Slip and fall accidents on snow or ice may result in very serious and costly injuries. Slip and falls account for more than 1 million hospitalizations annually, which is one of the leading causes of hospital visits every year.
Since slip and fall claims are premises liability claims, we can sue the person who owned the property where you fell. After a slip and fall accident, an individual may have an occupational injury and may not be able to return to work. Lost time from work and accumulating hospital bills add up very quickly, which is why you need legal representation to help you fight for every dollar you deserve in a slip and fall accident.
If you or a loved one has slipped and fallen on ice or snow, call our Arkansas personal injury attorneys at (479) 316-0438 for a free, private legal review.
Can You Sue if You Are Hurt in a Slip and Fall Accident on Ice or Snow?
While slip and fall accidents can be embarrassing, they can also be dangerous, and you can sue those responsible for your injuries.
Who Can You Sue for a Slip and Fall on Ice or Snow?
Arkansas often experiences snowfall, and it can be worse in the mountainous areas of the northwest. Not only that, but the state tends to be prone to freezing weather incidents, and freezing rain and severe freezing events are common. As such, property owners should be prepared to deal with frozen or snowy conditions.
If you fall on someone’s property because of snow or ice, you may sue the property owner. Property owners may owe a legal duty of safety to guests on the property, and negligently maintained premises or premises with hazards known to the owner may lead to accidents.
What Do You Have to Prove in a Slip and Fall Case?
Slip and fall lawsuits require proving four elements: duty, breach, causation, and damages.
We must first prove that the defendant owed you a duty of care. Property owners generally owe a duty of care to invited guests or guests they should reasonably expect to show up (e.g., social guests, customers in a store, visitors at the front door). They usually do not owe a duty to trespassers.
Next, we must show how the defendant violated or breached their duty. Did they allow snow and ice to accumulate without bothering to remove it? Did they fail to warn guests of snowy or icy conditions in advance? These might be breaches of duty.
We must then prove that the snowy or icy conditions on the property are the direct and proximate cause of your slip and fall accident. The defendant might argue that you fell for reasons other than the defendant’s negligence, perhaps your own clumsiness, and we must have evidence to the contrary.
Finally, we must prove your damages. Medical costs, pain, suffering, humiliation, lost income, and other damages may all be on the table if we have evidence to support them.
How to Start a Lawsuit for a Slip and Fall on Snow or Ice
To begin your lawsuit, contact a lawyer as soon as possible. The longer you wait, the more difficult it may be to find evidence and build a strong case.
Your attorney should review the facts of the slip and fall accident and the snowy or icy conditions before drafting a formal complaint against the property owner. The complaint should explain how the accident happened and why the snow or icy conditions constitute a breach of the property owner’s legal duty of care.
What is a Slip and Fall Claim?
A slip and fall injury falls under the realm of personal injury claims. Personal injury claims involve a physical injury inflicted on a person’s body, as opposed to damage to property, reputation, or ideas.
Premises Liability Claims
First of all, slip and fall injuries fall under premises liability claims. Premises liability is a landowner’s liability for certain torts that occur on their property. Ultimately, slip and fall claims stem from the injuries that result from the landowner’s failure to maintain the property in question.
Duties of Property Owners
As you may have already inferred, landowners have a duty to safely maintain property. This means that the property must be safe for all customers, pedestrians, and other visitors.
Property owners must effectively warn these visitors of any potential hazards. Otherwise, they may be found negligent in a personal injury claim. Property owners may be responsible for removing or repairing known hazards, making reasonable inspections for possible unknown hazards, and providing adequate warnings about any existing hazards.
Elements of a Slip and Fall Case
To have a successful slip and fall claim in Arkansas, a claimant (an individual bringing a personal injury action) must prove that the owner of the property had a duty to protect them from the dangerous condition.
The claimant must also prove that the property owner breached that duty to maintain the property in a safe manner, which ultimately led to the individual’s injury and subsequent damages.
Who May Sue for Slip and Fall Injuries Caused by Ice or Snow in Arkansas?
When suing for a slip and fall accident caused by ice or snow, you may sue the owner of the property where the accident happened. However, not everyone may be able to sue, as property owners do not owe a duty of care to everyone.
Invited Guests
Property owners generally owe a legal duty of care to people they invite onto their property. IF a neighbor invites you into their home and you slip on their front steps because they neglected to remove snow and ice after a bad storm, they might be held liable for your injuries and damages.
Reasonably Expected Guests
Not all guests need to be directly or explicitly invited onto the property. The property owner may owe a duty of care to guests they should reasonably expect to show up without an invitation. This often covers customers in a store who may reasonably be expected to enter whenever they wish during normal business hours.
It might also cover people who would normally show up without an invitation. For example, if a mail carrier slips on the icy walkway in front of someone else’s property while making a delivery, the property owner may be held responsible. The owner should reasonably expect people like mail carriers to cross their property or approach their front steps.
Trespassers
Property owners often do not owe a duty of care to people who are present on their property without permission. Unknown trespassers typically may not sue for injuries from a slip and fall because they should not have been on the property in the first place.
Often, property owners will argue that the plaintiff was a trespasser. As such, we must have strong evidence indicating that you were lawfully present.
What Should You Do After a Slip and Fall Injury?
If you have slipped and fallen on another’s property, then here are some of the things that you can do to help protect yourself in a possible slip and fall personal injury claim.
For our firm to best serve you, the more information you have about your accident and injury, the better. Each of these steps will help you to preserve your possible claim.
Photograph the Scene
Take pictures of the property and the area. Pictures really CAN tell a thousand words, and these snapshots may ultimately be the difference between recovering for your damages and a failed claim.
Not only that, but defendants can, and often do, clean up the accident scene rather quickly. This is not illegal, but it may cause evidence or important details to become lost. This means your photos may be the only real records of the snowy or icy conditions that caused your fall.
Write Down Important Details
Take down notes of how the incident occurred. Notes are very important. Sometimes, these claims may stretch out to multiple years, and taking notes of how the slip and fall exactly occurred may help your claim in the long run.
Speak to Witnesses
See if there were any witnesses. If there were witnesses to your injury, you may be able to greatly help your slip and fall claim. Witnesses will be able to corroborate the events of the incident and help tell the story of how your injury occurred.
What Damages Could You Receive in a Slip and Fall Accident?
The damages that an individual may receive after a slip and fall accident vary. If a property owner had a duty to protect you from dangerous conditions and is found to have been negligent in carrying out that protection, then you have a right to damages.
Economic Damages
Economic damages may include, but are not limited to, medical expenses, destroyed property, and lost wages.
Furthermore, you should be able to receive compensation for reasonable expenses you have paid because of the accident. Future expenses, including medical transportation and lost wages resulting from the accident, will also be included in this calculation.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages often focus more on painful experiences rather than monetary costs. As such, non-economic damages often require more than evidence of cost to prove.
You may claim non-economic damages for physical pain, emotional distress, humiliation, and other painful personal experiences you endure because of the accident.
People often underestimate how traumatic a bad slip and fall injury can be. Injuries may be extremely painful and long-lasting, and plaintiffs often go through a lot of pain and suffering.
For more information on the possibility of receiving damages for your slip and fall injury, you need to contact our Crawford County slip and fall lawyers.
Your Family Needs Knowledgeable and Skilled Representation
Begin your case with a private, free review by calling our Arkansas personal injury lawyers at (479) 316-0438.