Who is Liable for My Seattle Slip, Trip, and Fall Accident Injuries?

By Hardwick & Pendergast, P.S. on April 17, 2016

Slips, trips, and falls are stock events in slapstick comedies, but in real life, they are no joke. A slip or trip that leads to a fall can cause serious harm. Broken bones, soft tissue injuries, or even brain and spinal cord damage can all result from a slip, trip, or fall.

If you’re injured in a slip, trip, and fall accident, it’s natural to want to know what happened and who was responsible.  The first place to look in a slip, trip, and fall accident is toward the owner of the property on which you were injured.

Property owners in Seattle have a responsibility to keep their premises in a reasonably safe condition – especially if the premises is open to the public, as many businesses are.  In order to be held liable for a slip, trip, or fall accident, the following must be true:

• The owner or an employee caused the spill, broken flooring, worn spot, or other dangerous condition on which you slipped or tripped
• The owner or an employee must have known about the dangerous condition (whether or not they caused it), but did nothing to correct it
• The owner or an employee should have known about the dangerous condition, because a reasonable person in their position would have discovered and corrected it in the time between when it appeared and when you were injured.  (This is known as “constructive knowledge.”)

Not all walkway hazards will support a slip, trip and fall case.  For instance, if there were clear warnings about a hazard that could not immediately be corrected (like caution signs or construction tape marking off an area), you may not be able to recover damages if you slipped and fell despite the warnings. Your Seattle slip and fall injury lawyer can help you determine who is responsible and pursue damages.

Hardwick & Pendergast, P.S. can help you secure a settlement that helps you move on from a slip, trip, and fall injury. Contact us today at (888) 228-3860.