Escondido Premises Liability Lawyer

Slips, trips, and falls can happen almost anywhere in San Diego County as a result of uneven pavement or flooring, from inside an office building to outside on a neighborhood sidewalk. According to a fact sheet from the National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI), defective or otherwise dangerous floors and flooring materials lead to more than two million fall injuries every year. The NFSI also reports that a majority of falls occur inside structures such as homes, retail establishments, and places of employment, and they occur at ground level. In other words, uneven or damaged floors may be to blame.

If you have questions, an aggressive Escondido premises liability lawyer can help with your case.Property owners have a duty to repair uneven pavement or floors to prevent injuries. If they are unable to immediately remedy a dangerous condition, then property owners must warn others about the potential hazard or else face liability in the event of a serious fall-related injury. 

Many types of injuries can result from a slip, trip, and fall caused by uneven pavement or flooring. The NFSI explains that some types of injuries are more common than others in ground-level falls, including but not limited to the following:

• Fractures and broken bones;
• Sprains;
• Strains;
• Bruising; and
• Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) and other types of head trauma.

What does a plaintiff need to prove in order to win a premises liability lawsuit after getting hurt in a fall caused by uneven pavement or flooring? Under California law, a plaintiff and a premises liability attorney in Escondido will need to show the following essential factual elements:

• Defendant owned, leased, occupied, or controlled the property where the fall occurred;
• Defendant was negligent in his or her use or maintenance of the property;
• Plaintiff got hurt; and
• Defendant’s negligence was a substantial factor in causing the plaintiff’s injuries.

How does a plaintiff prove that the property owner was negligent? The plaintiff simply must show that the property owner (or tenant, for example) failed to use reasonable care to keep the property in a reasonably safe condition. California law makes explicit that anyone who owns, leases, occupies, or otherwise control property is required to “use reasonable care to discover any unsafe conditions and to repair, replace, or give adequate warning of anything that could be reasonably expected to harm others.” A premises liability lawyer can help Escondido residents gather evidence to prove a violation of this standard. In deciding whether a property owner used reasonable care, the court typically considers many different factors, such as:

• Location of the property;
• Likelihood of someone being on the property in the same manner as the plaintiff;
• Likelihood of harm;
• Probable seriousness of the harm;
• Whether property owner knew or should have known about the dangerous condition;
• Difficulty to repair the hazardous condition or otherwise protect individuals from harm; and
• Extent of property owner’s control over the property.

If you or someone you love sustained injuries in a fall caused by uneven flooring or pavement, you deserve to seek financial compensation for your losses. An experienced North County premises liability lawyer can help with your case. Based in central North County San Diego, the lawyers a Walton Law Firm are here to help. Call today for more information.