Elements of negligence

Despite their popularity, slip, trip, and fall lawsuits are hard to win. The injured plaintiff must be able to show that the defendant knew about the dangerous condition, should have known about the dangerous condition, or caused the dangerous condition that led to the plaintiff’s injuries.

Most of the time, attorneys for plaintiffs in slip and fall lawsuits end up arguing how the negligent maintenance of the property led to a situation where no one was considering the danger on the premises. In this case, we can’t know from the article how long the asphalt was turned up or potholed, but potholes tend not to form overnight. Unless someone took a jackhammer to the parking lot in the wee hours of the morning, the pothole had likely been there for quite some time. The plaintiffs will provide testimony from workers at the mall or video surveillance footage to prove that the pothole had been there for quite some time and left in disrepair by the property management company.

Defenses against negligence 

If you can establish that a property owner left a dangerous condition on the premises without marking it off with signage or remedying the dangerous condition, you have essentially met the elements required to prove a slip and fall lawsuit. However, the defendant, in this case the property manager, can claim that you contributed negligence to the injury. While this won’t prevent a lawsuit from moving forward, especially in Florida, successfully establishing a plaintiff’s negligence can reduce their damages award significantly. Plaintiffs who are assigned a percentage of the blame find their awards reduced by that percentage.

In this case, the defendants can allege that the plaintiff was looking at her phone or talking on her phone while she was entering the mall. If she couldn’t see where she was going because she was distracted, that is exactly the type of argument that reduces damages in slip and fall accidents.

Damages in slip and fall accidents

Damages in slip and fall accidents run the gamut. In some cases, the injuries are so severe that they alter the lives of the injured. In other cases, there are no injuries whatsoever. Establishing the extent of your injuries is your personal injury attorney’s job. This particular plaintiff sustained scarring, medical expenses, and more.

Talk to a Miami Personal Injury Attorney 

If you’ve been injured because a proprietor left a dangerous condition on their premises, the Miami personal injury attorneys at the office of Alan Goldfarb, P.A. can help you recover damages related to your medical expenses, lost wages, and reduced quality of life.

Resource:

bocanewsnow.com/2021/05/08/claim-woman-critically-injured-in-boca-raton-town-center-mall-lot/

https://www.goldfarbpa.com/school-hit-with-chicken-nugget-lawsuit/

In response to the allegations, the defense said that Caamano was texting on his phone when the slip and fall happened. In other words, his attention was distracted from what he was doing and that led to the slip and fall accident.

Understanding the Jury Verdict 

The jury awarded Caamano $319,120 in total damages, but also ruled that Caamano was 25% responsible for the accident because his attention was divided between walking and looking at his phone.

This is a very common defense to a slip and fall accident claim. The defense may not be able to absolve themselves of liability completely. After all, they allowed a dangerous condition to persist even as it represented a threat to potential customers. Caamano walks into the puddle, slips, and injures himself.

The jury ruled that the supermarket was 75% responsible for the accident because they allowed the dangerous condition to continue without cleaning it, placing up signs, or other hazard warnings that could have prevented injury. Caamano was held 25% liable because he was looking at his phone while he was walking around the supermarket.

Caamano’s jury award was therefore reduced by 25% of $319,120. He was awarded a total of $240,000.

How Slip and Fall Accidents are Litigated

Slip and fall accidents can have major jury awards. In fact, insurance journals have been lamenting the size of jury awards in slip and fall accident cases for the past several years. The size of these awards can often go north of $1 million, but the plaintiffs are generally not lucky to have that money since the size of their award is directly related to the extent of their injuries.

In this case, Caamano says he suffers from ongoing pain that his doctors have told them will get worse with age. That’s an injury that will affect him for the rest of his life, may restrict what kind of work he’s able to perform, and may limit what kind of sports and leisure activities that he engages in. In other words, this injury has reduced his overall quality of life for the rest of his life.

He may also require future surgeries to repair the damage to the discs in his neck. So, while a $240,000 jury award may seem high, the trade-off is more than most people would be willing to pay.

Talk to a Miami Personal Injury Attorney Today 

If you were injured in a slip and fall accident in a public place, call the Miami personal injury attorneys at the office of Alan Goldfarb, P.A. today to schedule a free consultation and learn more about how we can help.

Resource:

law.com/dailybusinessreview/2020/06/18/store-customer-fell-in-puddle-claimed-shoulder-and-spinal-injuries/

https://www.goldfarbpa.com/court-rejects-lawsuit-against-florida-power-and-light-by-nursing-home/

This may sound irrelevant, but actually, it has a profound impact on the case.

