Who is Responsible for My Slip and Fall Injury?

Slip and fall cases are not always as clear cut as they seem. Depending on where you fell, there are many factors to consider such as boundaries of a property, legal regulations applying to one’s property, property ownership, property management, your own actions at the time, work factors, property owner’s insurance, etc. There must have been actual negligence from another party in order to have a case and finding the negligent party is not always an easy task. When considering who is responsible for your slip and fall injury, a court judge will use common sense and assess the overall situation.

Potential Negligent Parties

As mentioned, there are multiple potential parties that could be considered for a slip and fall case. It depends on who had responsibility for maintaining that part of the property you were injured on.

Possible responsible parties in slip and fall cases include:

• Property Owners – whether you will sue the insurance company or go after the individual’s personal assets will depend on if they have property insurance
• Hired Property Managers – individuals who were hired to maintain the property
• Third Party Contractors – if they hired an outside janitorial company or groundskeeping company and they didn’t regulate the property, you may be able to go after the third party
• Employers – this would become a workers’ comp case
• Outside Property Owners – if someone left their property (such as a scooter) on the property and you tripped and were injured and know who owns it, you could potentially sue them as well

Premises Liability and Determining Negligent Parties

Determining if one of these parties was actually negligent and responsible for your injuries isn’t usually that difficult. In the court of law, judges and attorneys will assess if the property owner should have taken care of the property issue that led to your slip and fall injury.

For slip and fall cases one of the following must be the case:

• The property owner was aware of the property condition and made no attempts to fix it
• The property owner should have been aware of the property condition and/or taken precautionary measures to prevent injuries
• The property owner was directly responsible for creating the poor property condition

Judges will also take into account other important factors such as:

• How long was the dangerous property condition left uncorrected?
• Did the property owner have a reasonable amount of time to actually be aware and/or correct the issue?
• If there were attempts to fix the problem, were these attempts reasonable and considered by law to be appropriate?
• Was the victim partially to blame due to any reckless or negligent behavior?

Whether or not your premises liability case will be dismissed or you will receive a settlement will depend highly on the negligent party, if they have insurance or personal assets to go after, and these wide range of factors. Make sure to gather all evidence and details regarding your injury and the slip and fall incident for a chance at the best case outcome. And don’t forget to hire a quality personal injury lawyer that knows what they are doing.

Contact a Jersey City Personal Injury Lawyer to Discuss Your Slip and Fall Case in New Jersey

Did you or a loved one sustain serious injuries due to a slip and fall in New Jersey? Don’t let the medical bills pile up while you wait for the negligent party or their insurance company to do the right thing. Right now, you need an aggressive personal injury attorney on your side, fighting to get you the compensation you need, want, and deserve. The skilled attorneys at CourtLaw represent clients injured because of slip and falls in Paterson, Bayonne, Clifton, Hoboken, and throughout New Jersey. Call (732) 442-5900 or email us to schedule a free consultation about your case. We have an office conveniently located at 163 Market St, Perth Amboy, NJ 08861, as well as offices in New Brunswick, Roselle, East Orange, Jersey City, Elizabeth, Linden, Newark, Paterson, South Amboy and Trenton.

The articles on this blog are for informative purposes only and are no substitute for legal advice or an attorney-client relationship. If you are seeking legal advice, please contact our law firm directly.