Establishing Responsibility in Fairfax Slip and Fall Cases

A popular misconception about slip and fall cases is that the property owner is always inherently responsible for the injury. It is up to the accident victim and their attorney to show that the property owner’s negligence directly contributed to a person’s injuries. An accomplished slip and fall lawyer may have experience establishing responsibility in Fairfax slip and fall cases and could fight for a positive outcome for you.

Common Defendants in Fairfax Slip and Fall Cases

Common defendants in slip and fall cases include homeowners, property owners, corporate property owners such as leasing companies and management companies, as well as store and business owners. All of these companies may be companies that are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the property and in their duties, may have liability for injuries that occur on their premises. Often when attorneys are establishing responsibility in Fairfax slip and fall cases, they are holding these individuals responsible.

Factors Attorneys Examine When Establishing Liability

Slip and fall lawyers need to look into a variety of factors to determine who the responsible party is and who is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the land. There are many different factors that they may look into. This may include looking into property records, tax records, insurance records and all sorts of payments to determine who was responsible for the property at the time of the incident, what their duties were, and things of that nature.

Proving Breach of Duty

Proving that breach of duty is what lead to the accident is a common situation that slip and fall attorneys will face on a regular basis. How do they prove that the failure or the harm caused by the at-fault party directly led to the injuries suffered by the victim? This is commonly known as causation. To prove causation, the lawyer has to prove that without the dangerous condition, the injury sustained would not have occurred. This is sometimes difficult and sometimes quite straightforward in slip and fall cases.

For example, someone slips on a slippery substance and that substance causes their feet to drop from under them and then they fall, then that causation is a pretty direct connection. If, however, the methods of injuries were complicated, this may require extra witnesses to come in and testify as to how the certain mechanics of the defective conditions or dangerous condition caused the injury.

Establishing Causation When it is Less Obvious

There are also instances where lawyers have to prove causation when the type of injury sustained is not open and is not really obvious to someone analyzing the case.

For example, if someone slips and falls, but has a shoulder injury or severe back injury that is not consistent with the lower body fall, an expert may be necessary to come in and talk about the forces at play and how the twisting and falling or jarring caused other injuries.

Evidence in Slip and Fall Cases

There is a wide variety of evidence that is used when establishing responsibility in Fairfax slip and fall cases. An attorney may have to introduce evidence such as tax records, plan records, management contracts and things of that nature.

To prove liability, the lawyer may have to introduce events on how the area became defective and then how the injury occurred as a result.

Witness testimony is in the official part of establishing a liability. As far as establishing responsibility, that is establishing whether or not they have the correct entity involved in the suit where essentially, they may not be as important as documentary evidence.

How Can Evidence Change Who May be Deemed Responsible?

Certainly, evidence may influence who the responsible party is. For example, in a slip and fall case that occurs because a delivery company created a dangerous condition on a third-party’s loading dock, it may be that the delivery company is responsible and not the loading dock company.

Therefore, it is important to have evidence of how the incident occurred as well as contracts between the two entities may influence who is actually held responsible in that type of situation, so that’s just one example, but there may be a wide variety of scenarios in which evidence is required to determine who is responsible for the incident. If an individual wants to know more about establishing responsibility in Fairfax slip and fall cases, and how evidence can affect the outcome of their case, they should speak with a knowledgeable slip and fall lawyer that could answer their questions.