Premises Liability
Understanding Trip and Fall Cases in Georgia
Trip and fall cases fall under the legal category of “premises liability”, which is a broad term that includes many different kinds of cases. In general, premises liability refers to the legal duties that a property owner or manager has toward the public. The cases that our law firm handles fall into several categories:
“Slip and fall” or “trip and fall” incidents are familiar to most people.
Rape and Assault cases in apartments or commercial places are another main category that our firm handles. Often referred to as “negligent security cases,” they refer to the landlord’s failure to protect tenants.
Trip and Fall Cases in Georgia
The first thing to know is that you should not immediately call a lawyer just because you fall down. In fact, our firm will only accept trip and fall cases when the fall caused the victim to break a bone or to need surgery. This is not because these are the only cases that deserve attention, but because we want to focus our attention on helping the clients who have had a life-changing injury that truly requires our legal representation. So the first thing you should do after a fall is ask yourself, “Is my injury really serious enough to get a lawyer involved?”
If the answer to this question is “Yes,” then the second question to ask is “who is responsible for the injury?” Keep in mind that just because you fall on someone else’s property, this does not mean that it is definitely their fault. If you are walking through Publix, for example, and you trip over a box of cereal and become injured, the Open and Obvious Doctrine says that this is probably not the store’s fault. Because the cereal box was large and easily visible, common sense says that you should have been able to see it and avoid it. On the other hand, if milk has been spilled on a store’s white floor and is not cleaned up for a long period of time, then someone’s slip and fall is probably the store’s fault.
In general, in order to establish that the store is at fault, the injured person has to demonstrate that the owner 1) had “actual or constructive” knowledge that the item or substance was in place to cause a fall and 2) that the injured person slipped or tripped despite exercising care on their part.
In the past, judges would often throw out cases because the injured person admitted that they were not actually looking at their feet as they were walking. However, because that seemed unfair, the appellate court decided that even if a person was not on constant lookout, the case can still go to a jury.
Even so, you should know that slip and fall cases are still quite vulnerable to Motions to throw out the case before it can get to a jury. If the store owner’s lawyers file a Motion for Summary Judgment, then they can try to convince the Court that the jury will not have enough evidence with which to make a decision.
One obstacle that can come up in slip and fall cases is an inspection log that the property owner can submit in an effort to show that they had a reasonable inspection schedule in place. “Reasonable” patrol times vary according to the law, but if a grocery store can show that they looked for hazards around the store every 15-20 minutes, then the Court will probably dismiss the case. This may seem unfair, but remember that no one can expect a store to patrol its grounds constantly, looking for anything that could be out of place every minute.
A good example of how these cases are considered is Perkins v. The Val D’Aosta Co., Case No. A10A0413 (Ga. Ct. App., July 9, 2010).
So if storeowners can try to get a case thrown out by saying that the obstacle was in place too recently for the store to notice it, how does our firm respond? Simply put, we use detective work and depositions. If there has been a serious slip and fall or trip and fall case, it will probably go into litigation, and at that point we talk to store employees and managers and look through store records and videos. Although stores will often begin by claiming that they have no responsibility, this defense tends to fall apart when hourly wage employees testify under oath.
Bottom line? Do not let yourself become discouraged just because the store claims they are not responsible, because there is often more to the story.
Examples of slip and fall cases that our firm is currently handling:
Our client slipped on water at a Publix grocery store and tore her meniscus. The water was spilled by an employee and surveillance showed that there were employees in that area who had ample opportunity to clean up before the client’s fall.
A man slipped on spilled milk in a Kroger frozen foods aisle and broke his elbow. Video confirmed the fall itself and showed that aisle inspection had not occurred for several hours before the incident.
When entering a local Walmart, a woman tripped on a door mat and suffered from torn shoulder ligaments, resulting in surgery. Eyewitness statements revealed that the old door mat edges had been turned up for weeks without being adjusted.
