Company & Specialty Insurance Forum

Accidents occur anywhere and slipping and falling is a very common accident. Although it is common the damages it can cause can sometimes be really big and expensive to repair, treat or replace. You may sustain cuts, bruises or smaller damages. Again, you may also sustain fractures, broken bones, brain injuries, spinal cord injuries or other serious damages for which you may need expensive medical treatments

If you slip and fall on someone else's property and hurt yourself for no fault of yours but for the negligence of the owner of the property then the property owner will be liable for your injuries. Many of you may have slip and fall injuries on someone else's property but only sometimes the property owner is responsible and sometimes you are responsible for your own injuries.

A property owner, however, will not be responsible or liable for your injuries that can be caused by something common. If you slip on a floor and hurt yourself because there was some object on the floor, the property owner may not always be responsible. There are factors that help determine this. Here are a few questions you can ask:

• Was the object there for many days and hadn't been removed? If it was there for a relatively long time that must have been enough for the property owner to notice and get it cleaned/removed.
• Did the property owner have information about the object and yet he chose to ignore it?
• Does the owner have a regular process of cleaning or examining the premises? If yes, then there must be a proof of such maintenance.
• Was there any logical or legitimate reason for the oil to be there on the ground? If yes, then was there any notification or warning sign about the oil being there.
• Was there a safer place where it could have been put?

Although there isn't enough or rather precise ways to determine whose fault it is in accidents like these, it largely depends on how responsible the property owner has been to make sure that no one gets hurt in his premises. Below are few of the factors when you can claim liability:

• The premise owner or an employee must have caused a spill on the floor, a worn or caused a slippery or dangerous surface.
• The premise owner must have chosen to be ignorant about any dangerous signs in his premise that could hurt others.

If you have the answers in your favor then there is a good chance you can claim. You cannot always find adequate proof for this but judges and juries deciding a case need to use their common sense to make a decision.