Diversity Jurisdiction

Diversity jurisdiction gives a federal court the power to hear a case when the amount of money in question exceeds $75,000 and the plaintiffs in question reside in different states. The plaintiff in question resides in Fort Lauderdale where the Walmart is located. By naming an on-duty manager as a co-defendant in this case, the plaintiff has effectively prevented the lawsuit from being heard in federal as opposed to state court.

Walmart attempted to argue that because of the amount of damages the plaintiff was seeking and because of the diversity of citizenships, that the case should be removed to a federal court. In some instances, it could be of benefit for the defense or the plaintiffs to have their cases heard by one or the other court. In this case, Walmart liked its chances with the federal courts while the plaintiffs clearly favored their chances with Florida’s state courts.

What ensued was the addition of the store’s manager to the lawsuit in an attempt to block the case from being removed to a federal court. Walmart was vehement in its arguments that the addition of the manager to the case served no other person than to eliminate the possibility of diversity jurisdiction. They further claimed that managers cannot be held liable in corporate tort claims, so there was no sense in an adding a floor manager to the case other than to block diversity jurisdiction.

While there’s no indication that they were wrong, the court still denied their Walmart’s motion. It will be tried in a Florida court.

What to Do if You Slip and Fall

In order to prove a slip and fall case against a proprietor, you must show that they were negligent. Generally speaking, negligence can be assumed when a spill or a banana peel is left in a high traffic area. However, there are plenty of instances in which a proprietor may not be liable, even when a patron is injured by fall in their store.

The hardest element to prove in a slip and fall case is that the manager knew or should have known about the potential hazard. In the second instance, there may be areas which are prone to spills or even having banana peels thrust about the floor. Here, a personal injury lawyer will make the case that Walmart employees should have been aware of the problem and removed the hazard before it became an injury risk.

The Miami attorneys at the office of Alan Goldfarb, P.A. have litigated several slip and fall accidents. If you have been injured due to carelessness and negligence of a proprietor, you deserve to be compensated. Give us a call at (305) 371-3111 or contact us online, and we can begin preparing your case immediately.

Resources:

flarecord.com/stories/511422425-court-won-t-drop-walmart-manager-from-slip-and-fall-lawsuit

law.cornell.edu/wex/diversity_jurisdiction

Florida is one state in which comparative negligence is the standard in personal injury suits. For instance, an individual can be held partially responsible for their own injury, and still collect damages from another party.

One instance in which this is very common is slip and fall accidents.

Proving Negligence in Slip and Fall Accidents

When considering the question of negligence from the perspective of the liable party (ie: the owner of the property) a plaintiff must establish that the property owner had both a duty to the public to provide a safe place to walk, and breached that duty by either causing the problem themselves, or failing to resolve a problem.

In order for a property owner in a slip and fall accident to be negligent under Florida law, they must first be made aware that there is a problem. A property owner cannot be held liable for a foreign substance that caused a slip and fall if they did not first know about the problem beforehand. There is, however, one caveat.

There are two bases on which knowledge can be inferred. The first is actual knowledge, which is fairly self-explanatory. The second is constructive knowledge. Constructive knowledge means that the property owner should have known that a slip and fall was likely based on, for example, the fact that a certain area is prone to having stuff spilled there.

In other words, the property owner should have inferred based on common sense and precedent, that a certain area was a danger to their customers, and made some reasonable accommodation to see that the area was maintained for safety. If they don’t, it can be argued the incident was a breach of duty.

What Should You Do if You Slip and Fall?

Firstly, the burden of proof is on the plaintiff to prove that the slip and fall was the result of the defendant’s negligence. It may not seem like a vital use of your energy while you’re nursing an injury, but it’s important to your case that you take photographs of the area to show that there was a breach or lapse of care that resulted in your accident.

If there is uncleaned spillage or a freshly waxed floor, you want to try to show that it was the primary cause of the slip and fall. If this cannot be established in court, the defendant can try to claim that there was some other unforeseeable factor that resulted in your injury and that they shouldn’t be held liable because they didn’t know about it.

Has a Property Owner’s Negligence Resulted in Injury to You?

If so, call the office of Alan Goldfarb, P.A. in Miami at 305.371.3111. We’ll make sure you’re compensated for your injuries.

Resource:

eg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0768/Sections/0768.0755.html

Who’s To Blame?

