A slip, trip, or fall is usually just an embarrassing moment that you quickly move on from. Though, occasionally, a fall could lead to severe injuries. Even if the injuries heal completely over time, a person who falls might experience pain, inconvenience, and miss time from work.
A Jackson slip and fall lawyer at the Reaves Law Firm, PLLC represents people who suffer injuries in falls. If you were hurt in a fall that was preventable if the property owner had taken reasonable care, you could seek damages from the negligent landowner with the help of a skilled personal injury attorney at our firm.
Landowners must maintain reasonably safe conditions on their property. In practice, a commercial property owner must repair or correct any dangerous conditions within a reasonable time. The owner also must post warnings or take steps to prevent a visitor from encountering the hazard until repairs are complete.
Lack of awareness of the hazard might not be a legal defense in a slip and fall case. The owner must make regular inspections to ensure that the premises remain safe and could be held liable if they should have known of a hazard—whether they actually knew about it or not.
A determined Jackson slip and fall attorney could investigate the circumstances of a fall to determine whether the property owner took reasonable steps to ensure visitors’ safety. If not, the owner could be liable for any injuries the visitor suffered.
Slips and falls can cause injuries that require medical care and force the injured person to miss time at work. The symptoms associated with fall injuries sometimes linger and cause discomfort and inconvenience for a significant period. A negligent property owner could be liable for every impact an injury has on the claimant.
Falls often cause painful sprains and strains of the wrist and ankle. Fractures may also result from a fall, especially fractures of the shoulder, clavicle, arm, wrist, ankle, and the bones in the hands. Many people suffer whiplash after a fall. Deep bruising of the face and more severe facial trauma is also possible.
Falls can sometimes produce severe injuries, such as skull fractures, traumatic brain injuries, and spinal cord injuries. Even when a fall does not cause permanent physical damage, it could create significant emotional trauma. A diligent slipping and falling injury lawyer in Jackson could hold a negligent property owner liable for the full-extent of an injured person’s losses.
Mississippi Statutes Annotated §11-7-15 establishes the doctrine of pure comparative negligence in the state. It says that if a claimant is negligent, that does not bar them from seeking damages from other negligent parties.
In some states, a person who bears primary responsibility for an accident cannot collect damages from other parties, but that is not true here. Even a person who is 90 percent responsible for an accident that caused their injuries could collect ten percent of their damages from another negligent party.
Sometimes insurance companies will try to intimidate an injured person into accepting an inadequate settlement by asserting the claimant was at fault for the fall. Even when the claimant has partial responsibility, they are still entitled to financial recovery. An experienced slip and fall lawyer in Jackson could ensure that any settlement adequately reflects the severity of the claimant’s injuries and the property owner’s degree of responsibility.
If you were hurt in a fall on someone else’s property, you could seek compensation for your injuries. There is no reason you should have to absorb the cost of a property owner’s negligence.
A Jackson slip and fall lawyer could assist you in holding the property owner liable for their failure to maintain safe premises. Reach out today to schedule a case review with one of the dedicated attorneys at the Reaves Law Firm, PLLC.
