South Bend, IN Slip and Fall Lawyer

If you were hurt because you tripped, slipped, or fell as a result of a dangerous condition or hazard on another’s property, you have the right to pursue financial compensation. Slip and fall accidents are a mainstay of physical comedy and personal injury lawsuits. People in South Bend suffer broken bones, soft tissue damages, and traumatic head injuries in various slip and fall accidents.

Slip and fall claims are challenging because you have to demonstrate that a specific condition existed and that the property owner or manager’s negligence is the reason why. Many factors come into play, including the injured person’s conduct, when trying to establish fault. This is why you need our South Bend, IN slip and fall lawyers.

The injuries from a slip and fall accident are no laughing matter. Proving a property owner was negligent and holding them financially liable is not an easy task. To get experienced legal representation, call Wruck Paupore at (219) 322-1166.

Filing an Incident Report After a Slip and Fall Accident in South Bend

Typically, if you are injured in a slip and fall accident while in a business or on public property, the property owner or manager might request that you complete an incident report. In some cases, this request could involve signing a waiver. An incident report could be helpful in a personal injury case, but you want to ensure that you stick to the facts. You should not write down something if you feel pressured to do so. Additionally, you should never sign a waiver without consulting with one of our South Bend, IN slip and fall lawyers.

An incident report allows you to write down the details of an accident moments after it occurred. Often, these reports will include information you might have forgotten about by the time you sit down with an attorney. It is also a good idea to write down your recollections for yourself. You should also gather the names and contact information of anyone who witnessed your accident.

Not all slip and fall accidents occur on public property or in a business. Many people are hurt when they lose their balance at a private residence. If this occurs, you should also write down everything about the incident as soon as possible. If the property owner or homeowner asks you to sign anything, talk to an attorney before doing so. Slip and fall accident cases often take time to develop, so you do not want to sign away any rights away.

Duties of Property Owners in South Bend

Whenever a property owner invites others onto their property in South Bend, they owe certain legal obligations concerning the state of the property and how it may affect their guests. These legal obligations are known as “duties” in legal circles. Meeting these duties requires standards that vary depending on factors such as the reason the guest is on the property and the nature of the property itself.

Invitees

When it comes to premises liability in South Bend, the highest level of responsibility is owed to people who are invited onto private property for a business purpose that would benefit the property owner. This class of guests is known as “invitees.”

Anyone who goes to a shopping mall, restaurant, or sports complex would be considered an invitee under Indiana law. Property owners who host invitees must make reasonable efforts to cure any hazards that they either know of or should have discovered through routine inspection. Property owners also have a duty to warn the invitee of the hazard if they cannot make it reasonably safe.

Licensees

Licensees are individuals who are invited onto the premises without a specific business purpose or benefit to the property owner. The licensee must have express or implied permission to enter the property for their own convenience, entertainment, or curiosity. The favorite example of a licensee in legal circles would be a dinner party guest visiting a friend’s house.

When a property owner is hosting licensees, they are duty-bound to avoid behavior that could foreseeably harm the licensee. More critically, they must also warn the licensee of any dangers that they know of on the property.

Trespassers

By definition, a trespasser is someone that enters another’s private property without either implied or express permission. Property owners do not owe any affirmative duties to trespassers. However, they cannot create traps or hazards with the express purpose of injuring a trespasser. An example might be an unlabeled electric fence.

Third Party Liability for Slip and Falls in South Bend

Property owners are often the first focus of blame after a slip and fall. However, injury victims in South Bend should be careful about jumping to name the property owner alone in their lawsuit. There are many cases in which the liability lies with some other party.

Property owners can contract away the responsibility to cure hazards on their property. This can happen, for instance, when they lease out their property to tenants.

For example, let’s say that a real estate management company owns a strip mall, which they lease out to commercial tenants. The real estate company also uses a snow and ice removal service to handle their parking lots during inclement weather. If you slipped on the sidewalk on the way into one of the shops at the strip mall, there might be confusion over whom to sue. Your South Bend slip and fall lawyer will examine the lease to determine what property the tenant controls, as well as the contract with the snow removal company to determine whether they agreed to clear the sidewalk in addition to the parking lot. Often, the contractor and the owner of land may both be liable for their negligence in these circumstances. There are also circumstances where all three entities: the tenant, landlord, and third-party contractor might be liable.

