A Slip & Fall Accident Can Have Life-Changing Effects

A simple slip and fall at the grocery store can have life-changing effects. But, is it the store’s fault? One key consideration is looking at the condition of the thing that caused your fall to determine how long it went unnoticed by the store. The “thing” that caused your fall, often referred to in the legal world as the “dangerous instrumentality,” can be literally anything from a can of chicken soup to spilled water.

In many cases, the store’s video recorder will not have footage of your fall, let alone footage of how the dangerous instrumentality got there in the first place. So, the Courts look for circumstantial evidence to determine if the store was negligent in failing to clean up the issue before you fell.

For example, if you slipped and fell on a piece of produce, a key piece of evidence would be how brown and trampled did the produce look? If the instrumentality that caused your fall looks like others have previously walked over it, that raises the inference that it’s probably been there for awhile and the store should have noticed it through regular inspection. Or, in an egregious case, other customers have pointed out the issue to a store employee, and the store had as of yet failed to do anything about it. This failure to take reasonable steps to keep the store safe for customers is negligence and you have the right to be compensated.

If you, a friend, or loved one has slipped and fallen at a store, contact the slip and fall attorneys at Santini Law for a free consultation.