Chicago Premises Liability and Slip & Fall Lawyers

If you slip and fall on property belonging to a business or another person, determining who is responsible for your injuries can be challenging. Establishing who should pay for your medical expenses can prove to be just as difficult.

A person can slip and fall on the job as well, and the injuries can be quite severe. According to The National Safety Council (NSC), hundreds of thousands of workers are forced to take time off each year due to slip and fall injuries. The organization also reported that 865 workers were killed in fall-related injuries in 2022.

Clearly, slip and fall injuries require serious attention and a response that accounts for the injured person’s full damages. A skilled slip and fall attorney will be able to answer the questions you have after a mishap on another party’s premises and explain your rights.

Liability in a Slip and Fall Claim

In order to prove that another party was liable for injuries sustained in a slip and fall accident, the injured party must establish one of the following conditions:

• The owner of the property or an employee of the business should have noticed a hazard on the property and repaired or removed the possible dangerous condition (i.e. a broken railing on a staircase, a pothole, an obstruction in a dimly lit hallway, etc.). The essential question is whether or not a reasonable individual would have been able to identify the condition as dangerous or whether the property owner or employee had enough time to fix the situation before the incident occurred.
• The owner of the property or their employee was, in fact, the cause of the hazardous condition that led to the slip and fall injury. For example, they could have left an obstacle on a walking path, and a reasonable person would have known they just created a condition that could result in a slip or fall.

Establishing Negligence

In order for a defendant to be held liable for damages in a case involving a slip or fall, he or she must have failed to act as a reasonable person would have under the same circumstances.

There are factors that the injured party should consider when trying to determine if the property owner or their employee acted reasonably:

• Did the property owner or employee routinely check for possible hazards? If so, is there a log, journal or other record showing the check was made immediately prior to the accident?
• Was the dangerous obstacle or hazardous condition around long enough that a reasonable property owner or employee would have taken the steps to remove it?
• Could the dangerous obstacle or hazardous condition have been remedied (i.e., moving the hazard, placing warning signs around the area, blocking access to the dangerous area, etc.)?
• Was the creation of the possible hazard reasonably justifiable? If so, did a reasonable justification exist at the time of the accident?

If you have been injured after slipping and falling on another party’s premises and need professional help, talk to an experienced slip and fall attorney who can give you a better understanding of the legal intricacies of these types of cases.

FAQs About Premises Liability in Illinois