Florida Slip & Fall Lawyers Fighting for Compensation for Injured Clients in Florida
A slip and fall accident can turn a routine activity into a painful ordeal that leads to mounting medical expenses, lost wages, and ongoing rehabilitation costs. If the accident occurred on another person’s property, it is possible that the property owner’s negligent failure to properly maintain the property or to warn of hazardous conditions caused or contributed to the slip & fall accident. Under premises liability law, property owners have a legal duty to maintain reasonably safe conditions for customers, guests, and visitors, so that the owner may be obligated to compensate you for injuries sustained in a slip and fall accident if a breach of that duty caused the accident. Our Florida slip and fall accident lawyers can help you get the compensation you deserve.
At Gonzalez & Cartwright, P.A., Florida slip and fall accident lawyers pride ourselves in providing exceptional legal services within the Florida community. We understand that it can be intimidating to negotiate with the property owner’s insurance company following a slip and fall accident, especially if English is not your first language. We are dedicated to protecting the interests of members of the local community who have sustained injuries in a slip and fall accident, and we will put our combined 35 years of experience to work for you today.
Proving Liability for Slip & Fall Accidents
Liability for a slip and fall accident usually rests upon a negligence theory, which requires establishing that the property owner’s duty of care, proving that the owner breached that duty of care, and showing that, as a result, you were injured in a slip and fall accident. The property owner’s duty of care varies, based upon whether you were an invitee, a licensee, or a trespasser when the slip and fall accident occurred.
An invitee is an individual who is invited onto property that is designated for public use, such as a public park, or in order to conduct some type of business with the business owner, such as in a grocery store or at an amusement park. Property owners owe the highest duty of care to invitees, and they must maintain safe conditions, warn of any dangers, and inspect the property to correct and prevent dangerous conditions.
Licensees are individuals who the owner invites onto the property for non-business purposes, such as for a party. Property owners have a duty to maintain safe conditions for licensees, but they are not required to conduct inspections.
Trespassers enter property without permission. Property owners typically only have the duty to refrain from purposefully harming a trespasser.
Actions to Take Following a Slip & Fall Accident
Under Florida law, you have four (4) years to file a personal injury lawsuit if you have been injured in a slip and fall accident. Despite this relatively generous timeframe, our slip and fall accident attorneys understand that the environment in which the accident took place can change rapidly. That is why it is important to document the accident scene carefully as soon as possible after the accident occurred. Then, while you focus on your physical recovery, our attorneys will take steps to:
- Obtain photographs or any video surveillance of the area where the slip and fall accident occurred.
- Gather the testimony of any witnesses to the slip & fall or trip & fall accident.
- Obtain any reports of the accident.
- Determine whether any prior accidents were caused by the unsafe conditions.
- Document and quantify the injuries that you sustained in the slip and fall accident.
Because the property owner may quickly take steps to repair the conditions that caused the slip & fall accident, it is important to contact an attorney as soon as possible after the accident occurred in order to preserve evidence of the relevant hazardous conditions. Our Florida slip and fall accident lawyers will evaluate the scene and circumstances surrounding the accident to establish liability, including establishing whether the property owner breached the applicable duty of care. We will investigate to determine:
- How long the hazard was present, as longer time periods tend to indicate that the owner breached his or her duty of care.
- Whether the property owner acted in order to fix the hazard or to appropriately warn of the hazard.
- Whether the property owner could have prevented the slip and fall accident.
Other areas where we handle Slip and Fall:
- Atlantis Slip and Fall
- Boca Raton Slip And Fall
- Boynton Beach Slip And Fall
- Delray Beach Slip And Fall
- Greenacres Slip And Fall
- Highland Beach Slip And Fall
- Lake Worth Slip And Fall
- North Palm Beach Slip And Fall
- Palm Beach Gardens Slip And Fall
- Palm Springs Slip And Fall
- Riviera Beach Slip And Fall
- Royal Palm Beach Slip And Fall
- Tequesta Slip And Fall
- West Palm Beach Slip And Fall
- Coconut Creek Slip And Fall
- Coral Springs Slip And Fall
- Dania Beach Slip And Fall
- Davie Slip And Fall
- Deerfield Beach Slip And Fall
Contact an Aggressive Injury Attorney to Discuss Your Right to Compensation
If you have sustained an injury in a slip and fall accident that occurred on someone else’s property, contact the skilled Florida personal injury attorneys of Gonzalez & Cartwright, P.A. at 561-533-0345, to discuss your case today. Our Florida slip and fall accident lawyers offer a free initial consultation in a fully bilingual office, or we can travel to the hospital or your home to meet at your convenience. For more information about our representation for slip and fall victims in specific Florida communities, see below:
- Slip and Fall Injuries Pompano Beach
- Slip and Fall Injuries Lake Worth
- Slip and Fall Injuries Fort Lauderdale
- Slip and Fall Injuries Boynton Beach
- Slip and Fall Injuries West Palm Beach
Frequently Asked Questions About Florida Slip & Fall Accidents
In many cases, yes. Florida follows a comparative negligence system when it comes to slip and fall cases, which means that the reasonableness of your actions will be compared to the actions of the property owner in determining compensation awards. Your compensation package will be reduced based on the proportion that you were at fault for the accident, but you still have the right to recover damages from the property owner.
Not necessarily. In many cases, our attorneys will negotiate with the property owner and his or her insurance company to reach a fair settlement without ever going to court. The insurance company will likely attempt to settle at an improperly low value, so it is important to contact an experienced slip and fall accident lawyer to advocate on your behalf throughout the negotiation process.