This may all feel very complicated in the moments following an accident, especially for someone who is still attempting to deal with the ramifications of their injuries. These and other complications are all reasons why you stand to benefit from the assistance of a dedicated South Bend slip and fall attorney.

Common Injuries Suffered in Slip and Fall Accidents in South Bend

Any slip and fall accident can lead to serious and even life-threatening injuries. Below are just a few of the most frequent injuries resulting from slip and falls that our South Bend slip and fall lawyers frequently encounter.

Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs)

If a person hits their head in a slip and fall, they might have sustained some form of TBI, like a concussion. TBIs occur when a significant force to the head causes the brain to bounce around inside the skull. This can result in bleeding, bruising, or swelling that can substantially impair a person’s neural function. TBIs may not reveal themselves immediately, and if you do not know what to look for, you may not discover them without professional medical evaluation and testing. If you are experiencing slurred speech, dizziness, nausea, or an increased sensitivity to light, seek medical care immediately.

Spinal Cord Injuries

Landing forcefully on the back or neck can damage the victim’s spinal cord, which connects the brain to the rest of the body. Damage to the spinal cord can cause chronic pain, loss of sensation, or even partial or total paralysis, not to mention the potential exacerbation of other conditions. Slip and fall victims must get medical attention as soon as possible to limit the subsequent harms that can result from undiagnosed spinal cord damage.

Bone Fractures

Broken bones can not only be painful, but they can also force the victim to rest their injuries until they are fully healed. While the prognoses for injuries are as unique as the injuries themselves, many slip and fall victims are forced to stay home from work until their injuries have healed fully. Fortunately, lost income is compensable through damages in a slip and fall personal injury lawsuit in South Bend.

Deadline to File a South Bend Slip and Fall Lawsuit

Every state in the union sets a time limit on when an injured person must file a lawsuit. Indiana is no different. Under the state’s statute of limitations, you must file your claim within two years. Usually, the clock starts running from the date of your injury, but some exceptions do exist. Notwithstanding these rare occurrences, you do not want to let your opportunity to seek financial compensation disappear because you delayed contacting our South Bend, IN slip and fall attorneys.

If your claim is against a city or county, you only have 180 days to file your claim. In cases where the defendant is a state government agency, the deadline to file a claim is 270 days. These types of claims present additional challenges, so it is vital to contact our office immediately following the injury.

South Bend Slip and Fall Cases and Comparative Negligence

Indiana follows a modified comparative negligence rule for personal injury claims. Under this rule, if you are injured because you fell, tripped, slipped, or otherwise lost your balance on another’s property, your conduct could be used against you. Property owners will often argue that the injured party either bears some responsibility or was the direct cause of their injury. Perhaps the hazard was clear and obvious, or the injured plaintiff was running or acting carelessly. When building your case, our South Bend slip and fall lawyers will work to establish that the property owner was negligent while defending your conduct.

Challenges in a South Bend Slip and Fall Injury Case

Slip and fall cases present unique challenges to plaintiffs when trying to prove their case in court. Fortunately, with the help of a seasoned South Bend slip and fall attorney, you can understand these common difficulties and rise to meet them when it is most important to your recovery.

Evidence

There is often a lack of physical evidence, especially if a spill caused your fall. Our office will rely on your recollections, witness testimony, incident reports, and, in some cases, surveillance video. When a property defect or hazard is involved, you want to ensure that our team investigates the scene as soon as possible – before the condition can be changed or remedied. You can help your case in this situation. Photos taken of the scene immediately following the accident could be crucial in proving your case.

Causation

Winning a slip and fall lawsuit requires proving several elements. You must show that a dangerous condition existed, the condition was the cause of your injuries, and that the condition was the result of the defendant’s negligence. For example, if you fell because of a hole in the floor while walking through a corridor that was unlit because of a manufacturing light, proving these three elements might not be difficult. However, if you fell on a spill in a grocery store, a number of questions must be answered. Did the property owner know about the spill? Did they have adequate time to address it? Could you see the spill and avoid it? Our South Bend slip and fall accident lawyers will work to answer these questions and more in your favor.

South Bend, IN Slip and Fall Lawyers Working for You

The injuries resulting from a slip and fall accident could be serious. You need to protect your rights and fight for just compensation. Our South Bend, IN slip and fall lawyers bring years of experience to the table. To reach the law offices of Wruck Paupore, call (219) 322-1166 to receive a free case evaluation.