When you rent an apartment or house, after slip and fall, there are chances you will want to sue the landlord. But to hold the landlord liable for your injuries after slip and fall will depend on various factors. The experienced attorneys at Friedman Levy in New York have provided crucial information on how you can sue a landlord for a slip and fall accident on their property.
Negligence
In most personal injury cases, there should be negligence for you to claim. In this situation, after a slip and fall accident, you must prove the landlord was negligent. If there were no negligence, the claim would not be successful because there is no liability. You may hire a good personal injury lawyer to help sue the landlord. But to win the slip and fall accident case, you must prove the landlord or property owner was negligent.
However, slipping and falling in the apartment or house you have rented will not mean the landlord is negligent. The landlord will be liable when they cause or fail to prevent the slippery condition in their property. Further, the premises may be unsafe, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the landlord was negligent. You must prove the landlord was aware of such dangerous conditions but didn’t take any action.
Here are examples of slip and fall accidents on the property:
Inside The Rental House or Property
In the house you live in, perhaps there is a leak in the ceiling. When it rains, water drips on the floor, thus slipping and falling. When you sue the landlord, the key to the case is whether you had informed the landlord or not.
If the leak started but you had not notified the landlord, you would unlikely hold the property owner or landlord responsible for slip and fall injuries. The landlord didn’t know anything about the leak, thus, had no opportunity to fix the problem.
On the other hand, if the landlord knew but neglected to act, you can claim injuries. Sometimes, it could even be a pipe leaking due to poor plumbing. However, you may claim for your slip and fall injuries, but these cases aren’t always easy to win. That’s because the jury will think that because you knew the leak, then you opted to be more careful.
Exterior or Common Areas of Rental Property
You are still on the landlords ‘ property when you slip and fall due to ice on the sidewalk to the front door. But in such a situation, is the landlord responsible for shoveling the snow? You can sue the landlord when the lease says the landlord is liable to shovel the snow but failed. If you fell on stairs because they are defective, your case will be strong against the landlord.
Conclusion
If you slip and fall, take pictures of your accident scene, bruises, and clothes. Remember, if it’s in ice and snow, the condition may change in a minute because the ice melts. So, it won’t be easy to win such a case without pictures. In these cases, the pictures you take mean more than a thousand words.