The theory of premises liability, in general, makes a property owner liable for injuries sustained by people who are legally on their property.  We often read about instances in which people are hurt in slip and fall accidents in stores or in a business’s parking lot and, particularly in our area, with its thriving hotel and tourism industry, we see the occasional story of an injury or accident at a hotel pool. In these cases, with narrow exceptions, most often the property owner will bear at least some portion of the liability for the incident, if not all. In the case of the donkey statue, according to reports the restaurant business encouraged the practice of climbing on the statue to take pictures; it is not difficult to understand how this practice could result in someone falling from the statue and sustaining significant injuries. One of the requirements for a property owner to be held liable for injuries and losses suffered on their property is that they were aware of a potentially hazardous situation and did not remedy the situation or properly warn of the danger.

It’s Your Own Fault

One specific exclusion with respect to premises liability law in Florida is if injury is sustained by someone who is on the property for illegal purposes. According to Florida Code Section 768.0705, there is a presumption against liability for injuries that are sustained in connection with a criminal act upon a business’s premises, so long as it was a third party who committed the act and sustained the injury, as opposed to an employee or agent of the business. A property owner’s duty to protect this category of people from harm suffered upon his their premises is at the very least significantly less than the duty owed to those who are on the property for legal purposes.

Alan Goldfarb, P.A. – Your Premises Liability Attorneys

If you have been injured on someone else’s property, whether you fell off a donkey statue while taking advantage of a good photo opportunity or you suffered a slip and fall accident at a local business due to a freshly mopped and slippery floor, we can help. The Miami premises liability attorneys at the office of Alan Goldfarb, P.A. will review your case with you to determine whether the property owner should be held liable for your injuries and, if that is the case, we will aggressively pursue the compensation you are entitled to for your injuries. Do not delay; contact us now to set up your appointment today and get started towards the recovery you deserve.

Resources:

leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0768/Sections/0768.0705.html

local10.com/news/weird-news/florida-woman-sues-mexican-restaurant-after-falling-off-donkey-statue

A cargo ship located at Port Everglades was the site of a slip and fall accident recently when a woman fell on the top deck and had to be retrieved by ladder. According to reports, the woman was taken to the hospital with unknown injuries as a result of the accident and, while details about exactly what happened are sparse, the Miami area is no stranger to the dangers associated with slip and fall incidents on ships of all types.

Slippery Deck Hazards

With its vibrant shipping and cruising industries, shipboard activities can easily and quickly lead to injuries of all types and severity. What starts out as a romantic or fun-filled moonlight stroll on the deck can quickly become an emergency medical situation. Cruise ship decks are notoriously slippery surfaces and narrow or steep stairwells can present hazardous conditions for even the most seasoned cruise ship travelers. A simple slip and fall can result in serious injuries to the legs, arms, neck or back including bruises, cuts, sprains, or even fractures. When these accidents occur, who bears the blame?

Premises Liability

In Florida, the concept of premises liability is most often a part of any slip and fall case, whether on land or at sea. Under Florida Code Section 768.0755, a business is liable for any injuries suffered by people on the business premises if the business had knowledge – whether constructive or actual – of the dangerous condition that led to the accident and injury and should have done something about the condition. So in the case of a cruise ship slip and fall, the cruise line should know that there is always a chance that a deck will be slippery and it should take action to ensure that the conditions are addressed; if not, they can be held liable for the injuries caused as a result of the hazardous condition.

Constructive Versus Actual Knowledge

So what does it mean to have knowledge of a dangerous situation, in a premises liability context? And what is the difference between constructive and actual knowledge? Actual knowledge is exactly that – the business owner actually knows of the situation. Constructive knowledge, on the other hand, is a more elusive concept; basically, a business owner is said to have constructive knowledge of a dangerous condition if the evidence shows that either the condition existed for long enough that the business should have known of the condition or the condition was foreseeable because it happened regularly. In those scenarios, even if the business was not aware that the condition was actually present, they should have known it could have been.

Contact Us Today for Professional Representation

If you have been injured as a result of a slip and fall accident, you may be able to receive compensation for your injuries. It is important to speak with an attorney experienced in these types of matters who will be able to fully assess your case and determine the best way to proceed with holding the correct parties accountable for their actions – or inactions – that led to your injuries. The Miami attorneys at the office of Alan Goldfarb, P.A. are here to help. With our background of handling all types of personal injury matters, including slip and fall accidents such as yours, we have the experience you can trust. Contact us today and let us get started working towards getting you the compensation you are entitled to receive.

