Slip and fall accidents can cause serious injuries, including hip fractures and traumatic brain injuries. If you have been injured in a Missouri slip and fall accident, you may have a right to compensation for your injuries. Missouri slip and fall laws allow victims to pursue compensation against the person or company whose negligence caused their slip and fall accident. Missouri has a deadline for filing slip-and-fall lawsuits, and they also have shared fault laws that could impact your case.
Slip and Fall Statute of Limitations
A statute of limitations is a state law that limits how much time you have to file a lawsuit. According to the Missouri statute of limitations, a person who becomes injured must file his or her lawsuit within five years of the incident that caused the injuries. For example, if you slipped and fell on April 1st, 2020, you would have until April 1st, 2025, to file a personal injury lawsuit. We do not recommend waiting until the last minute to file a lawsuit. Your attorney will need time to gather evidence showing that the defendant is legally responsible in your case.
Missouri’s Comparative Negligence Laws
If you plan on bringing a personal injury lawsuit after a slip and fall, you should be aware of Missouri’s comparative negligence laws. When you bring a slip-and-fall lawsuit, you will need to claim that the property owner breached his or her duty of reasonable care by not preventing the dangerous condition that caused your slip and fall accident. Suppose you slipped and fell on a puddle of juice in a grocery store. In that case, you would need to argue that the store owner knew or should have known about the spilled juice and failed to take action to keep their customers safe.
In Missouri, defendants use the pure comparative negligence rule to try to bar slip and fall victims from recovering compensation. Under the comparative negligence rule, any damages you obtain will be reduced according to your percentage of fault. Suppose a jury awards you $100,000 in damages for your injuries but assigns 10% of the fault to you. In that case, you would only recover $90,000.
The defendant will work hard to prove that you were at fault for slipping and falling. They may claim that you were wearing unsafe footwear or that you crossed over into a dangerous area even though signs cordoned it off. They may argue that the danger should have been obvious to a reasonable person or that you were texting while walking, which caused you to miss the dangerous condition.
Contact a Missouri Slip and Fall Lawyer Today
Thinking about filing a personal injury lawsuit after a slip and fall accident can feel overwhelming. The personal injury lawyers at Griggs Injury Law will carefully evaluate your case and walk you through the steps of recovering the compensation you deserve. Contact us today to schedule your free initial consultation.
