Slip and Fall Injury Claims
A maintainabce issue can cause you to slip and fall before you realize there’s a problem. Whether the defect occurs in a public or private space, it can leave you with serious injuries, disabilities, medical debt, and financial losses. If a Connecticut property owner caused your injury, Baber Law can determine your right to make a liability claim for compensation.
When you contact Baber Law, we can investigate your accident and assess the liability. If a negligent property owner caused or contributed to your accident, we can take steps to recover damages on your behalf. As your legal representative, we handle every aspect of your injury claim while you rest and heal.
How We Determine Fault For Your Slip-and-Fall Injuries
When you fall on someone’s property, liability can involve multiple considerations. We evaluate every relevant issue to determine your right to recover compensation.
Investigating Your Accident
We conduct a comprehensive investigation and analyze all the available evidence. This may include:
- Witness statements
- Premises Inspection
- Photographs
- Owner’s statements
- Prior incidents
- Emergency response reports
- Weather reports
- Medical bills
- Narrative medical reports
- Income loss documentation
Hazards That Cause Falls
A property owner can be liable when a condition on their property causes a fall. This could involve a failure to maintain, detect, correct, repair, or otherwise resolve a potentially unsafe issue:
Common hazards that can lead to injury include:
- A liquid spill on a floor
- Damaged or broken flooring
- Deteriorating or broken steps
- Damaged stair railing or no railing
- Poorly maintained or damaged ramp
- Deteriorating pavement
- Clutter on a path or in an aisle
- Ice or snow on sidewalks, steps, or parking surfaces
Determining Your Status on a Premises
In Connecticut, a property owner owes a varying duty of care to the injured person. This duty changes, depending on the injured person’s status when they sustained injury. Our slip-and-fall lawyers must determine this distinction to assess a property owner’s liability for an injury.
Invitee (Highest Duty of Care)
An invitee is a person who is expressly or implicitly invited onto the property, usually for a business purpose or for a mutual benefit.
- Who they are: Customers in a store, tenants, or users of a public park. In Connecticut, social guests are also owed the same standard of care as invitees.
- Owner’s Duty: The owner owes the highest duty of care. The owner must actively inspect the premises for hidden defects and hazards, and then repair those dangers or provide a warning to the invitee.
Licensee (Lesser Duty of Care)
A licensee is someone who has permission from the owner to be on the property, but they are there for their own purposes, not for the owner’s or mutual benefit.
- Who they are: A social guest (social guests are treated as invitees under CGS § 52-557a) or someone like a delivery driver, mail carrier, or meter reader, who enters the property to carry out their duties.
- Owner’s Duty: The duty is lower than for an invitee. The owner generally does not have a duty to inspect the premises for unknown dangers. They must, however, warn the licensee of known, hidden hazards that the licensee wouldn’t normally notice.
Trespasser (Limited Duty of Care)
A trespasser is anyone who enters a property without the owner’s permission or legal right to be there.
- Owner’s Duty: The owner generally owes no duty of care to keep the property safe. However, the owner may not intentionally harm the trespasser or set a trap for them. Also, once an owner becomes actually aware of a trespasser’s presence, they then owe a duty of due care.
- Exception for Children: The Attractive Nuisance Doctrine applies to children. If the property has a feature that could be attractive and dangerous to children (a pool or a trampoline), the owner may be liable if a child trespasses and gets hurt.
Assessing Liability
Our legal team evaluates the evidence and legal issues to determine liability for your accident. Our assessment considers four key points of negligence:
- Duty Owed: Did the owner have a duty to maintain their property?
- Duty Breached: Did they fail to meet that duty?
- Proximate Cause: Did that failure directly cause your fall?
- Damages: Did the fall cause your injuries?
Considering Comparative Negligence
In Connecticut, comparative negligence may affect liability and damages. If the evidence shows you contributed to your accident and injuries, your negligence percentage may reduce your recoverable damages. You may still recover compensation if you were less than 51% negligent.
Types of Damages You Can Recover
When we negotiate or try a slip and fall case, we may seek damages within these categories:
- Economic Damages: These include current and projected future out-of-pocket costs for treatment, recovery, and rehabilitation. These often include medical bills, lost income, medications, and other injury-related expenses.
- Non-Economic Damages: These damages compensate for the emotional and personal impact of your injuries on your life. We seek non-economic damages based on your pain, suffering, disfigurement, family relationship issues, emotional issues, and permanent disabilities.
- Punitive Damages: A Connecticut jury may award punitive damages to punish a defendant who acted recklessly, intentionally, and maliciously.
Serious Injury. Serious Results. Start Your Risk-Free Case Evaluation Here.
Your Filing Deadline (Statute of Limitations)
In Connecticut, you have a two-year statute of limitations to file a claim for slip and fall injuries. While there are a few exceptions, in most situations, if you miss your deadline, you lose your right to make a claim or file a lawsuit.
Connecticut Slip-and-Fall Lawyer
If a property defect caused your slip-and-fall injury, contact Baber Law as soon as possible for a free consultation. Attorney Nate Baber and his team can review your case, protect your rights, and work to resolve your claim.
- Call Us: 855-285-3425
- Schedule A Consultation: On this page or Visit Our Contact Page
