In 2010, Florida tightened its laws regarding slip-and-fall cases in an attempt to prevent insurance fraud and contrived claims. The person who sustains the injury now carries the burden of proof. The plaintiff is required to demonstrate certain violations by the defendant, which makes hiring a slip-and-fall lawyer more important than it was in the past.
The Current Law
Although owners are still legally required to maintain safe conditions on their premises, it’s now harder to win a case when safe conditions are not maintained. For a slip-and-fall lawyer to win, two things must now be proved: first, he or she must demonstrate that the owner of the property had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition that caused the slip and fall. Second, he or she must prove that the property owner did not take reasonable action to alleviate the dangerous condition.
Proving Constructive Knowledge
Constructive knowledge can be proved by demonstrating that the property owner should have or must have known about the dangerous condition. A slip-and-fall lawyer can establish proof based on one of two qualifications:
- Because of how long the dangerous condition existed
- Because the dangerous condition occurred on such a regular basis that the owner could reasonably foresee that the condition would occur again yet didn’t do anything to intervene
If you live in South Florida and are involved in a slip-and-fall incident, don’t try to handle the law yourself. Slip-and-fall cases require serious and in-depth fact-gathering and research for which only a personal injury law firm is prepared. The Maus Law Firm has highly qualified slip-and-fall lawyers ready to represent you in court and help you get the judgment you deserve (contact us for a free consultation here).