How a Texas Slip-and-Fall Lawyer Can Obtain Justice for Either Accident Victim or Property Owner
Introduction to Premise Liability in the State of Texas
Chances are that you, as an owner of property has gotten a phone call, email or has been told by an employee that someone has fallen and injured him or herself at your home or business on an uneven patch of carpeting or a wet floor.
Or in the alternative, you might have been the unfortunate victim of a fall accident on a slippery surface while shopping for groceries or clothes.
Whether you are the injured party or responsible property owner, understanding the many ways premises liability cases can result, how to prevent them, determining their worth, finding ways to prove or disprove a case—forms the heart and soul of a slip-and-fall lawsuit.
Fall accident lawyers, also known as plaintiffs-side attorneys, zealously prosecute their clients’ cases and defense lawyers representing the owners of property defend with equal fervor.
Admittedly, there are nuances that only premises liability specialists who represent the injured victim or the property owner know of, making it all the more important to hire a highly-skilled and versed slip-and-fall lawyer.
To learn more about the elements that must be proven in the State of Texas in an ordinary slip-and-fall case as well as the common ways for these cases to be disproven and dismissed, it is worth it to spend a few moments by reading further.
What is the Life-Cycle of a Personal Injury Case under Texas Law?
Slip-and-falls injury cases are one of the most common lawsuits arising out of injuries that take place on other persons’ land or establishment. When there is a “special relationship” between the visitor and the owner of the land or establishment, there exists a duty for the owner to keep the land free of hazardous conditions, hidden dangers such as puddles of water, grease and other slippery surfaces.
The basic elements of a personal injury case involving slip-and-fall:
- An owner of property (the government or a private owner) who allows some hazard to exist on the property (such as a slippery puddle of water, uneven carpeting, grease, a wet floor or other substance) long enough for someone (the injured victim) to fall on top of it and suffer anything from minor to very serious injuries, such as traumatic brain injuries.
According to Subchapter A of Title 5 of Texas’ Civil Practice and Remedies Code, a slip-and-fall case exists when:
- There the landowner is the government and breaches its duty of care owed to a private person who injures him or herself,
- based on there being “a premise defect.” The Texas Courts of Appeal, the reviewing courts of the Superior Court, and Texas Supreme Court have given meaning to these terms “defect” and “duty” over time based on public policy concerns and technological advances.
To make out a premises liability claim under Texas law, a person must be able to show that it is more likely than not that the injured victim was either an “invitee” or “licensee” as opposed to being a mere “trespasser.”
According to the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension website, an “invitee” can be understood as one who is usually expected to come onto the owner’s land—typically a mall or grocery store—to buy a product being sold at that establishment and encounters some hazard not obvious enough to avoid in time.
In contrast, a licensee is normally viewed as a guest invited with permission to stay but not necessarily to purchase or benefit the establishment owner, which is usually a homeowner. Licensees are permitted to stay for a period of time and then are expected to leave.
Last, a trespasser meanwhile is not expected or permitted to be on the land owner’s land at all, creating no duty for the landowner to warn against dangers.
Once this hurdle is met to create an injury claim, the injured party must prove by evidence—often using video recordings (if available), testimony of witnesses and other forms of proof—to show that the property was allowed to be in a hazardous condition, and that the owner failed to take steps to make the condition safe or to warn the victim of the slippery or hazardous condition. The next step usually includes having settlement negotiations with the insurance company of the property owner.
Time Limits for Filing an Injury Claim
Often the greatest challenge to successfully bringing a slip-and-fall case is timely bringing suit on the matter, or before the statute of limitations is said to “run.”
According to Texas Civil Practices & Remedies Code Section 16.003, a victim has just two years from the date of the fall accident to file a lawsuit.
Statutes of limitations exist to ensure that evidence remains fresh and in the opinion of the courts and legislature claims have merit. Another reason is not to inconvenience the other party by waiting an unreasonably long time to report the injury when it could have done sooner, especially when evidence proof of injury is stronger, such as unhealed broken bones or traumatic brain injuries.
