5 Alabama Slip and Fall Settlements You Need to Know

If you slip and fall on someone else’s property, you may be able to hold them responsible by filing a premises liability claim. This type of legal claim can help pay for medical expenses, lost wages, and other losses, as well as compensate you for your pain and suffering.

However, slip and fall cases are complex. Here are five rules that you should know about these types of cases.

#1 How Much Time Do I Have to File a Slip and Fall Lawsuit in Alabama?

One of the most important rules for accident victims to know about slip and fall cases is the deadline they have to file a lawsuit. Under Alabama Code § 6-2-38, claimants generally have two years to file a personal injury lawsuit from the date they were injured.

Before filing a lawsuit, claimants will generally attempt to resolve their legal claim through a personal injury settlement with the insurance company, such as the property owner’s homeowner’s or general liability insurance provider. Two years is not a lot of time to execute everything involved in the settlement process, such as:

Filing an insurance claim
Investigating the case
Receiving medical care
Gathering and preserving evidence
Handling communications with the insurance company and preparing claim paperwork
Preparing a demand letter
Negotiating for a fair settlement
Signing a settlement agreement

For this reason, it is essential to work with experienced lawyers who can ensure that your case is progressing.

There are certain situations where you may have more time to file a personal injury case, such as if the victim is incapacitated by age or disability. However, there are also times when you have less time to file your case, such as if the case is against a municipality in which you might only have six months to file a claim. An accident lawyer from our law firm can review your case and explain the deadline that applies.

#2 What Is Premises Liability?

Premises liability is the area of law that deals with the responsibilities property owners and occupiers have to protect visitors from potential hazards on the property. When property owners fail to uphold their legal responsibilities to maintain their property, they can be held civilly liable for the resulting harm.

Alabama assigns different responsibilities based on the legal status of the visitor, as follows:

Invitees

Invitees are people who are invited onto the property, usually for the property owner’s financial gain. A store customer is an example of an invitee.

Property owners owe invitees the highest duty of care, which includes using reasonable care and diligence to keep the property in a safe condition or to provide sufficient warning of dangers to them. This duty extends to dangers property owners actually know about or should reasonably know about. Therefore, property owners must inspect their properties for potential hazards that could harm invitees.

Licensees

A licensee is someone who enters the property for their own benefit or purpose. Social guests and meter readers are common examples of invitees. Property owners must warn licensees of dangers they know about. However, they do not have a duty to inspect the property or fix unknown dangers.

Trespassers

A trespasser is someone who does not have the owner’s express or implied permission to be on the property. Property owners owe the lowest duty of care to trespassers and only need to refrain from willfully or wantonly injuring them.

These rules are an essential part of slip and fall cases because they identify the visitor’s rights and the property owner’s responsibilities under the circumstances. Knowledgeable premises liability lawyers can review your situation and explain your legal rights and remedies.

#3 How Does Alabama Law Establish Fault in a Slip and Fall Accident?

Slip and fall cases can arise for many reasons. Negligent maintenance of the property is often the cause of these accidents. You may have a valid premises liability claim if your slip and fall occurred because of dangerous conditions on the property, such as:

Wet floors
Spills
Slippery floors caused by recent polishing or waxing
Uneven flooring
Potholes or cracked pavement
Loose flooring materials
Cluttered walkways
Loose or missing handrails
Cords in walkways
Insufficient lighting

Most slip and fall cases are based on the legal doctrine of negligence. You must establish the four following legal elements to establish the property owner or occupier was negligent:

Duty of care – The duty of care is the legal duty the property owner has to maintain their property. This duty will depend on the visitor’s legal status at the time of the injury.
Breach of duty – The breach of duty is how the defendant failed to uphold their duty of care, such as not putting up a “Wet Floor” sign or promptly cleaning up a spill in a store.
Causation – There must be a causal link between the defendant’s breach of duty of care and the injury. You must be able to show that you would not have slipped and fell if the defendant had upheld their duty of care.
Damages – Finally, you must show that you suffered damages as a result of the slip and fall, such as incurring medical costs or lost wages due to the fall.

