Slip and fall accidents are one of the more common causes of emergency room visits. They are sometimes the result of the lack of attention on the part of the victim. That said, many of those accidents are due to negligence on the part of a property owner or someone other than the victim. Thousands of such accidents occur in cities throughout the country, but growing metropolitan areas like Indianapolis may have more than its share. If any slip and fall accident occurs because of a negligent property owner, the victim has the right to contact our Indianapolis injury lawyer to see if there are grounds to file a civil lawsuit and recover compensation.
Filing Personal Injury Lawsuits
Once a victim has retained an Indianapolis injury lawyer, and that lawyer has found evidence of negligence causing a slip and fall accident, the Indianapolis injury lawyer must determine who is at fault. There are a number of possibilities:
• The owner of the property responsible for maintaining it
• The manager of the property who is responsible for its maintenance
• The renter who is considered the possessor of the property and is responsible for maintaining it
• An owner who rents their property, but has hidden dangerous conditions that the renter is unaware of
There may be a number of other special circumstances that an injury lawyer in Indianapolis can discern to determine the appropriate party to name as a defendant.
Visitor Safety
Not only must the defendant be determined, the conditions under which the visitor entered the property may be important. There are generally four types of visitors for which an owner has varying degrees of responsibility:
• Invitees may include customers for which an owner or possessor owes a reasonable degree of safety
• Licensees and social guests come to a property for their own purposes and take responsibility for their own safety
• Trespassers enter property illegally and the owner has no responsibility for their safety
These lines can be blurred on some types of property and for some types of visitors, so it is important to consult experienced Indianapolis injury lawyers to learn who can file suit.
Slip and Fall Compensation
Injury lawyers in Indianapolis can also determine the appropriate amount of compensation and damages a victim may seek. That amount varies for each injury; however, the compensation victims and their injury lawyers may seek often falls into these basic categories:
• Medical expenses
• Lost wages
• Compensation for pain and suffering
• Legal costs
• Punitive damages for willful negligence
In addition, Indiana is a state that bases personal injury awards on comparative negligence. Indianapolis injury lawyers must prove the relative amount of liability each party had in a personal injury case. Awards are typically based on the percentage of liability proven by the injury lawyer. Because of these and other complex elements, Indianapolis injury lawyers are vital to preparing a successful lawsuit and carrying it through the civil court process.
