Slip and falls can be quite painful when they occur and trigger a large amount of suffering that may require the help of expensive medical treatment to manage your injuries properly fully. Thankfully, lawyers like Lampert & Walsh and other firms can help you.
The Theory Behind Most Defenses
A typical slip and fall defense focuses on proving that the plaintiff had more to do with the fall than the defendant by showing that they did not act reasonably. The various methods used to prove this point all vary, depending on multiple elements that hinge on the case’s nature. Just a few types of defenses that you may face in this situation include the following:
- Open and Obvious – If it is evident that there was a slip and fall risk (such as if debris was littered across a floor) and the defendant attempted to move through this dangerous area, the defendant may claim that they acted inappropriately and slipped and fell because of their actions.
- Comparative Negligence – Used in cases when the defendant knows they are at least partially to blame, comparative negligence states that the plaintiff was behaving negligently, such as running in an area where it was not safe, and their actions contributed to the accident occurring.
- Volenti Non Fit Injuria – If you willingly engage in a potentially dangerous situation (such as ice skating or walking across an ice skating rink without skates), the defense may claim that you assumed a certain degree of risk with your actions and that they cannot be blamed for your fall.
- Choice of Ways – With this defense, the defendant claims that there were multiple ways that you could have traveled to avoid an accident, but you took the path that caused an injury. When numerous pathways are available, a slip and fall case may be thrown out because your actions also caused your injury.
Other defenses that you may see include the “unknown or unforeseeable” defense, which tries to claim that the slip and fall incident was caused by something that was unknown or could not be predicted, such as a pipe bursting just before you walked through an area to make the floor slippery.
Fighting These Defenses
If you were in a slip-and-fall case and worried about this type of defense, it is essential to understand how an attorney can fully manage this scenario. Gathering evidence for this situation often involves a series of steps that can be handled by your lawyer, including how they can:
- Show that the defendant was more negligent
- Indicate that due diligence was not taken to prevent slipping
- Gather photographs and testimony that helps to show slips and falls
- Detail the extent of your injuries with a doctor
Thankfully, these steps should be relatively easy to work through as long as you work with an attorney who understands your case. In many cases, these lawyers do not get paid unless you win, which helps decrease the amount of money you have to pay for this type of personal injury lawsuit.