As the plaintiff in a personal injury case, you will have the burden of proof to establish by the preponderance of the evidence that your case meets all of the legal elements defined above. You may be able to use evidence such as the following to prove your claim:

Pictures of the hazardous conditions that caused the fall
Video surveillance that captured the slip and fall
Statements from witnesses who observed the accident
Medical records that establish the link between your injuries and the accident
Pay stubs, tax returns, and statements from employers regarding the lost wages you suffered as a result of the slip and fall injury

In some cases, personal injury attorneys hire expert witnesses to help establish the various elements of the case. For example, a medical expert can testify about the injuries you suffered, or an economic expert can testify about how injuries affect the long-term earning capacity of personal injury victims.

If you can establish the four elements identified above, you may be able to recover compensation for economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages compensate you for losses you suffer that have a direct financial effect, such as:

Medical expenses
Anticipated future medical expenses
Lost wages
Reduced earning capacity
Property that broke in the accident, such as your cell phone

Non-economic damages compensate you for intangible losses you suffer, such as pain and suffering and emotional distress. Experienced personal injury lawyers can pursue compensation for all recoverable damages.

#4 Can I File a Claim in Alabama If I Was Partially to Blame for My Slip and Fall Injury?

In most states, an injury victim can still recover compensation for damages they suffered even if they were partially at fault for it. Their compensation might be reduced by their degree of fault, but they can still file a compensation claim.

However, this is not the case in Alabama. Alabama uses a contributory negligence system, which prohibits accident victims from recovering any financial compensation if they shared any of the fault for the accident. So, if you are found to be even 1% at fault for the slip-and-fall accident, you can be barred from recovering any compensation, even when the property owner is 99% at fault.

Insurance companies in Alabama know about the contributory negligence doctrine and use it to their advantage during settlement negotiations. This strict rule is another reason why it is crucial to work with an experienced attorney.

#5 Can a Trespasser File a Slip and Fall Injury Lawsuit?

In many circumstances, trespassers do not have legal grounds to file a lawsuit against a property owner because the property owner owes a limited duty to them. However, Alabama Code § 6-5-345 sets out a few narrow exceptions when trespassers may have the right to file personal injury claims against property owners, which includes:

The property owner or possessor intentionally injured the trespasser.
The property owner failed to exercise reasonable care to avoid causing injury to a trespasser they knew was on the property of dangers they knew about.
The property owner failed to exercise reasonable diligence to warn a trespasser of dangers they discovered when the trespasser was in a position of peril and the property owner knew the trespasser was present.
The property owner failed to exercise reasonable care to warn a known trespasser of dangers they knew about after they became aware of the danger to the trespasser.

Additionally, child trespassers are treated differently under the law than adult trespassers, based on the legal doctrine of attractive nuisance. Under this doctrine, a property owner can be held legally liable for an injury or death to a child caused by an artificial condition on the property if all of the following statements are true:

The person possessing the property knew the condition existed in a place they knew or had reason to know a child would likely trespass.
The possessor knew or had reason to know the condition would involve an unreasonable risk of serious bodily injury or death to a child.
The injured child did not realize the risk of the dangerous condition because of their youth.
Maintaining the condition and eliminating the danger was slight compared to the risk it posed to the child.
The possessor failed to exercise reasonable care to eliminate the danger or protect the child.

Under this legal doctrine, the parents of children who are injured because of swimming pools, trampolines, construction equipment, sharp objects in junkyards, or other dangerous conditions may have a premises liability claim against the owner or possessor of property. An experienced injury attorney from Siniard Law, LLC can review your case during a free consultation to discuss your legal options. Because we work on a contingency fee, you pay no attorney fees unless we recover compensation on your behalf.

Contact Our Personal Injury Attorneys Today to Find Out if You Have a Viable Slip and Fall Claim

If you were injured while visiting someone else’s property – whether that was a friend’s house, a store, or a government building – you may have the right to compensation for the losses you’ve suffered. The accident attorneys at Siniard Law, LLC have extensive experience securing fair compensation in slip and fall settlements. We can review your case during a free consultation and explain your legal options for pursuing compensation. Contact us to schedule a free case review.