Herndon Slip and Fall Lawyer
It can happen without any warning: a sudden loss of traction, an unexpected gap in a walking surface, or even an impact from an obstacle that was not there a few moments before. Whatever caused someone to slip or trip and fall on someone else’s property, the consequences of such an incident can be substantial in physical, financial, and personal terms, and any such accident that stems from a property owner’s neglect could justify civil litigation.
However, if you want to preserve your rights and effectively seek restitution after a slipping or tripping accident, you should strongly consider speaking with a Herndon slip and fall lawyer before trying to take any legal action yourself. These cases can require extensive evidence and a fair bit of legal expertise for a plaintiff to have good chances of a favorable outcome, so seeking a knowledgeable personal injury attorney’s help is almost always in your best interests following a sudden fall.
How Liability Works in Trip and Fall Claims
In order for someone to achieve financial recovery following a slip and fall, they must prove that someone else was legally liable for the accident that led to them getting hurt. In practice, this generally means they must show that a property owner or manager failed to fulfill a duty of care—an implicit legal obligation to act in a reasonable way—owed to the injured person.
The duty that property owners owe to other people varies depending on the reason each individual person is on that property owner’s land. As a rule of thumb, landowners have a greater obligation to protect people whose visits have a business purpose than people who are visiting just for personal or social reasons, and they usually owe no duty of care at all to trespassers as long as they do not intentionally try to hurt anyone on their land without permission.
Assuming a property owner owes a duty of care to a slip and fall victim, the next step in that victim’s pursuit of civil compensation is demonstrating that their injuries would not have occurred but for the landowner’s breach of duty. Finally, as a Herndon trip and fall attorney could explain, they must establish the existence and value of compensable losses they sustained as a direct result of that incident.
What Could Potentially Inhibit Civil Recovery?
Just like property owners, slip and fall victims may be found partially to blame for the circumstances leading up to their accident or for worsening their injuries unnecessarily through negligence. In either situation, Virginia’s pure contributory negligence rule might prevent them from recovering any compensation whatsoever, even if the defendant property owner is still primarily at fault for their damages.
Additionally, Code of Virginia §8.01-243 sets a two-year filing deadline for most personal injury claims, with very limited exceptions in extremely specific situations. Guidance from a slip and fall lawyer in Herndon can be virtually essential to effectively navigating around these possible obstacles and securing maximum compensation in cases like this.
Talk to a Herndon Slip and Fall Attorney Today
A sudden fall from any height can have serious consequences if it ends with an awkward landing or an impact against a hard object or surface. Unfortunately, pursuing fair financial recovery after an incident of this nature can be deceptively difficult, particularly for people who fail to retain skilled legal counsel to help strengthen their claim.
A Herndon slip and fall lawyer’s representation could make a tremendous difference in your odds of achieving the case outcome you want. Schedule your initial consultation today.
