Even the most surefooted person can suffer a hard and potentially life-altering fall if they accidentally step on a wet floor. Unfortunately, just because you were hurt by a fall like this on someone else’s property does not make that property owner automatically liable for your injuries—and if they are liable under state civil law, actually proving them so in court can still be a difficult task to accomplish alone.
If you suffered injuries in a wet floor accident in Clark, you should strongly consider contacting an experienced slip and fall lawyer from Fredson Statmore Bitterman, LLC, first before trying to handle your claim entirely on your own. With a firm that combines big-firm resources with small-firm dedication to your unique claim, you will have the best possible chance of getting a positive case result and securing the compensation you need.
What Are Landowners Supposed to Do About Wet Floors?
Landowners face legal liability when they fail to meet their duty of care, causing an injury. The specific duty of care that landowners owe to people varies depending on the circumstances. Broadly speaking, landowners must warn all lawful visitors on their land about all known hazards that are not open and obvious to a reasonable person. For example, by putting a“Wet Floor” sign out and fixing the hazard reasonably quickly after discovering it.
However, if a lawful visitor’s presence on private property provides any potential or actual financial benefit to the landowner, that landowner also has a duty to inspect their property regularly for as-yet undiscovered hazards. If a spill remains uncleaned for hours and someone suffers injuries in a wet floor accident inside a retail store in Clark, they may have grounds to sue over their injuries even if the store’s owner did not have direct knowledge of the spill’s existence.
Important Evidence in Wet Floor Injury Claims
With all that in mind, successful lawsuits over incidents of this nature generally center around proving that a landowner knew of or should have known of a wet floor on their property and then failed to act appropriately to reduce the risk of that hazard injuring the plaintiff. The injured person must also be able to prove that their injury stemmed directly and primarily from the fall around which their claim is built and not from any other source.
Accordingly, it can be important when building a claim over a Clark wet floor injury to have evidence from multiple sources intended to prove numerous different things, such as:
- Photos and videos of the accident scene and the spill itself
- Preserved clothing and footwear the plaintiff wore during the accident
- Surveillance camera footage of the accident or the area where it occurred
- Shift schedules and other schedules showing when employees of the property owner were supposed to inspect certain areas of the property
- Medical records detailing the severity of injuries and the care the plaintiff received for them
Legal counsel can help you gather, preserve, and make effective use of important evidence, providing invaluable support throughout the process.
Get Help From a Clark Attorney After a Wet Floor Accident
Slips on unmarked wet floors cause hundreds, if not thousands, of serious injuries across the United States each year. Property owners could have prevented many of these injuries by acting responsibly. However, despite how common they are, these accidents do not make for easy civil claims, as many people unfortunately learn the hard way.
Fredson Statmore Bitterman, LLC can provide the custom-tailored legal support you need to effectively pursue compensation following a wet floor accident in Clark. Call today for a free consultation.
