Blogs By K Ryan

wet floor marker sits in high-traffic establishement

Statute of Limitations on Slip and Fall Cases

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What is a slip and fall accident? These accidents happen when you trip or fall over on another person’s or entity’s property due to unsafe conditions. If you’ve slipped, tripped, or fallen over unsafe or dilapidated conditions at a Florida property, you may be entitled to compensation through a slip and fall lawsuit.

How long after a slip and fall can you sue?

In Florida, you have up to four years to file a slip and fall lawsuit. However, you should contact an experienced slip and fall lawyer as soon as possible. You can contact us today.

Why should I contact a slip and fall lawyer today?

Evidence May Degrade With Time

Though it may sometimes feel necessary to delay the filing of a lawsuit to focus on other issues (i.e. healing from your actual slip and fall injuries), delaying your case may undermine it. The sooner you have an experienced slip and fall lawyer on your side, the sooner they can begin gathering expert and witness testimony, video evidence, and medical records that could make or break your case.

Medical Bills Need Attention Now

The possible compensation awarded during a lawsuit can be used to pay for medical bills that may pile up or gather interest if you aren’t able to pay them out-of-pocket or get your insurance provider to cover them completely. Depending on your injury, you may have ongoing costs, such as physical therapy and surgery.

Some injuries may also mean that you can’t work while you heal or can’t work at all anymore. A slip and fall lawyer will be able to help you recover lost wages and get the best compensation award possible.

In addition to the economic and concrete costs such as medical bills and lost wages, you also may be able to get compensation for not-easily-calculable non-economic costs, such as pain and suffering or mental anguish.

An experienced slip and fall lawyer will be able to build the strongest case possible for compensation so you can get the help you need and deserve.

Unsafe Conditions Need To Be Fixed

The unsafe conditions that led to your slip and fall accident may still be endangering other people. Legal action may cause those issues to be rectified or fixed sooner rather than later, which could save other people from suffering your same fate.

Those Responsible Need to Be Held Accountable

When you enter a Florida business, you are entitled to a reasonable expectation of safety. You should not have to jump over broken sidewalks, duck under crumbling doorways, or navigate around blocked walkways.

While you may think that the unsafe conditions that led to your slip and fall accident were themselves accidental, that’s up to the courts to decide. Florida law says several factors open a property owner to being held liable for accidents on their premises.

According to Florida law, the dangerous or unsafe conditions must have existed for such a length of time that the property owner should have reasonably known about the issue, that the condition was a regular occurrence and therefore foreseeable, or that the property owner did not act with the duty of care owed to visitors.

Have you suffered a slip and fall accident?

If you’ve been injured in a slip and fall accident, you deserve compensation for the pain and anguish you’ve suffered due to a property owner’s negligence. Let us help you.

Contact Lytal, Reiter, Smith, Ivey & Fronrath today for a free slip and fall case consultation.

4 Ways Businesses Should Prioritize Your Safety

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When you enter a Florida business, you can usually assume that you are reasonably safe from harm or injury. However, dangers still lurk in the most mundane spaces. Slips, trips, and falls are the most common causes of injuries at businesses.

Here are four ways Florida business should ensure your slips trips and falls safety.

Business Should Ensure Walkways Are Clear of Debris

You shouldn’t have to avoid puddles or broken sidewalks to navigate Florida businesses. In addition to the business itself, entry points to and from the business, including parking structures, also should be accessible and free of debris.

If you slip and trip on a “transitory foreign substance” at Florida business, state law says that you must prove the business should have known about the issue and taken action to fix it. A transitory foreign substance is any object, solid or liquid, that is in a place it shouldn’t be. This could range from construction debris to liquid leaking out of a fridge.

Though slips, trips, and falls may not sound especially dangerous, they can cause traumatic brain injuries, broken bones, and other serious injuries.

Business Should Have Adequate Lighting and Security

Low lighting makes it difficult to navigate businesses that may have uneven terrain, including steps or loose carpeting. A lack of adequate lighting doesn’t help to protect your slips, trips, and falls safety and may also create opportunities for visitors to become victims of criminal behavior.

Certain businesses in Florida also are subject to security requirements such as silent alarms or security cameras.

Staircases Should Have Handrails

Businesses should outfit staircases with hand or guardrails. Any other structures, such as escalators, that create a danger of falling also should offer visitors a way to steady themselves as they traverse potentially uneven ground.

Elevators Should Be Regularly Maintained

Poorly-maintained elevators expose visitors to the risk of severe injury or death. Businesses should ensure their elevators are working and in good condition out of a reasonable duty of care for visitor safety.

If an elevator is out of service, Florida businesses should provide signs alerting you to the issue and directing you to a staircase or another elevator.

What if a business endangers your slip, trip, and fall safety?

Business and property owners are required to take action and warn you of potential dangers and then correct those dangers if possible.

You’ve probably seen signs warning about wet floors at your local Publix, which shows the business owners and workers took care to alert you to the potential danger and ensured your slips, trips, and falls, safety. Businesses also may offer alternative routes for pathways that feature substandard conditions.

Businesses also must stay up to date on requirements for a variety of business and building standards, including construction, electrical, and plumbing. If there are hanging wires or other obvious structure issues, the business may not be up to state building codes, which would open it up to further liability.

If a business’s negligence led you to slip, trip, or fall, you may be able to sue for compensation to cover medical bills and other costs.

Have you suffered an injury at a Florida business?

Florida businesses are subject to premises liability, which means they can be held responsible for any injuries you suffer while visiting their establishment. Premises liability law says that business and property owners owe you a “common-law duty of care,” which means they must take reasonable measures to ensure your safety.

Premises liability laws are complex, require specific evidence, and have few exceptions. A Florida premises liability attorney will know your options and how best to handle your case.

Contact Lytal, Reiter, Smith, Ivey & Fronrath today for a free case evaluation.

 

Pain and Suffering and Your Personal Injury Case

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Pain and suffering is the central theme in personal injury law.  In fact, the overall costs associated with all types of pain and suffering that result from an accident with injuries is the primary reason people seek compensation. In one sense, it is a broad term that describe the residual mental and emotional damages beyond the pain and suffering of physical injuries. And, although these terms are banded together in a legal context, putting a value on physical damages encompasses different criteria for calculating the non-physical component of psychological pain and suffering. Read more