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Month: February 2025

Are Slip-and-Fall Cases Hard To Win? 

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Are slip-and-fall cases hard to win? It depends on the facts of the case.  

If the property owner was truly negligent in your accident, and you can prove this, your case may not be too difficult to win. Here is what you may want to know about winning these cases from a Mobile slip-and-fall lawyer. 

Exploring the Difficulty of Winning Slip-and-Fall Cases

Slip-and-fall cases aren’t necessarily harder to win than other personal injury cases. An attorney may not take on a case if they do not think the evidence is there to prove the four elements of negligence:

  • The property owner owed you a duty of care. 
  • The property owner breached their duty of care.
  • An accident occurred due to the breach. 
  • You suffered injuries in the accident. 

One of the challenging aspects of slip-and-fall cases comes in the third point: breach of duty. 

In many civil cases, Plaintiffs must meet the “preponderance of evidence” standard when presenting proof in a personal injury case. This means that their claims must be more likely true than not.

Factors Affecting How Difficult Your Case Is To Win 

Many factors may affect how challenging any type of personal injury case is to win, including slip-and-fall cases. Prominent ones may include:

  • Whether any witnesses saw the accident: Witnesses may significantly bolster a premises liability case. If anyone is willing to testify to how your accident occurred, they may help prove the property owner’s negligence. 
  • The presence of photo or video evidence: If the accident was caught on video, the defendant may have trouble disputing it. Photo evidence may also support your claim of specific hazards on the property that led to the accident. 
  • The property owner’s cooperation: If the property owner outright denies their role in your accident, you’ll maintain the burden of proof. However, some owners are willing to accept their liability and settle out of court to streamline the legal process. 
  • Your legal representation: You may want to choose an attorney specifically experienced with slip-and-fall cases or who has a proven track record of success. 

How To Prove Fault and Bolster Your Case 

Are slip-and-fall cases hard to win? While they certainly can be, gathering compelling evidence can increase your chances of securing compensation. Here are some strategies for proving fault in a slip-and-fall case. 

Show That a Hazard Existed on the Property 

You may not be able to claim compensation if you simply tripped over your own feet. You may be able to show that a hazard existed on the property that caused you to slip and fall. Maybe it was:

  • Merchandise in the aisle
  • Significantly damaged flooring 
  • Poor lighting
  • Large puddles or accumulations of ice 
  • Missing handrails 

Photos, witness statements, videos, and previous accident reports may all be able to support your claim. 

Support the Property Owner’s Actual or Constructive Knowledge of It 

You typically need to prove one of two types of knowledge: 

  • Actual knowledge: The property owner actually knew of the hazard. Maybe it had been documented in incident reports, maintenance records, surveillance footage, or even text communications between employees. 
  • Constructive knowledge: There were enough facts available that the property owner should have known about the hazard had they been acting responsibly. 

Understand That Contributory Negligence May Factor In 

In some cases, under the doctrine of contributory negligence, if you were even 1% negligent in your own accident, you cannot recover any damages. 

Building a strong case may require you to prove that the accident would have happened despite your efforts to stay safe. 

Jackson & Foster Law Can Help You Navigate a Slip-and-Fall Case 

Are slip-and-fall cases hard to win? They can be without the right evidence and legal representation on your side.

At Jackson & Foster Law, we have extensive experience representing victims of slip-and-fall accidents. Allow us to listen to the details of your accident and help you understand your eligibility for compensation. If we believe you have a case, we will help you prove it. 

Contact us today at 251-433-6699 to schedule a free consultation, then learn more about proving pain and suffering in a personal injury case. 

What Are the Four Elements of Negligence in a Personal Injury Case? 

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If you want to bring a personal injury case against a negligent party, you must ensure the four elements of negligence are present. These criteria show that the defendant in your case was legally responsible for your injuries, barring some other defense. 

What are the four elements of negligence? Learn more below, then contact a personal injury lawyer in Mobile, AL, for legal guidance. 

