Newark Slip and Fall Lawyer
If you get injured in a slip and fall accident in Newark, New Jersey, your future may be uncertain. You may be dealing with a serious injury that impacts your everyday life and renders you unable to work. At the Law Offices of Jeffrey S. Hasson, our personal injury attorneys can help you understand and protect your rights as a victim of a harmful slip and fall accident. We have years of experience in premises liability law and are committed to protecting our clients.
Common Slip and Fall Accident Risks in Newark
Slip, trip and fall accidents can occur due to many common property hazards found in New Jerseys. It is a property owner’s duty to search for and resolve these issues before they cause visitor injuries. The failure to do so is negligence – a lack of proper care according to the circumstances.
Common examples of slip and fall accident risks are:
- Ice or snow
- Wet floors
- Spilled food and liquid
- Greasy, slippery and oily floors
- Uneven floor surfaces
- Poor property maintenance
- Cracked or broken curbs and sidewalks
- Poor lighting
- Cluttered floors and walkways
- Loose mats and carpeting
- Unsafe or broken stairs
These slip and fall hazards can exist at restaurants, bars, shopping centers, grocery stores, hotels, Airbnbs, workplaces, schools, public places, playgrounds or residential homes in Newark. If a reasonable and prudent property owner would have done more to prevent your slip and fall accident, you may have grounds for a premises liability claim.
Can I Sue for a Slip and Fall Caused by Precipitation?
While a property owner in Newark cannot be expected to control weather conditions, he or she does have a legal obligation to properly prepare for bad weather and remedy any hazards caused by rain, ice or snow in a timely manner. This includes preventing ice-related slip and falls in parking lots and driveways with efforts such as shoveling or salting the snow. Your lawyer will need to prove that the property owner was derelict in maintaining a safe premises.
What Are a Property Owner in Newark’s Duties of Care?
Property owners in New Jersey have a legal responsibility to ensure the reasonable safety of lawful visitors. When invitees or licensees enter a premises, they have a reasonable expectation to be free from harm connected to property hazards or defects. An invitee is someone with the property owner’s permission to enter a property who does so for the owner’s benefit. An example is a customer at a business.
Invitees are owed the highest standards of care. A property owner must take the following actions before welcoming invitees to a property:
- Inspect the premises for unknown, new or hidden hazards.
- Promptly repair any existing or discovered property defects.
- Post warning signs regarding any defects that may not be obvious.
Licensees are another type of lawful property visitor, but they enter a premises for their own purposes rather than the owner’s. Examples include salespeople and social guests. A property owner does not have a duty to inspect a property for a licensee, but he or she must still repair any known defects and warn of potential risks.
If an individual is trespassing – meaning he or she does not have the owner’s permission or lawful authority to enter a property – the owner does not owe the trespasser any duties of care, other than a duty not to intentionally cause harm. However, if the trespasser is a child under the age of 18, he or she is treated as an invitee and must be protected from foreseeable risks of harm.
Injuries Often Suffered in Slip and Fall Accidents
Slip and fall accidents can cause much more than minor bumps and bruises. A fall accident in Newark could put a victim in the hospital with painful and debilitating injuries. Some victims never fully recover from their slip and fall accident injuries; they suffer long-term or permanent effects that impact their ability to work and reduce their quality of life.
Slip and fall accidents can result in many serious injuries, such as:
- Broken bones
- Hip fractures
- Bone dislocations
- Knee injuries
- Head and skull injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Back and spine injuries
- Herniated or ruptured spinal disks
- Soft-tissue injuries
- Muscle sprains and strains
- Bruising and contusions
- Cuts, scrapes and severe lacerations
No matter what type of injury you or a loved one suffered in a slip and fall, our attorneys can help. We have years of experience handling complicated premises liability cases throughout New Jersey. Our team of personal injury lawyers can handle even the most challenging injury claims, including cases involving catastrophic injuries and wrongful deaths from fatal falls.
Do I Have a Slip and Fall Case?
If you slipped and fell while on someone else’s property in Newark and wish to bring an injury claim, you will have the burden of proof as the plaintiff or filing party. Your attorney must establish that the property owner or defendant is at fault for your accident with at least a 51 percent likelihood. This burden of proof is known as a preponderance of the evidence.
Four elements must be proven to establish a slip and fall accident case:
- The defendant or accused party occupied or owned the property at the time of the victim’s injury.
- The defendant was negligent (careless) in the care or maintenance of the property.
- The victim suffered compensable losses, such as physical injuries or medical bills.
- The defendant’s negligence was the proximate or main cause of the victim’s injuries.
These elements must be established using clear and convincing evidence. Proof of a property owner’s negligence that may be used during a slip and fall case includes eyewitness statements, photographs from the scene of the accident, video footage of the fall, expert testimony, accident reports and medical documentation. Proof to establish the victim’s legal status as a visitor may also be necessary.
Contact a Newark Slip and Fall Injury Lawyer Today | Free Case Consultations
Holding a property owner accountable for your slip and fall accident in Newark could lead to reimbursement for associated past and future losses. At the Law Offices of Jeffrey S. Hasson, P.C., we have the knowledge, experience and resources to help you pursue the case results that you deserve. We will guide you through each phase of the legal process from start to finish with personalized services. Contact us online or call (201) 928-0300 today to schedule a free case consultation.