When you enter a place of business, the last thing you may expect is to be made a victim of a slip and fall accident. Your accident may have been caused by external factors beyond your realm of control. But if your subsequent injuries and damages are quite severe, you must take matters into your own hands and sue the business owner. Follow along to find out what grounds you may have for suing a business owner and how one of the seasoned Howard County slip and fall accident attorneys at Lloyd J. Eisenberg & Associates can help you navigate your legal options.
Can I sue a business owner if I was injured on their property?
If you wish to take on the role of a plaintiff in a personal injury claim, you must be able and willing to take on the burden of proof. That is, you are responsible for proving that the defendant’s negligence was the root cause of your slip and fall accident. So, to move forward with suing a business owner, you must prove the following grounds as true:
- The business owner carried a certain duty of care toward its patrons in keeping their property clear of hazards.
- The business owner knew or should have reasonably foreseen that a hazard existed on their property.
- The business owner failed to remove the hazard from their property within a reasonable timeframe.
- You entered a slip and fall accident upon coming into contact with the hazards.
- You incurred serious injuries and damages in the aftermath of your slip and fall accident.
Should I obtain a store incident report?
And to prove the aforementioned circumstances as true, you must collect and submit a sufficient amount of evidence that points to this. One of the most pivotal pieces of evidence that you must obtain is a copy of a store incident report.
A store incident report serves as proof that you were injured on a business owner’s property. This is because such documentation may include pieces of information that answer the “who, what, when, where, why, and how” surrounding your accident. This report is especially necessary if there were no witnesses present at the time of your accident.
Of note, you may request that a business owner conduct this report and provide you with a copy while you are still at the scene of your accident. If they refuse to comply, then you may wait for a law enforcement officer to arrive on the scene to handle this.
You must make a valiant effort toward kickstarting your personal injury claim. Reach out to a talented Howard County personal injury attorney at Lloyd J. Eisenberg & Associates to learn how to get started on your case.
