlighted.
Building Code Violations: Property owners are liable for slip and fall injuries resulting from their failure to adhere to all building codes. Examples include unacceptable handrails, violations of stair height and depth, or improper building maintenance
Ice or snow: Most insurance adjusters will try to claim that an injury resulting from snow or ice is a result of the carelessness of the victim, but our slip and fall attorneys know that this is not always the case. Outside areas must be preserved so that there is no excessive ice buildup, and floors in a way that do not become extra slippery when wet or icy.
If you have had a slip and fall and been injured as the result of another person’s negligence, contact our legal team at Griggs Injury Law to discuss your case and to learn your options. We will help you navigate the legal maze to achieve the best result.
