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You have the right to file a slip-and-fall injury claim if the situation and evidence can support a claim.
The injury itself is not grounds for a case; you have to establish fault by demonstrating that the responsible party was negligent. Negligence means the responsible party failed to meet their required level of care, and that said negligence specifically caused your slip and fall and the subsequent injury.
The first step in proving that an individual/company was negligent is to establish that the individual/company had a duty of care for the situation, which resulted in your injury. Essentially this means you have to prove that they should have done something and they didn’t.
For example, a business owner is legally obligated to ensure their premises are free from hazards and to remove any hazards as soon as they become aware of them.
Negligence would constitute a breach of this legal obligation.
Once you establish that the individual or company had a duty of care, you have to demonstrate precisely how they failed to meet that duty of care.
Finally, you must demonstrate that you suffered a genuine injury as a result of your slip and fall, the direct result of this failure to act–or negligence.
You can sue an organization, business, hospital, employer, or public entity individually or as a group if more than one party was responsible for your slip and fall injury. Sometimes accidents take place because of circumstances that are beyond anyone’s control. If a business fulfilled their duty of care, but the accident still took place, you cannot file suit against them.
A Brownsville premises liability attorney is the only one who can evaluate the details of your slip and fall accident to determine if there are grounds for a claim. A lawyer can advise you on whether or not you should pursue legal action.
is the median award in premises liability cases according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Our Texas injury lawyers have the experience, knowledge, and skills that are necessary to ensure your rights remain protected throughout the entire personal injury claims process.
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In the state of Texas, a fault system exists, which means all parties involved can be at fault to some degree. You have to prove the other party was at least 50% liable.
For example, let’s say there was a leaking ice machine in your facility, and you were aware that it was leaking. Let’s also assume that you mentioned to your manager that it was leaking, and the company still failed to clean up the leak. These facts might seem like a cut-and-dry case. However, your awareness of the leak could mean you are found partially at fault, perhaps five percent for example because you knew where the slippery surface was and still walked through it.
Each party’s relative fault is used as a means of comparative negligence. Your percentage of negligence is compared to that of the other company or individual. Let’s assume you were completely unaware of the leak in the example above. If your slip and fall caused you to sustain an injury, entirely because the company failed to clean up the spill and fix the broken machine, you might still be at fault to some degree if you sustained an injury and failed to visit a doctor, therefore allowing the injury to worsen for months on end before filing a claim. Similarly, if you seek medical attention and fail to adhere to the treatment or advice given to you by a doctor, it could also reduce the total amount of damages you receive.
In the state of Texas, you have two years to file a claim for a slip and fall accident lawsuit. This is referred to as the statute of limitations and, once it expires, you cannot get any compensation for your injuries.
When you initiate this process, you file your claim in court and the company or individual named, the one deemed responsible or negligent, has an opportunity to respond. You can settle early on, but if the other party or parties fight your claim, the case moves forward into what is called the Discovery phase where all involved parties uncover evidence, interview witnesses, etc. After this, the case can be decided upon by a judge, or it can move forward to trial.
The majority of slip and fall accidents will be settled before a trial. Only one in twenty ever go to court. Most people settle for a favorable sum rather than continuing to litigation because this mitigates their total financial risk.