Defenses
According to the nationally-renown and premier legal resource and directory Nolo.com, commonly fall accident lawsuits can be considered weak and of little value if some of the following is true of the victim:
- The victim was partially, whether in part or in full, to blame for the incident.
- The owner of the property had warned the victim of the hazard and yet the victim ignored such warnings and injured him or herself.
Other defenses in fall accident cases can relate to more procedural issues dealing with a victim’s difficulty in corroborating a story due to poor sensory abilities, inconsistencies in their testimony or other flaws dealing with the injured victim’s past, including:
- The victim had previously filed slip-and-fall cases against other establishments before.
- The injured victim was not around other witnesses who could substantiate the victim’s version of the facts.
- The injured victim’s memory of the exact circumstances of their fall lacks precision as to how the supposed hazard is responsible for the victim’s injuries.
- The injured victim had previous health conditions that are claimed to have been caused by the fall. (i.e. a broken bone caused by a previous accident)
Based on whether the dangerous condition is on private property or government property, a fall accident victim may be limited to first reporting the incident to the proper government authority rather than directly filing suit on the injury claim in a civil court.
Legal Options: How Much Can an Injured Victim Expect to Recover for a Slip-and-Fall Case?
Based on the skill and experience of the personal injury lawyer handling a victim’s case, a client can recover greater amounts if the lawyer stays up-to-date with the changes in the laws governing slip-and-fall lawsuits, including the limits on damages, the changes in the factors determining grounds for recovery and other procedural hurdles allowing cases to be heard by a jury of the client’s peers, often guaranteeing multi-million dollar verdicts for particularly malicious and egregious cases involving serious injury.
According to the Carabin Shaw law firm, determining the valuation of a fall accident settlement and one’s legal options, can be based on some, all or any of the following factors:
- Future and current lost wages by the victim (Or how long a person had to miss work after being injured)
- Pain and suffering of the victim (or the severity of the injury and whether it is permanent or temporary)
- The victim’s medical bills (or factoring in the number of doctors seen and the extent of surgery required)
- His or her future medical costs (or whether the victim requires continuing treatment, whether medical or psychological)
- Property damage, if any (or if the victim lost property as a result from the slip-and-fall in addition to physical damages
What is the Importance of Hiring a Skilled Slip-and-Fall Lawyer?
Commonly slip-and-fall injuries take place in grocery stores while patrons are busying themselves with their shopping lists and not able to pay attention to hazards created by the neglect of the staff of the store. Many top-rated law firms specialize in these cases, including the Law Offices of Daniel D. Horowitz, III, the national personal injury firm McDonald Worley, P.C., among others in the Houston area and surrounding areas, many offering a free consultation.
For such firms, a specialist will ask you, the client, questions to maximize the value of your case or minimize liability—whether you are a victim or the property owner defending against the claim. In any case, you should be prepared to create a narrative of facts detailing everything that you remembered before, during and after the accident, including keeping meticulous records of medical expenses made to recover. As a property owner, it is also imperative to share any insurance company policy maintained and provide all known information that could be helpful for the lawyer to assess and test the strength and validity of the victim’s claim.
Forming an Attorney-Client Relationship: Call a Slip-and-Falls Personal Injury Lawyer Today to Discuss Your Case and Odds of a Obtaining a Favorable Settlement!
Whether you are a victim or property owner, having the right slip-and-fall attorney on your side can ensure the best outcome in settling with the insurance company to recover for medical expenses. The attorney-client relationship forms upon consultation when you consider hiring the attorney. Failing to be adequately prepared can result in not being compensated for a serious injury with clear liability, such as if the attorney is not particularly qualified in the particular case brought. Likewise, this can result in excessive payouts for non-meritorious personal injury claims and in turn can cause a business to be in dire straits. In any case, use Lawsuit.org to pinpoint the right slip-and-falls personal injury attorney offering a free consultation to obtain the just result you deserve.