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Premises Liability - Fall downs
If a person is legally on someone else's property and slips and falls as a result of problems or defects associated with that property, the injured person may sue for damages.
- A person is legally on another’s property if invited for personal or business reasons.
- As a general rule, a person who is injured while illegally on someone else’s property will probably not be successful in bringing a lawsuit for any injuries suffered while on the property.
A person injured on someone else's property must show that the property owner or party responsible for the property:
- Had notice of the condition or situation;
- Was in control of the property where the injury occurred; and
- The injury was caused by a problem or defect associated with the property.
Notice
A person injured on someone else’s property must show that the property owner or party responsible for the property had notice of problems or defects associated with that property. Notice can be proved by showing either:
- Actual notice; or
- Constructive notice.
Actual notice means that the owner of the property was in fact aware of problems or defects associated with that property. For example, a citation by a municipality to a property owner before a slip and fall accident could be used as evidence to show actual notice.
Constructive notice, on the other hand, means that the property owner or party responsible for the property knew or should have known about the problems or defects associated with the property under all the circumstances.
- For example, a supermarket owner could be found to have constructive notice of a slippery aisle in the store where a repair had been requested for a leaking freezer. The owner knew or should have known that the leaking freezer would cause a slippery condition in the store.
Control Over The Property:
In addition to proving Notice, a person injured on someone else’s property must show that the property owner was in fact the party that was in control of the property at the time of injury. The owner may not always be the party that was in control of the property at the time of injury.
- For example, if a person slips and falls on a slippery aisle in a supermarket, the supermarket would be the party in control, not the owner of the shopping center where the supermarket is located.
- However, if a person slips and falls in the supermarket parking lot, the party who actually controls the parking lot would be the party in control and responsible for the injury.
Causation of the Injury
A person must also show that the injury being claimed was in fact caused by a problem or defect associated with the property where the person fell.
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