Colorado Springs, CO Slip and Fall Lawyer

Hurt after slipping and falling on someone else’s property?

Trip and fall injuries have the potential to inflict long-lasting losses. Regardless of the physical severity of the incident, any such injury can result in substantial medical bills, significant lost income, and intense mental anguish.

Fortunately, you may be able to recover compensation for these losses under certain circumstances.

Property owners have a duty to protect their visitors from these accidents, but proving liability in such cases can be difficult. Fortunately, you can get help from a personal injury attorney.

Once hired, a Colorado Springs slip and fall lawyer could work to establish your right to be on the land at the time of the accident, evaluate the actions of the proprietor that failed to prevent these injuries and demand appropriate compensation on your behalf.

Call Springs Law Group in Colorado Springs today to get started on your case.

Why Is the Classification of Visitors Important?

Tripping accidents are a prominent example of civil claims under premises liability law. Property liability law states that landowners have a duty to protect guests who enter their property from any foreseeable harm. A failure to meet this duty obligates a negligent property owner to pay for any losses that occur as a result.

Colorado premises liability law specifically defines the classifications of visitors and outlines the obligations property owners have to each classification of visitors.

A Colorado Springs slip and fall attorney could help review an injured victim’s case to determine which category they may fall under and what types of compensation they may be entitled to.

Trespassers

Any person who enters or remains on a property without the owner’s consent is a trespasser. Proprietors are only responsible for avoiding causing willful or deliberate harm to trespassers.

Licensees

Licensees are people who enter or remain on a property solely for their own benefit. These individuals may include house guests on otherwise private property. In a slip and fall claim, the plaintiff must prove that the landowner failed to exercise reasonable care regarding dangers created by the landowner or which the landowner knew of.

Invitees

Invitees are people who enter land for the benefit of the owner. Customers in a shop are a clear example. Landowners have a duty to protect invitees from dangers that result from an unreasonable failure to protect invitees from known hazards.

How Is Liability Proven in Tripping Accident Cases?

Individuals seriously injured in a slip and fall accident need to establish that the landowner, possessor, or person/entity in control was negligent. To prove negligence, a claimant must establish that the defendant had a duty of care and breached it by failing to exercise reasonable care in maintaining his or her property.

For example, if a person slipped on an icy or snowy sidewalk and wants to pursue compensation, they must show that:

• The landowner was liable for a slip and fall involving snow or ice
• The landowner knew or should have known about the existence of the snow and ice on the sidewalk
• The landowner had a reasonable period of time to remove or make safe the dangerous or hazardous condition
• The landowner failed to take such precautions and warn the claimant of the dangerous snow and ice that caused their injuries.

Generally, most residential landowners have 24 hours to remove snow or ice or make their sidewalks safer by putting down salt, sand, or other traction-aiding material.

Comparative Negligence in Slip and Fall Accidents

In order for a civil plaintiff to recover compensation in a slip and fall accident, it is necessary to prove that a defendant’s failure to provide adequate protection directly caused their injury.

However, this can become more difficult to prove if a plaintiff is partially responsible for their slip and fall injury.

According to Colorado’s comparative negligence rule, if a court believes that a plaintiff is 50% or more to blame for an incident, that court cannot award any compensation to the injured party. If the plaintiff shares less than 50% of the blame, however, the court may simply reduce the available award in proportion to the percentage of fault a plaintiff had in causing their injuries.

Because of this statute, it is usually essential to build a slip-and-fall case that proves a defendant’s negligence and justifies the plaintiff’s actions leading up to the incident. An experienced slip-and-fall lawyer in Colorado Springs could help injured victims build a case that allows them to obtain compensation even if they are partially at fault for the accident.

Hire a Colorado Springs Slip and Fall Attorney

Slip and fall accident cases can be deceptively complex. It can be easy to assume that because an accident happened on another’s property that the landowner is automatically liable for the resulting damage, but these cases must evaluate your motivation for being on that property and any of your actions that may have contributed to the accident.

A skilled Colorado Springs slip-and-fall lawyer could help you to make this complex legal argument. Contact Springs Law Group today to schedule a consultation, so an attorney can review your case and start helping you move forward toward your recovery.