Macon, Georgia Slip and Fall Lawyers

Under Georgia law (Title 51, Chapter 3, Article 1), a property owner or occupier (such as a renter or lessee) can be found liable for slip and fall injuries sustained on the property if the property owner or occupier fails to exercise ordinary care in keeping the premises and approaches safe. Under the law, a store owner has a duty to ensure the store premises are safe and free from hazards. A common slip and fall accident occurs when a customer slips on liquid that has not been cleaned up and is not marked with a warning of the hazard, such as a safety or caution sign. In such cases, depending on the circumstances, a store owner can be found liable if the slip and fall resulted in injuries.

Under the rule of “superior knowledge,” the property owner is liable when he or she has knowledge of a dangerous condition that people entering the property, such as customers or guests, would have no reason to know about, and an injury occurs as a result. When property owners do not take the appropriate steps to remedy the dangerous condition or provide people entering the property with an adequate warning of its existence, such property owners are violating their duty of care to others and committing negligent conduct that leads to serious injuries and sometimes death.

Georgia law is designed to protect those invited to the premises for “business purposes”. This would include customers in stores, patrons in restaurants, tenants and their guests in apartment complexes, and others. Georgia law is not designed to protect trespassers, who have no lawful right to be on the property, from negligence. If a trespasser suffers injuries from slipping and falling on another’s property, he or she likely would not be eligible to receive compensation for his or her personal injuries.

In order to prove that another person or company negligently caused you to slip and fall, resulting in injuries, you must directly link the negligent party’s conduct to your fall. Examples include the following:

• The owner, agent, or employee of the building or premises where the slip and fall occurred actually caused the conditions that led to the slip and fall, such as knowingly or negligently leaving standing liquid on the floor, having torn edges on the carpet or flooring that make for an uneven surface, and untreated icy surfaces, among other examples; or
• The owner, agent, or employee knew or should have known that dangerous conditions existed that could cause an individual to slip and fall and become injured and, in turn, did not take the necessary steps to cure the defect.

If it is shown that the owner, agent, or employee of the premises was aware of certain conditions that could cause slip and fall injuries and failed to take any steps to make the conditions safe, an injured plaintiff likely can establish fault.

Sometimes the owner, agent or employee truly did not know about the hazard. In those cases, though, the law also states that if a “reasonable” owner, agent, or employee would have known about the dangerous conditions in the same or similar circumstances, then an injured plaintiff can demonstrate liability. This is called the “reasonable person standard” and is used to measure if a person or company’s conduct rose to negligence.

It is also important that the plaintiff also knew less about the hazard than the property owner. If the plaintiff has “equal notice” to that of the owner/occupier, then Georgia law will generally prevent the plaintiff from obtaining compensation.

For example, if a person sees an employee mopping a floor, then afterwards steps over the area of the wet floor, it can be difficult to prove that the property owner was negligent. Another example of this concept would be if a warning, such as a caution or hazard sign, was present near the defect at the time that the person sustained an injury. This is why it is so important to not only prove that the property owner knew or should have known of the hazardous defect, but that his/her knowledge was superior to that of the injured person.

Avoid a Costly Mistake

Legal Time Deadlines

It is always important to remember that there are strict time limits placed on the ability to collect compensation in a personal injury case. In Georgia, an injured individual is generally required to file their claim within two years of the of the incident, but statutes of limitation vary by state. Even within Georgia, there are exceptions that can shorten or lengthen the deadlines depending on the specific facts of a case.

Failing to file within the statute of limitation can prevent a person with an otherwise legitimate claim from being able to seek compensation for their injuries.

Other Time Deadlines

Non-legal deadlines can also affect your claim value. Many insurance policy contracts have timely notification deadlines, and if those are not met, you could forfeit your right to financial recovery.

In many cases, evidence such as security camera footage or witness testimony can be crucial to proving liability, and it is important for your lawyer to begin their investigation as soon a possible after the incident to avoid that evidence disappearing or being compromised.

If you have sustained injury in slip and fall incident in or near Macon, Georgia, contact Montlick to discuss your claim with an experienced personal injury attorney to learn about your legal rights as well as what steps can be taken to protect those rights.