personal injury lawyers miami

Recovering for Slip and Fall Injuries in Florida

Slip and fall personal injury cases are included in premises liability personal injury claims in Florida. In a slip and fall case, injury victim needs to establish that he or she was lawfully on the premises and slipped and fell because the property of a dangerous condition on the premises. Negligence can be established by the showing that the Defendant property owner either created the dangerous condition, or that the dangerous condition existed on the premises for a sufficient length of time that the property owner either knew or should have known of the condition but failed to act in time to warn, or to correct the hazard. Under Florida law, slip and fall accidents and premises liability laws are found under Florida Statutes Section 768.0755, also known as “Premises liability for transitory foreign substances in a business establishment. Under Florida law, slip and fall accidents usually arise from a wet, foreign or transient substances. These types of slip and fall injury claims are commonly filed against grocery stores, department stores, and other common areas in shopping centers, and other retail establishments.

In a slip and fall case, the accident victims must show that the property owner or operator had “notice” of the condition that caused the victim injury. And that that the owner or operator failed to act on this knowledge in a reasonable manner. Because the hazardous condition was not remedied, the victim fell and suffered injury. Consider a case where a woman is grocery shopping. She does not see a puddle of water on the floor. She slips in the puddle and falls, breaking her hip. After reviewing security footage and interviewing employees, it is determined that the water was on the floor for 30 minutes before the woman fell. In this situation, one can argue that the store had notice of the spill because they should have known of the condition and did not discover it in time or take action to warn or clean it up. Therefore, the store would likely be liable for the woman’s injuries.