The Four Elements of Negligence and What They Mean for Your Case 

Whether you slipped and fell on someone’s property, suffered injuries in a medical procedure gone wrong, or were on the receiving end of a head-on collision, you may need to prove the four elements of negligence to have a sound case against the defendant. Below are the four main criteria that make up many personal injury cases. 

Element 1: Duty of Care

You’ll need to start by proving that the defendant owed you a duty of care. This is a relationship that requires the defendant to act in a specific manner. 

Humans generally owe each other a duty of care to protect them against foreseeable harm, to the extent that they are reasonably able to. A few common examples include: 

  • Drivers owe a duty to other motorists and passengers.
  • Medical professionals owe a duty to their patients.
  • Property owners owe a duty to invitees.

Establishing this element of negligence generally requires you to prove your relationship to the defendant. For example, if you suffered an injury on another person’s property, you’ll need to prove that you were either an invitee (someone the owner directly or indirectly invited in) or a licensee (someone permitted to enter the property for their own benefit). 

Element 2: Breach of Duty

After establishing a duty of care, you will need to show that the defendant breached that duty by failing to exercise reasonable care. 

Examples of breach of duty may include:

  • A driver violating traffic laws
  • A property owner failing to maintain safe premises
  • A doctor neglecting to act to the standard another medical professional would have in that scenario

Breach of duty isn’t always black and white. Judges may use the “reasonable person standard” to determine what is expected of a defendant in any scenario. If the average person acting in a responsible manner would have taken measures to prevent your accident, you may be able to hold the defendant liable for their actions. 

Element 3: Causation (Cause-in-Fact and Proximate Cause) 

When thinking about the four elements of negligence, causation may initially seem like the easiest to prove. It involves showing that the defendant’s breach of duty directly led to an accident. But this can sometimes be challenging to support, as the defendant may claim that your injuries were pre-existing or resulted from some other cause. 

You need to understand two main elements of causation: 

  • Cause-in-fact: Also called “actual cause” or “but-for cause,” this refers to the direct link between the defendant’s actions or inactions and the plaintiff’s injury. It purports that the injury would not have occurred “but for” the defendant’s behavior. 
  • Proximate cause: This determines whether the injuries or other damages were reasonably foreseeable. For example, a driver should expect that running a red light could cause a severe accident and injuries. 

Element 4: Damages (Compensatory and Punitive Damages)

None of the above elements of negligence may matter if you can’t prove you suffered damages in the accident. The defendant may have breached their duty of care to you and caused an accident you were involved in. But if it didn’t lead to damages, you may not have grounds for a claim.

Damages are the monetary compensation or other relief you seek in a lawsuit. Their purpose may be to make you “whole” again after the accident, compensating you for the losses you incurred. 

Personal injury cases often involve economic and non-economic damages. Economic ones consist of the actual monetary expenses resulting from the accident, such as:

  • Medical bills
  • Property damage
  • Time off work
  • Loss of future earning capacity

Non-economic ones account for the other losses you endured that don’t necessarily have a price tag. They may include:

  • Pain and suffering
  • Mental anguish

Both types are examples of compensatory damages, which seek to compensate you for the accident. You may also qualify for punitive damages. These intend to punish the defendant for especially reckless behavior. 

For example, drunk driving accidents may result in punitive damages. 

Let Our Attorneys Help You Prove the Four Elements of Negligence

Now that you know the four elements of negligence, you may feel a bit overwhelmed by the prospect of having to prove these points. You know the defendant was responsible for your accident, but proving their wrongdoing is another story. 

Our attorneys at Jackson & Foster Law would be happy to help evaluate your case. We may meet with you to determine whether your case meets these four criteria. If so, we will collect evidence to support the defendant’s role in the accident and your subsequent damages. 

Contact us today at 251-433-6699 to schedule a free consultation, then review our guide to choosing a personal injury lawyer.