Final Notes about Trip and Fall Liability
Most people understand that trespassers have very few rights when they enter someone’s property. Most property owners understand that their only duty towards trespassers is not to “willfully or wantonly” hurt them. However, there is a key exception to this rule that you may not have heard of: the attractive nuisance doctrine. The best example of this doctrine is probably a neighborhood swimming pool. Because most people are aware kids love to swim, it makes sense that they might trespass on someone’s property to access a pool. After a local child died from trespassing and swimming in a local pool, the Appellate Courts considered how to determine what precautions should be taken. Ultimately, they determined that property owners are not responsible, as long as they make a reasonable effort to prevent trespassing, like putting up a strong fence. After all, what else is a property owner supposed to do?
But does this mean that it is impossible to win such a case? Definitely not. I have handled many cases that may have seemed impossible at first, including a case involving a gate that had been left unlocked and broken so that any child could have gotten in easily. Another case involved a child who died while trying to play on an exercise machine inside his apartment’s gym. In that case, we were able to show that access was not properly controlled, meaning that the property owner was in fact responsible.
Another important category to understand is the “licensee”. Any property owner is legally required not to expose a licensee to “wantonly and recklessly” to dangers that are not obvious.
Common examples of licensees include door-to-door salespeople and any kind of social guest.
Above all, the law reserves the most protection for people called “invitees”.
Rather than just refraining from causing harm, property owners are required to exercise ordinary care with invitees, such as keeping the property safe. Some examples of invitees are shoppers in stores, people who are hired to do work on someone’s property, and other people who enter property in order to benefit both owner and guest. Our office has seen many cases involving invitees who were shoppers at Kroger, Publix, and Family Dollar. While I frequently have conversations with potential clients who have been injured in these stores, after exploring the details of the case I often have to advise them that their claim is simply not legitimate. Both Slip and Fall and Trip and Fall cases are more complicated than they might appear, and if you are talking to lawyers, before hiring one you need to make sure that he or she is being realistic with you.
Trip and fall cases fall under the legal category of “premises liability”, which is a broad term that includes many different kinds of cases. In general, premises liability refers to the legal duties that a property owner or manager has toward the public. The cases that our law firm handles fall into several categories:
“Slip and fall” or “trip and fall” incidents are familiar to most people.
Rape and Assault cases in apartments or commercial places are another main category that our firm handles. Often referred to as “negligent security cases,” they refer to the landlord’s failure to protect tenants.
Trip and Fall Cases in Georgia
The first thing to know is that you should not immediately call a lawyer just because you fall down. In fact, our firm will only accept trip and fall cases when the fall caused the victim to break a bone or to need surgery. This is not because these are the only cases that deserve attention, but because we want to focus our attention on helping the clients who have had a life-changing injury that truly requires our legal representation. So the first thing you should do after a fall is ask yourself, “Is my injury really serious enough to get a lawyer involved?”
If the answer to this question is “Yes,” then the second question to ask is “who is responsible for the injury?” Keep in mind that just because you fall on someone else’s property, this does not mean that it is definitely their fault. If you are walking through Publix, for example, and you trip over a box of cereal and become injured, the Open and Obvious Doctrine says that this is probably not the store’s fault. Because the cereal box was large and easily visible, common sense says that you should have been able to see it and avoid it. On the other hand, if milk has been spilled on a store’s white floor and is not cleaned up for a long period of time, then someone’s slip and fall is probably the store’s fault.
In general, in order to establish that the store is at fault, the injured person has to demonstrate that the owner 1) had “actual or constructive” knowledge that the item or substance was in place to cause a fall and 2) that the injured person slipped or tripped despite exercising care on their part.
In the past, judges would often throw out cases because the injured person admitted that they were not actually looking at their feet as they were walking. However, because that seemed unfair, the appellate court decided that even if a person was not on constant lookout, the case can still go to a jury.
