Does Your Establishment Maintain a Standard of Care?

Premises liability cases involve 5 essential elements: an injured person, identifiable hazard, causation, notice and duty. The foundation for a slip and fall case is to establish that the business establishment was negligent by not exercising a reasonable level of care. Historically, the burden falls onto the injured party to prove that the business establishment had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition or that the business establishment should have acted to remedy it. In addition, the injured party must prove constructive knowledge by circumstantial evidence. Thus, showing that the dangerous condition existed for such a length of time that in, the exercise of ordinary care, the business establishment should have known of the condition or the condition occurred with regularity and was therefore foreseeable.

Although it has and remains difficult for an injured person to successfully bring litigation against a business establishment for a slip and fall claim, owners and operators of business establishments must still observe their duty to prevent dangerous conditions from occurring. Constructive knowledge allows an injured party to prevail in a slip and fall case if the business establishment fails to routinely inspect the premises for hazardous conditions.

Walkway audits can identify areas prone to slip and fall accidents.

By: David M. Gill - Expert Witness

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