Accidents occur much more often than most people realize. While you may be aware that car accidents occur daily in Florida, another extremely common accident that is seen is a slip and fall accidents.
While many assume that slip and fall accidents are minor, this isn’t always the case. In other situations, the accidents can cause serious injuries, along with long-term complications for the victims. The injuries occur so often in the state that laws have been enacted to protect these victims, too.
If you suffer an injury due to a slip and fall accident, you need to be aware of what the laws in Florida say and how they apply to your case.
Laws Related to a Slip and Fall Case
There are only a few statutes that govern personal injuries cases in Florida; however, those laws often apply to slip and fall injuries, too. The majority of injury claims made in Florida, are typically decided by precedent. What this means is that injury cases in the past dictate how a future case will be handled. This is why it’s important to hire a lawyer who is well-versed in the law – this ensures you get a fair chance of receiving compensation.
If you want to pursue a slip and fall case, you have to ensure it is valid. An attorney has to prove four elements for this to be true:
- The defendant in the case owed you a duty of care, which means they had a certain obligation to act with a certain level of care to prevent you – or anyone else – from suffering an injury.
- The defendant in the case wound up violating this duty by not acting or recognizing threats to someone else’s safety.
- The violation of this duty is what resulted in your accident. You have to prove the link between your injury and the actual violation in order to qualify.
- You have suffered damages because of the defendant’s violation of the duty of care they have.
Slip and Fall Cases and the Statute of Limitations
Any personal injury case, including a slip and fall claim, is subject to a statute of limitations. This means that the state puts a limit on how long you can file the complaint.
According to the statute of limitations in the state of Florida, you have approximately four years to file an injury claim. If you don’t file your claim within that four-year period, then the court is not going to hear your case, and this will result in you being barred from being able to seek the compensation you deserve.
According to the statute, you have to discover the actual harm, or you have to have a reasonable suspicion that someone else’s negligence caused you an injury and from that “point of discovery” the four-year clock is going to start ticking. However, there are some situations where the court is going to disagree with when the plaintiff should have discovered they were injured. This means you should never assume that you can wait the full four years before you pursue your case.
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