Rhode Island Slip & Fall Attorney

Slip and Fall Attorney in Rhode Island

Falling is dangerous, even for the young and healthy. Millions of individuals seek out emergency room care each year because of injuries they sustained in a fall. A young, healthy adult might expect bruises or perhaps a broken bone because of a fall.

For older Americans, however, a fall can lead to a broken hip, severe head injury, or even death. Many falls can be avoided entirely if property owners exercise due care in maintaining their premises.

If you sustained an injury while at a business, restaurant, or other public or private venue to which you were invited, do not ignore your injuries. Do not assume you were at fault and must bear the cost of your mistake. Instead, seek help and advice from a competent and seasoned Rhode Island slip and fall lawyer.

Sands Law has been representing slip and fall victims in Rhode Island for many years. We understand your concerns and want to help you get through this difficult time. We pride ourselves on providing top-notch representation and advocacy for our clients, helping you feel comfortable and confident about your recovery and future.

If you need an experienced hand and an advocate who listens to your needs, look no further than Sands Law, your Rhode Island slip and fall law firm.

Liability in a Warwick Slip & Fall Injury Claim

Property owners have a responsibility to lawful visitors to keep their premises in a reasonably safe condition. This may include keeping walkways, stairs, and floors clean, well-lit, and free from hazards. In Rhode Island, a property owner may be held legally responsible for a slip and fall accident that occurs on his or her property if:

• The property owner knew or should have known, based on reasonable care, of the dangerous situation;
• The property owner failed to address the dangerous hazard, whether by repairing it or placing a warning sign informing others of the potential hazard; and
• Someone was injured as a result of the property owner’s lack of reasonable care.

Duties Owed to Others by Property Owners

Slip and falls are sometimes referred to as premises liability cases. No matter what they are called, though, they are based on the allegation that a property owner behaved carelessly in maintaining their grounds and, in so doing, violated a legal obligation to you. Their obligation depends on the reason you are on the property in the first place:

Customers and Invited Guests

If a property owner opens their business or home to you and invites you to come onto their property, that property owner owes you a duty of care. Specifically, the owner must take reasonable steps to identify potential hazards that could hurt you. Once identified, the property owner must either repair or warn you about them in an obvious and conspicuous way.

For example, suppose that you are shopping at the grocery store and notice a wet floor due to a leaking refrigeration unit. The property owner has a duty to clean the spill up promptly and place a placard or other warning sign to prevent others from slipping on the wet surface.

The duty to correct hazards extends not only to those dangers the property owner knows about but also to those that they should have known about. This means that property owners can also breach their duty of care toward guests and customers if they do not make regular inspections of their property to look for dangerous conditions.

Permitted Guests

Landowners who allow others to use their property but do not invite such people onto their property owe a duty of care to those individuals, albeit not as great as the duty owed to invited guests. In this situation, the property owner must take reasonable steps to repair the dangers and hazardous conditions they know about.

For instance, if a property owner allows beachgoers to walk across their property to gain access to a nearby beach, that property owner would need to repair an obviously defective walkway or move a hose lying across it.

Similarly, if a guest tells the landowner about a danger they encountered, the landowner would need to take reasonable steps to fix or warn about the danger. However, the property owner does not need to actively inspect their property and look for dangerous conditions that are not immediately apparent.

Trespassers

Property owners owe no legal duties to individuals who are present on their property without their consent. This means the property owner does not need to take any action to protect a trespasser from a dangerous condition that might exist on the owner’s property.

The owner cannot, however, deliberately hurt or create a dangerous condition just to harm a trespasser. For example, they cannot lay a trap for a trespasser designed to make them slip and fall.

Determining your legal status is the first step of building a successful slip and fall case. Trust your Rhode Island slip and fall attorney from Sands Law to take a hard look at the facts of your case and accurately determine your status. After doing so, they will take the necessary steps to help you assert your legal rights.

How Slip and Fall Accidents Happen

A slip and fall accident often occurs because a property owner is being careless and not paying sufficient attention to the condition of their shop, home, or property. Conditions that property owners should be aware of because of their potential for causing a slip and fall incident include the following:

• Rain, snow, or ice present on walkways, aisles, and parking lots
• Spilled cleaning chemicals or cleaning solutions that are not properly mopped up
• A leaking refrigerator or freezer that spills onto the floor
• Slippery objects left on the floor, like toys, skates, brooms, or mops
• Any other object that could cause a person to lose their footing and slip and fall

When a property owner stumbles upon one of these or other similar conditions, they have a reasonable duty to correct the situation. In most cases, this involves safely and quickly cleaning up the spill or removing the mess causing the hazard.

If the owner cannot clean up the mess in a timely manner, they should take steps to warn others about it until they can remedy the issue. This could include roping off a dangerous area, verbally warning guests, or setting up a sign to warn of dangers.

The hallmark of a property owner’s duties is reasonableness. They are not required to take steps that a reasonable property owner in similar circumstances would not or could not take. Making this determination is not always easy, but a Rhode Island slip and fall lawyer can help you build your case against a negligent property owner.

By looking at the resources of the property owner and what other owners do in similar situations, your Rhode Island slip and fall attorney can show a court that the property owner in your case acted unreasonably. This can lead to a judgment in your favor and a subsequent compensation award. Contact Sands Law to learn more.

Sands Law Is Your Rhode Island Slip and Fall Law Firm of Choice

Put Decades of Experience in Your Corner

A slip and fall accident may not seem too serious at first glance, but a serious fall could cause broken bones, head trauma, and other catastrophic injuries. This is particularly true for the elderly.

With decades of experience and intimate knowledge of Rhode Island’s slip and fall laws, you are in good hands when you retain Sands Law. As a Rhode Island slip and fall law firm, we are committed to helping people like you who are hurt by the careless choices of others. Your time to recover damages is limited, so call Sands Law and ask to speak to a qualified Rhode Island slip and fall attorney today.

At Sand Law Offices we are dedicated to the compassionate, experienced representation of slip and fall accident victims in and around Warwick, Rhode Island. If you were injured on another’s property, we may be able to help you hold the property owner accountable for your medical bills and other losses you have suffered.

If you’re interested in talking to a Rhode Island slip and fall attorney about your options, call (401) 921-4905 or use our online form a free case review.