North Carolina Slip and Fall Lawyer
If you or a loved one have endured an injury as the result of dangerous conditions on someone else’s property, reach out to a North Carolina slip and fall lawyer to discuss compensation.
Please fill out our form, or call us at 919-899-7200 and tell us what happened.
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Experienced Representation from a North Carolina Slip and Fall Lawyer
When you’ve suffered or someone you know has suffered an injury from slipping and falling on someone’s property due to unsafe conditions, it isn’t always a black-and-white determination of how or what exactly happened nor who was at fault. Accidents happen quickly and sometimes it’s unclear what caused the unfortunate event and how it occurred. Sometimes it is your own fault when you aren’t being careful, but it can also be due to someone else’s negligence. You will need an attorney to prove the liability, especially if there is a gray area. You need an attorney like Harry H. Albritton, Jr. at Irons and Irons P.A. who has a history of slip and fall liability law cases to represent you.
Slip and Fall Accidents
There is a sensible, reasonable expectation of safety when you are at someone’s home, at a business, or on someone’s property. However, the property owner may not properly meet the reasonable standard of safety and care for visitors to his/her premises. If not, the property owner can be liable for damages that occur from a slip and fall. This is true for all properties regardless of whether it is residential, municipal, or commercial.
A slip-and-fall accident lies under the broader category of “premises liability.” A slip and fall can be caused by many different dangerous situations like torn carpeting, slick floors, poor lighting, narrow or steep stairs, or uneven pavement surfaces. Additionally, this type of accident can happen outside because of rain, ice, snow, or a hidden hazard such as a pothole. In order to collect compensation, the victim (plaintiff) must sustain some sort of injury.
Premises Liability Law and Duty of Care
Under North Carolina premises liability law, the property owner or occupier has the responsibility for maintaining the premises in a way to ensure it’s free of conditions that could potentially result in harm or injury to visitors. This is called “duty of care.” If it can be proven that the owner or occupant of the property didn’t exercise preventive measures to take care of a dangerous situation that caused someone to fall, then the plaintiff is awarded compensation.
A failure to inspect the premises does not count as a defense to liability. The occupier or owner can be held liable for any hazard they knew about or should have reasonably known about had they inspected the premises on a regular basis.
Common Places Where Slip and Fall Accidents Occur
Though a slip and fall injury can happen anywhere, the most common places for these accidents include:
- Grocery and retail stores
- Restaurants
- Public restrooms
- Entryways and stairwells of office buildings
- Public areas of multi-family dwellings like apartments
- Construction sites
- Sidewalks, walkways, and driveways of private residences
Injuries resulting from slips and falls can include broken bones, sprains, spinal cord injuries, or traumatic brain injuries that lead to high medical bills, lost wages, and ongoing physical disabilities.
Reasons You Need a Lawyer after a Slip and Fall
Don’t attempt to handle this type of case yourself. Why do you need an attorney to represent you for a slip and fall case? The first reason is to help prove whose liability it is. These type of personal injury cases present the challenge of proving that you were not at fault for the accident but, instead, that the person who owned or occupied the property was negligent.
Our experienced personal injury attorney can look at the evidence and determine who takes the responsibility–you by being careless or the property owner by being negligent. For example, were you careless by walking on a wet floor that was properly indicated as being wet, or did the proprietor fail to take necessary precautions in cautioning against walking on the wet floor? Our attorney has the experience and knowledge to know how to proceed in proving liability.
For example, not only is how you fell important, it is also critical to determine how to hold the defendant legally responsible for your accident. Let’s take a fall on steps.
An experienced personal injury attorney looks for answers to questions such as:
- Did you really miss a step?
- Did you trip over your coat?
- Did you slip on a substance or defect on the step?
- Did you reach for something and lose your balance?
- Were you using your cell phone or distracted?
- Were the risers of each step according to code or did they have varying heights?
The second reason to hire an attorney in this type of case is for his/her evidence gathering. An experienced attorney will travel to the scene of the accident to take pictures and talk to witnesses. Perhaps they will try to find other people who have had similar problems with the property. The lawyers present this evidence to the courts in order to help you win the case.
The third reason is to have an attorney deal with other attorneys. When you hire an attorney for representation, he/she handles all mediations and court proceedings. An attorney will help you file claims, appeals, and settlements. Using their knowledge and experience of other cases, they will know what to do and what to expect.
Request a Free Case Review with our North Carolina Slip and Fall Lawyers
If you’ve been injured from slipping and falling on someone else’s property, contact Irons and Irons P.A. We can help you navigate the legal specificities of your case. We accept slip and fall personal injury cases in Charlotte, Raleigh, Greenville, Wilmington, Asheville, Winston-Salem, and the entire state of North Carolina. Call 919-899-7200 or fill out our easy-to-use free case review form to set up a consultation about your case.
