It’s certainly true that people understand the danger of slip-and-fall accidents, which can lead to serious injuries, such as traumatic brain injuries. These things do happen and it is often the fault of the property owner. For instance, someone who slips on a wet spot in the store may claim that the owner of that store is responsible for the resulting injuries.
But people often do not understand exactly how frequently this occurs. For instance, some sources claim that 30% of injuries that are reported over the course of a year are due to slip-and-fall accidents. This leads to a total of about 540,000 injuries every year.
Who is at the biggest risk?
As you may have guessed, elderly individuals face the greatest risks. When you look at cases where someone has passed away due to their injuries, in about three out of four of these cases, that individual was 65 years old or older.
Why are property owners negligent?
In some cases, property owners just do not take the steps that they should take to rectify a specific problem. In the example above, there could be a wet spot but on a store floor due to a spill or a leaking pipe. If the property owner knows that this issue exists and doesn’t fix it, he or she has put the customers at risk, even though the store owner wasn’t the one who caused the initial issue.
Additionally, there are cases where owners will say they didn’t know that the problem existed. They could still be negligent if it existed for so long that they should have known.
What are your options?
If you have suffered serious injuries in a slip-and-fall accident, you must know what legal options you have. You may be able to seek substantial compensation for medical bills and other costs.