Tampa Slip & Fall Accident Lawyer

What to Do After a Slip and Fall Accident

A slip and fall accident can be devastating, leading to major injuries and possibly permanent effects. Fall accident victims in Tampa may be hurt, scared, and worried about where they can turn to repay the costs of their medical bills and other damages.

Darrigo & Diaz can provide highly qualified slip and fall accident lawyers in Tampa to represent victims and give their case a fighting chance. We provide vigorous legal representation on behalf of clients who have been injured at a business or other form of private property. 

Working with a Tampa fall accident lawyer allows you to assess all of the related damages and seek the maximum amount of compensation available, by law. Your attorney will document your claim with strong evidence and the type of legal arguments that compel juries — and insurers, by proxy.

Contact a slip and fall attorney in Tampa to learn more about your opportunities to seek financial compensation for your injury-related losses. Schedule a free, no-obligation case evaluation today when you call  (813) 774-3341 or contact us online.

Slip & Fall Hazard

Common Places in Tampa Where Slip and Fall Injuries Occur

A slip and fall accident can occur anywhere in Tampa. When the injury happens on a piece of private property, the owner could be held liable for the damages caused if it can be determined that they were negligent in some way.

Property owners who cause slip and fall accidents through their own negligence can be held liable for the resulting costs — called damages.

For this reason, property owners and businesses throughout Tampa have an obligation to provide safe conditions for visitors and to avoid causing slip and fall accidents through negligence.

Examples of the types of properties and businesses where slip and fall injuries are known to occur include:

  • Bars and nightclubs
  • Restaurants
  • Hospitals
  • Grocery stores
  • Retail stores
  • Sports facilities
  • Parking lots
  • Walkways leading to business entrances
  • Museums and galleries
  • Amusement parks
  • Private residential properties

Proving Negligence After a Slip and Fall Accident

Not all slip and fall incidents are the fault of a property owner or other responsible party. If the accident was considered impossible to have prevented, no one can technically be held liable for its results. 

The role of the accident victim also matters. Florida’s pure comparative negligence laws mean that the size of a possible payout will be reduced according to the determined portion of a fault the victim contributed to their own incident, such as if the victim admitted that they could have seen the puddle they slipped in had they been paying more attention.

Accordingly, your Tampa slip and fall attorneys will attempt to prove that the property owner was directly responsible for the accident and the damage it caused because they were negligent. 

Proving negligence requires demonstrating four main components:

  1. Duty: The responsible party had a duty of care to protect the accident victim from harm
  2. Breach: They lapsed in their duty, either by failing to act in a way that could have prevented the dangerous condition or by acting in a way that created the condition
  3. Proximate cause: The breach in the defendant’s duty of care directly led to the dangerous condition and the injury that resulted
  4. Damages: The injury led to damages that can be recovered through the legal system

Foreseeable Danger

Another major component of premises liability cases, like slip and fall accidents, is whether the dangerous condition was foreseeable. This means that the responsible party either knew it existed or should have known it existed had they exercised “ordinary care” as a “reasonable person” would. 

Examples include a condition that was known to reoccur, such as a puddle that formed from a leaking pipe, or conditions that presented obvious dangers, such as a weak patch on a floor. 

Property owners and managers are expected to inspect, maintain, and monitor their property for dangers like these, so ignorance is not always an excuse. If a dangerous condition cannot be reasonably addressed, the owner has a duty to visibly warn visitors about the danger.

Different Standards of Care

A property owner (or the property’s current tenant responsible for the premises’ safety) will owe different levels of care to someone depending on their status 

  • Invitee: Someone who has been invited to the property for the owner’s benefit, such as a customer visiting a business. This category demands the highest standard of care, including active measures to prevent, identify, and remove any obvious dangers, or at least provide a warning about them.
  • Licensee: Someone who enters a property for their own benefit but who has the express or implied consent of the owner to do so. Examples include solicitors and certain uninvited guests. Property owners have a duty to warn these individuals about hazards and to not create conditions that would “willfully or wantonly” harm them.
  • Trespasser: Someone who enters a property without the consent of the owner, especially in the context of illegal entry. The property owner cannot create “an unreasonable risk of physical harm” to trespassers, such as rigging an unmarked booby trap.

Your Tampa fall injury lawyer may need to argue which of these categories you fall into in order to underscore your rights as a victim and the duty of care that should have been owed to you.

Damages Available After a Tampa Fall Injury

If you were hurt in a slip and fall accident in Tampa, the resulting losses you have experienced could be eligible for a damages recovery claim. These include economic damages, such as the expense of your hospital stay and medical treatment, as well as non-economic damages, such as the pain and suffering you have experienced.

Common damages available in a Tampa slip and fall case may include:

  • Medical bills — past and future
  • Out of pocket treatment expenses
  • Lost wages
  • Compensation for permanent disability or disfigurement
  • Pain and suffering
  • Loss of enjoyment of life
  • Punitive damages

Your attorney will work with you and your medical service providers in order to assess and document the full extent of your injuries.

Receive a Free Case Evaluation, And Start Seeking Compensation

The longer you wait to file your slip and fall injury claim, the more potential obstacles could arise that could hinder your ability to obtain all of the compensation you would be legally entitled to.

Speak with a Tampa slip and fall accident attorney from Darrigo & Diaz to learn about your legal rights and what strategies you could have available after your injury.

Call (813) 774-3341 or contact us online now to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation and to potentially get started on your case.

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