If a property owner knows (or should have known) about these dangers, the owner must take reasonable and adequate steps to ensure that visitors to their property are safe. Failing to do so can be deemed negligence under Georgia law, and injury victims should seek help from an experienced Cumming GA slip and fall lawyer at Spaulding Injury Law: Cumming Personal Injury & Car Accident Lawyer.
Slip and Fall Law is Complex in Georgia
Georgia law relating to slip and fall injuries is complicated. Slip and falls as a description makes these injuries sound minor and of little consequence. On the contrary, they can lead to life-altering injuries, which lead to extensive medical expenses and even loss of the ability to work. Therefore, it is essential to have a skilled attorney who understands the law behind these cases and whether your case may fall within the compensable category.
STATUS OF INJURED PARTY
The standard of care depends upon the status of the person injured relating to the property. Under the law, there are three kinds of visitors to a piece of property:
- Invitees: Georgia law defines an invitee as someone who has been expressly invited or welcomed onto the premises, essentially for the owner´s benefit. These would include customers during business hours, employees during work hours, contractors, service providers, and others who have implicitly or explicitly asked or are allowed to be on the premises.
- Licensees: Georgia law defines a licensee as someone the owner permits to be on a property but whose presence on the premises is not based on a contract with the owner and is solely in pursuit of the person´s own interests, convenience, or pleasure.
- Trespassers:Trespassers have neither an invitation nor permission to be on the premises.
A property owner, in most states, will owe some level of care to anyone on their property, even trespassers. This duty is not the case in Georgia. In Georgia, to recover from a negligent slip and fall injury, the injured party must be able to show that he or she was not trespassing on the premises. The applicable standards of care are:
- Invitees: The property owner must exercise ordinary care in keeping the premises and approaches to the premises safe.
- Licensees: For an invitee, the property owner will be liable only for a willful or wanton, that is reckless injury.
- Trespassers: As with a licensee, trespassers can only recover if they can demonstrate that the injury was caused by willful or wanton conduct.
In other words, unless you were an invitee when you were injured, a slip and fall or premises liability case can be a very challenging case in the State of Georgia.
KNOWLEDGE OF THE HAZARD
Even for an invitee, there are challenges to be overcome. The legal liability or duty to invitees will only apply if the property owner had actual or constructive knowledge of the danger. Actual knowledge means what it says, while constructive knowledge means that, even if the owner did not know about the hazard, he or she should have known.
CONSTRUCTIVE KNOWLEDGE IS HARD TO PROVE
Because proof of constructive knowledge is subjective, it can be awkward to prove. That is why you will need to consult with experienced slip and fall counsel. But, there are ways to demonstrate that someone should have known something was a problem: If, for example, the injured party can show that the owner inspected the property but failed to find the danger, the standard will likely be met. Similarly, if the owner was in the location of the hazard and could have easily noticed and repaired it, constructive knowledge will be provable. However, there are defenses to either actual or constructive knowledge claims.
PLAIN VIEW HAZARDS
The law expects people to pay attention to their surroundings. Thus, when someone is injured by a hazard that was in plain sight and is of a sort that would be likely in that location, the law will assume that he or she will have taken steps to avoid the injury. On the other hand, property owners are also expected to ensure that those obstacles are in plain sight and do not create an unreasonable hazard. There is no duty to warn invitees about dangers in plain view because an invitee is viewed as having the same knowledge as the owner in that circumstance.
Potential Hazards
So, what are the kinds of hazards that might result in a slip and fall injury? These can include:
- Poor lighting
- Building code violations
- Poorly maintained floors, walls, or roofs
- Spills
- Icy or snowy conditions
- Stairs, handrails, or walkways in poor condition
So long as they were not so obvious as to be considered in plain view, any of these can result in a compensable injury.
The Owner May Not Be Entirely at Fault
Georgia follows the law of comparative negligence. This policy means that if the injured party could have avoided the injury by exercising ordinary care, he or she will not be able to recover damages. In practice, this means that if you are found to be 49% or less at fault, then you can recover up to 51% of your damages.
For example, if your damages were $100,000 and you were 25% at fault, your recovery would be $75,000. On the other hand, if you were 50% or more at fault, then your potential recovery is zero. An example of the latter would be if the injured party was shopping, saw an obvious hazard between the shopper and a desired object, and went for it anyway. There, the court would find  that the shopper failed to use ordinary care to avoid the obvious hazard. Seek counsel from our sesoned slip and falls lawyers at Spaulding Injury Law: Cumming Personal Injury & Car Accident Lawyer.
Negligence in Slip and Fall Claims
In order to bring a successful slip and fall accident claim in Georgia, you’ll need to prove negligence on the part of the property owner or the business itself. This typically means demonstrating one of the following:
- The business or its owner caused the hazard that led to your slip and fall accident.
- The business or its owner failed to recognize and correct or remove the hazard that caused you to slip and fall.
Additionally, the business or its owner must have had adequate time to recognize the hazard and to take care of it prior to you slipping and falling. Other considerations that must be taken into account in your slip and fall accident claim include:
- Whether there was a justifiable reason for the hazard in question
- Whether the business or its owner conducted regular safety checks for potential slipping hazards
- Whether the business owner employed the same level of care that other reasonable business owners do in similar situations
- Whether the hazard that caused you to slip and fall could have been blocked off, moved, or resolved with adequate warnings
- Whether a factor such as inadequate lighting or poor visibility played a role in the slip and fall accident that caused you to be injured
In other words, proving negligence in a Georgia slip and fall accident is complicated – but important.
Slip and Fall Accidents
Slip and fall accidents are both more common and more dangerous than most people realize. Consider the following statistics forwarded by the National Flooring Safety Institute (NFSI):
- Slip and fall accidents lead to more than 1 million emergency room visits each year.
- Falls are the leading cause of emergency room visits overall each year.
- Floors and the materials used for flooring directly contribute to more than 2 million fall-related injuries each year.
The Losses You Experience
You’ve slipped and fallen as a result of a business’s negligence, and the legal damages – or covered losses – you experience are likely to be significant.
YOUR MEDICAL EXPENSES
Your medical costs will likely begin with emergency treatment at the scene of the accident and can snowball from here. Consider the following common expenses:
- Emergency transportation to the hospital
- Surgical care
- Care from doctors and other medical professionals in the hospital
- Follow-up and ongoing medical care
- Medical treatments, procedures, and tests
- Rehabilitation
- Occupational and physical therapy
- Pain management
- Chiropractic care
LOST WAGES
The recovery process after a slip and fall accident can be lengthy, and in the interim, you may experience lost income due to lost hours on the job. If your ability to continue earning at the same level or your career path is affected, the financial losses can be that much more serious.
PAIN AND SUFFERING
The physical and emotional pain and suffering you go through as a result of a slip and fall accident can be difficult to overstate and should not be underplayed.
Contact A Cumming GA Slip and Fall Accident Lawyer Today
Georgia law provides a relatively short two years to file a personal injury claim. Because of this, it’s crucial that, if you have experienced a slip and fall injury in Cumming, you should contact an experienced Cumming GA slip and fall accident lawyer for a free case consultation as soon as possible. Delays can hurt your chances to recover.
Spaulding Injury Law: Cumming Personal Injury & Car Accident Lawyer is located at 5860 Bond St, Cumming, GA 30040, United States
Our Slip and Falls Office in Cumming
Spaulding Injury Law: Cumming Personal Injury & Car Accident Lawyer is located close to you, in Downtown Cumming near UFA Soccer Fields and Cumming Polo Golf & Country Club.Cumming Personal Injury Lawyers located at 5860 Bond St, Cumming, GA 30040, United States.