Even so, you should know that slip and fall cases are still quite vulnerable to Motions to throw out the case before it can get to a jury. If the store owner’s lawyers file a Motion for Summary Judgment, then they can try to convince the Court that the jury will not have enough evidence with which to make a decision.
One obstacle that can come up in slip and fall cases is an inspection log that the property owner can submit in an effort to show that they had a reasonable inspection schedule in place. “Reasonable” patrol times vary according to the law, but if a grocery store can show that they looked for hazards around the store every 15-20 minutes, then the Court will probably dismiss the case. This may seem unfair, but remember that no one can expect a store to patrol its grounds constantly, looking for anything that could be out of place every minute.
A good example of how these cases are considered is Perkins v. The Val D’Aosta Co., Case No. A10A0413 (Ga. Ct. App., July 9, 2010).
So if storeowners can try to get a case thrown out by saying that the obstacle was in place too recently for the store to notice it, how does our firm respond? Simply put, we use detective work and depositions. If there has been a serious slip and fall or trip and fall case, it will probably go into litigation, and at that point we talk to store employees and managers and look through store records and videos. Although stores will often begin by claiming that they have no responsibility, this defense tends to fall apart when hourly wage employees testify under oath.
Bottom line? Do not let yourself become discouraged just because the store claims they are not responsible, because there is often more to the story.
Examples of slip and fall cases that our firm is currently handling:
Our client slipped on water at a Publix grocery store and tore her meniscus. The water was spilled by an employee and surveillance showed that there were employees in that area who had ample opportunity to clean up before the client’s fall.
A man slipped on spilled milk in a Kroger frozen foods aisle and broke his elbow. Video confirmed the fall itself and showed that aisle inspection had not occurred for several hours before the incident.
When entering a local Walmart, a woman tripped on a door mat and suffered from torn shoulder ligaments, resulting in surgery. Eyewitness statements revealed that the old door mat edges had been turned up for weeks without being adjusted.
Final Notes about Trip and Fall Liability
Most people understand that trespassers have very few rights when they enter someone’s property. Most property owners understand that their only duty towards trespassers is not to “willfully or wantonly” hurt them. However, there is a key exception to this rule that you may not have heard of: the attractive nuisance doctrine. The best example of this doctrine is probably a neighborhood swimming pool. Because most people are aware kids love to swim, it makes sense that they might trespass on someone’s property to access a pool. After a local child died from trespassing and swimming in a local pool, the Appellate Courts considered how to determine what precautions should be taken. Ultimately, they determined that property owners are not responsible, as long as they make a reasonable effort to prevent trespassing, like putting up a strong fence. After all, what else is a property owner supposed to do?
But does this mean that it is impossible to win such a case? Definitely not. I have handled many cases that may have seemed impossible at first, including a case involving a gate that had been left unlocked and broken so that any child could have gotten in easily. Another case involved a child who died while trying to play on an exercise machine inside his apartment’s gym. In that case, we were able to show that access was not properly controlled, meaning that the property owner was in fact responsible.
Another important category to understand is the “licensee”. Any property owner is legally required not to expose a licensee to “wantonly and recklessly” to dangers that are not obvious.
Common examples of licensees include door-to-door salespeople and any kind of social guest.
Above all, the law reserves the most protection for people called “invitees”.
Rather than just refraining from causing harm, property owners are required to exercise ordinary care with invitees, such as keeping the property safe. Some examples of invitees are shoppers in stores, people who are hired to do work on someone’s property, and other people who enter property in order to benefit both owner and guest. Our office has seen many cases involving invitees who were shoppers at Kroger, Publix, and Family Dollar. While I frequently have conversations with potential clients who have been injured in these stores, after exploring the details of the case I often have to advise them that their claim is simply not legitimate. Both Slip and Fall and Trip and Fall cases are more complicated than they might appear, and if you are talking to lawyers, before hiring one you need to make sure that he or she is being realistic with you.