Georgetown Slip & Fall Lawyer
These incidents send over eight million Americans to emergency rooms every year. These victims need and deserve compensation and justice. A Georgetown slip & fall lawyer from the Stanley Law Group does both these things.
The medical treatment costs alone in a slip & fall injury often total more than $40,000. Other economic losses, such as missed work and nursing home or rehabilitation facility care, could be even larger. Frequently, when victims don’t have lawyers, Medicare, Medicaid, or another health insurance company pays most of these costs. In other words, you and I pay these costs, in the form of higher taxes or insurance premiums.
Justice in a slip & fall case relies on a simple “you break it, you buy it” responsibility. When property owners unintentionally let their grass get too high, they must pay the price. Likewise, when property owners unintentionally cause injury, they must pay the price.
Georgetown Slip & Fall Lawyers and the Duty of Care
The duty of care, which is roughly based on the story of the Good Samaritan, is the cornerstone of a negligence claim in South Carolina and most other states.
The man in this story went out of his way to help an injured traveler. According to the legal principle based on this story, property owners must go out of their way to address slippery floors, large sidewalk cracks, and other fall injury hazards.
In South Carolina, the extent of the duty (legal responsibility) is roughly based on the relationship between the victim and owner.
- Invitee: Most fall injury victims are invitees. They have direct or indirect permission to visit the building or house for commercial or social purposes. Property owners have a duty to ensure these guests are reasonably safe. They must promptly address and completely remove injury hazards.
- Licensee: Some uninvited guests have a “license” to visit the property. This license basically means the owner doesn’t care if the person is there or not. A guest of an apartment tenant is a licensee. Since the relationship is not as close, the duty of care is not as high, and these people are legally entitled to less protection. A “Caution Wet Floor” sign may be sufficient.
- Trespasser: Quite simply, guests are trespassers if they don’t have permission to enter and they don’t benefit the owner. A door-to-door salesperson who ignores a “no solicitors” sign is usually a trespasser. Owners must refrain from intentionally harming trespassers, but other than that, the law doesn’t protect them, at least in most cases.
This classification system is quite complex, mostly because the categories overlap. Tom the tenant is an invitee at an apartment complex unless he does not pay his rent or follow another rule. Then, he becomes a trespasser.
Knowledge of Hazard
Theoretical responsibility is not enough. A Georgetown slip & fall lawyer must also prove actual or constructive knowledge by a preponderance of the evidence.
Smoking guns that prove actual knowledge include restroom cleaning reports, prior complaints of fall hazards, and prior falls. Lawyers often find these smoking guns rather late in the process. So, if a case settles too early, the best evidence, and therefore maximum compensation, may be unavailable
Constructive knowledge (should have known) usually hinges on the time-notice rule. For example, owners have a duty to pick up banana peels before they become black and gritty, as if they were walked on.
A preponderance of the evidence means more likely than not. That’s one of the lowest standards of evidence in South Carolina law. So, a little evidence goes a long way.
Connect With a Savvy Georgetown County Lawyer
Injury victims are entitled to substantial compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced slip & fall lawyer in Georgetown, contact the Stanley Law Group. The sooner you reach out to us, the sooner we start working for you.