Resource:

wsvn.com/news/local/woman-hurt-after-falling-on-cargo-ship-at-port-everglades/

• Actual damages – the to-the-penny losses a plaintiff has actually suffered.
• Future damages – the damages that will continue to accrue because of what happened. These kinds of damages are common in personal injury cases because the consequences of a personal injury can be long lasting and extend well into the future.
• Pain and suffering – just like it sounds, these damages try to compensate the victim for how the accident or injury has made them feel, and the non-economic impact it has had on their life.

There are other types of damages as well, but this article will explain a very important class of damages: punitive damages.

Punitive Damages

Punitive damages are designed as a punishment. And that is what punitive damages tries to do – punish the wrongdoer in a case for how he or she acted. Beyond seeking to punish a wrongdoer, the application of punitive damages in a case seeks to prevent future misconduct by sending a warning to other people and companies that if they act similarly, they could face steep and heavy financial consequences. One example of this was a case involving the tobacco industry. In a 2000 Florida personal injury case against the tobacco industry, several Florida plaintiffs successfully received a punitive damages verdict for $145 billion. The jury in that case felt that the industry had acted so badly, that they deserved to punished for over a hundred billion dollars. The Florida Supreme Court threw out the verdict, but the number and lesson remain the same.

Elements to Florida Punitive Damages

As we discussed above, punitive damages are not necessarily attached to every case brought before a jury. In a simple car accident case, for example, a negligent driver who simply made a mistake of braking too late will not likely face punitive damages for his conduct. For a plaintiff to successfully win a punitive damages case he or she must show that the defendant acted with one of two things: intentional misconduct or gross negligence.

Intentional misconduct is fairly self explanatory when it comes to punitive damages. To establish it, a victim must show that in addition to causing the victim harm due to their misconduct, the defendant knew that their actions were wrong, and knew the actions would cause harm. Often times we see this kind of case in corporate cover-up schemes where the company knew that their product was bad for the public, but in order to make money they sold it anyways and it hurt people as a result.

Gross negligence is another way that a plaintiff can establish punitive damages. In a gross negligence case, the plaintiff has to show that the defendant’s actions were so wanton and reckless that it is equivalent to know that the actions were wrong and that it would cause harm to the defendant. These types of cases are common where it is difficult to provide a smoking gun, but where the acts speak for themselves and should be punished.

Reach Out to an Attorney in Miami

Everyday in the Miami area people are hurt because of the mindless acts of others. Whether it is distracted driving, simple negligence, or a corporate cover-up, the attorneys at Alan Goldfarb P.A. are ready to fight for the victims of those incidents. We have a practice dedicated to recovering damages suffered by victims in Miami-area personal injury cases.

Licensees and invitees

The Florida Bar Journal offers a comprehensive overview of the types of considerations present in premises liability actions. The predominant considerations surrounds the “kind” of property, and the classification of the visitor. If I own a home and I invite you over for dinner, you are seen as a “licensee” under the eyes of the law. In short, this means I have a legal obligation to tell you of any known hazards on my property. If the bathroom sink dispenses scalding hot water, or there are two steps missing on the back porch, I can be held liable for injuries caused by these hazards if I fail to tell you about them. Consequently, if I did not invite you over and you are trespassing on my land and fall into a hole, my legal responsibilities to you are very different.

A higher standard exists in places like restaurants, stores, and other places open to the public. Not only does a landowner or manager have an obligation to warn visitors of adverse conditions, but they have a continuing duty to inspect the premises for possible dangers. Where social visitors at a person’s home are called licensees, people coming to a store or public area are called “invitees.” People owe invitees a higher standard of care than they do to licensees.

For example, it is not enough for a grocery store employee to clean up a spill; they have to 1) post something to notify customers the floor is now wet and may be a hazard and 2) check throughout the day to ensure the premises is free of other spills or hazards that could potentially be harmful to customers. The idea of the increased duty of a store owner stems from the fact they hold themselves out to be a place for the public to frequent. The public is essentially always invited to come to their premises, and the owner then has a responsibility to those people who take advantage of the invitation.

What Do These Classifications Mean For Me?

If you or someone you know has been injured or killed on the property of another, the liability of the property owner, tenant, or manager may depend on whether there was a licensee or invitee relationship between the parties. Regardless, both classifications are designed to ensure that visitors have rights when present on another’s property. Our knowledgeable, experienced premises liability attorneys at the Miami offices of Alan Goldfarb P.A. can help you receive the compensation you deserve for your injuries. We are familiar with your rights and the responsibilities landowners owe to you, and will work hard to ensure the best possible outcome for your case. If you have questions about a potential premises liability lawsuit, please contact us today.