Slipping and falling when you are walking on public sidewalks can easily make you think there is nothing to do. In reality, there might be someone liable. It is always a good idea to contact a sidewalk accident lawyer who can investigate the case and figure out if someone is liable or not. The trick is to find and prove negligence or liability cannot exist.
Slip And Fall Negligence
Winning slip and fall injury cases is only possible when you prove the negligence of a property owner. Slipping and falling when you are on the property owned by someone else does not necessarily mean you were injured. Negligence needs to exist. The condition of the sidewalk will not always mean the municipality or the property owner was negligent.
What you have to do is show that the sidewalk was in an unsafe condition. After that, you have to prove that the manager of the property or the owner should have been aware or was aware of the unsafe nature of the sidewalk.
Liability In Sidewalk Slip And Fall Cases
If the public sidewalk is in a defective condition, the liability is determined by the deed of the homeowner and the state laws, together with many other things. There are US states where the municipality is considered to be fully liable for public sidewalk upkeep. In other US states, the property owner, the municipality, or both can be considered liable.
The Liability Of The Municipality – Special Rules
When you are injured on public sidewalks, it is important to be aware of the limitations that are in place when it comes to suing the municipality. There is always some sort of deadline you have to respect when you want to file injury claims against municipalities. Also, you are limited in terms of how much you could be awarded.
Proving Liability
In a similar way to how slip and fall injury claims are treated, it is a very good idea to take some photographs. You have to photograph the accident scene, the injuries you have, and your clothes. Do so whenever you can. It is actually very important to document the scene and you should try to do it as soon as possible.
The municipality might actually fix the broken sidewalk much faster than you might think. Sometimes, this happens the next day. Also, if ice influenced the fall, it can disappear in just minutes as ice melts. Pictures are worth so much more than you might expect and they can so easily help you to get the compensation you need to cover all your damages.
When you hire an attorney, they might also gather some extra evidence you might not be aware of how to get. For instance, if the sidewalk was broken and several complaints were made about the unsafe nature of the area to the municipality, these will help you build a stronger case. Many complaints and the city not fixing the condition for a month can be enough to prove negligence and liability.