Many serious injuries are caused by slipping and falling due to a dangerous condition on someone else’s property. Business and property owners in Virgnia have a legal duty to make sure their premises are safe for customers and clients.
Slip-and-fall accidents are more common than you may believe. According to the National Floor Safety Institute, more than 1 million emergency room visits each year are caused by slip and fall accidents.
You have a right to compensation if you are injured in a slip and fall accident that was caused by a property owner’s negligence.
Did the property owner know about the danger?
Proving negligence requires showing that the property owner failed in their legal duty to ensure their property was safe from dangerous conditions. Successfully proving negligence also requires showing the property owner knew about the dangerous condition and did not respond to it or their response was unreasonable.
For example, if you slip and fall due to a puddle on the floor of a grocery store, but evidence shows that the puddle had just occurred a minute or two ago and no grocery store employee had known about it yet, proving negligence might be difficult.
How contributory negligence could impact your result
Virginia follows a strict contributory negligence rule. This means the defendant must bear 100% of the fault for the accident. To prevail on a negligence claim, you must show that you did not contribute to the accident through your own negligence.
In the above example of the accident in the grocery store, imagine there was a large sign next to the puddle warning about the dangerous condition and advising customers to avoid the area. If you missed the sign and stepped in the puddle anyway, the property owner could argue that your own negligence contributed to the accident.
Negligence is typically determined through assigning a percentage to each side. Even if you were found to be only 1% negligent while the property owner was 99% negligent, this could bar you from recovering compensation altogether.
Therefore, it is crucial to clearly prove the property owner’s negligence to increase your chance of compensation.
