Slip & Fall Lawyers in Fort Lauderdale
Slip and fall accidents can happen in a variety of locations due to hazardous conditions that may not always be immediately obvious to visitors or patrons. These may include supermarkets, shopping malls, restaurants, hotels, parking lots, factories and warehouses, construction sites, and public sidewalks and parks. The potential liable parties in these accidents usually include property owners, property managers, business owners, property occupiers, and even government entities.
Our Fort Lauderdale Slip and Fall Lawyer Will Use the Full Force of the State Laws to Your Advantage
Under Florida’s slip and fall accident and personal injury laws, property owners are obligated to uphold specific duties to individuals who are invited onto their premises. If a property owner neglects these duties, they can face legal action for injuries resulting from their negligence. These duties encompass three main responsibilities.
First, property owners must maintain their premises in a reasonably safe condition. Secondly, they are required to address any dangerous conditions that they either knew about or should have known existed. As well, property owners must provide warnings about any hazardous conditions present on their property.
How Attorney Larry Moskowitz Will Prove Negligence of the Property Owner in a Slip and Fall Claim
Fort Lauderdale slip and fall attorneys at Larry Moskowitz, PA pursue a comprehensive personal injury claim strategy to prove negligence in slip and fall cases:
Gathering Evidence
Larry Moskowitz and his team will collect hard evidence, including photographs, surveillance camera footage, witness statements, forensic evidence, police reports, and medical records, to establish the dangerous condition that led to your slip and fall injuries, and the property owner’s knowledge of that condition.
Hiring Experts
In a Fort Lauderdale slip and fall case, Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyer Larry Moskowitz may also consult with experts, such as property maintenance professionals, building engineers, architects and designers, to provide testimony on the dangerous condition and the property owner’s negligence.
Showing Damages
To recover compensation in a slip and fall accident claim for the suffered injuries, slip and fall attorney in Fort Lauderdale Larry Moskowitz will also document and present evidence of the victim’s injuries sustained, medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other damages.
Statute 768.0755: Attorney Moskowitz will Use Florida’s Transitory Foreign Substance Law to Your Advantage
As defined by the Florida Supreme Court, a transitory foreign substance is described as any liquid or solid substance, item, or object found in a location where it doesn’t belong.
Proving Liability Under Florida Law 768.0755
According to this law, if an individual sustains a slip and fall injury due to a transitory substance, they are required to demonstrate that the business had actual or constructive knowledge of the hazardous condition and should have taken measures to clean it up. Constructive knowledge can be established by proving:
- The dangerous condition had existed long enough for the business to be aware of it.
- The condition occurred regularly, making it foreseeable.
This essentially means that whenever an item is dropped on the floor in venues like grocery stores, supermarkets, restaurants, or other retail establishments, a customer or visitor who slips on the substance and suffers injuries must prove that the business should have known about the condition long enough to clean it up. For injured victims, this can often be a challenging task to accomplish on their own.
The individual responsible for the substance being on the ground is usually absent by the time of the accident. Stores further complicate matters by seldom investigating the duration the substance remained on the floor following the accident.
Moreover, these establishments may not maintain records of how frequently specific areas are cleaned. By the time a consumer engages a slip and fall attorney, any evidence regarding the duration of the substance on the floor may have vanished.
How a Fort Lauderdale Slip and Fall Injury Lawyer Proves the Dangerous Condition Existed for Long Enough
In slip and fall cases, stores typically refrain from admitting they were aware of any hazardous conditions on their premises that could cause a customer or visitor to slip and fall. To succeed in such cases, you must prove that the store had constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition.
Attorney Larry Moskowitz employs various strategies to establish this knowledge, primarily focusing on demonstrating that the condition persisted for an extended period, allowing the store ample time to address it.
Utilizing Store Security Cameras as Direct Evidence
There are instances where security cameras capture the events leading up to a slip and fall. When available, this direct evidence can be pivotal in proving the store’s knowledge of the hazardous condition.
Absence of Employees in the Area Prior to the Fall
In some cases, the injured party’s observations about the absence of store employees in the vicinity before the accident can be compelling evidence. For instance, if the injured victim testifies to being in the area where they fell for a significant duration without any employees around and there is other evidence or witnesses to corroborate that claim, it can help attorney Moskowitz establish this was sufficient time for the store to identify and rectify the hazardous condition.
Condition of the Spilled Food
When a slip and fall incident results from food items on the floor, the appearance and state of the food can play a useful role. The condition of the food can be utilized to indicate that it had been on the ground for an extended period, warranting cleaning.
Condition of the Spilled Liquid or Slippery Substances
Liquids causing slips could range from water and soda to any other fluid, while slippery substances might include grease or oil. Regardless of the type of liquid or slippery substance, Florida’s transitory foreign substance statute mandates that the injured party prove its presence on the ground was of a duration sufficient for the store to have addressed it before the fall.
If there is evidence indicating the substance was particularly dirty, trampled, marked with skid or scuff marks, or appeared significantly disturbed, a Fort Lauderdale slip and fall accident lawyer will effectively establish the store’s liability.
Choose a Top-Rated Fort Lauderdale Slip and Fall Lawyer Near Me to Obtain Maximum Damages
Larry Moskowitz is an experienced and aggressive trial lawyer with over 35 years of legal experience, including extensive work in personal injury and premises liability cases. As a former prosecutor, he brings a unique perspective and approach to advocating for his clients.
Attorney Moskowitz and his team are dedicated to fighting vigorously for the rights of slip and fall victims in order to maximize the value of each case and ensure injured victims receive their rightful compensation. Call now at 866-312-0708 to schedule your free case evaluation.