The process of establishing liability in Chattanooga slip and fall cases varies with every claim. However, individuals seeking damages should begin working with a skilled slip and fall lawyer who can prove the hazardous condition, how long it was there and what the property owner should have done about it. In order to do this, an attorney may need to look for other people who have been injured on the property to use as witnesses.
Impact of Age on Liability Cases
A lot of times defendants try to say an older accident victim is not entitled damages for one of two reasons. The person falls because they are old not because there is a problem with the property. The victim’s injuries are the result of old age rather than the result of a fall. When Establishing liability in Chattanooga slip and fall cases, attorneys try to turn these arguments around on the defendants by remarking age. They may say that an older person is obviously going to come to the person’s property so the person’s property needs to be safe for older people and that older person is easy to hurt.
They are more likely to get hurt when a person allows dangerous conditions to exist on the person’s property. But those are the ways that age factors into it. Everybody is treated the same under the law. The person’s duty to a 10-year-old is the same as the person’s duty to a 90-year-old. If there is a danger there and it hurts a 10-year-old, the person owes money to the 10-year-old and if it hurts a 90-year-old, the person owes money to the 90-year-old but they might owe a lot more money to the 90-year-old because they might get hurt a lot worse than a 10-year-old got hurt.
Where Will Slip and Fall Cases be Heard?
Slip and fall cases are almost always brought in circuit court. A case for smaller injuries can be brought in general sections court but after the person has a trial in general sections court, there is a direct appeal to circuit court where the person can get another trial with a jury. Most of the time, the cases are in Hamilton County circuit court. If the person has an out-of-state defendant, it could actually get removed to federal court, the person has district court but that is unusual for a slip and fall case.
Common Defendants in Chattanooga
Common defendants in slip and fall cases are any type of retail store for discount stores like Wal-Mart, Target, Food City or Publix. It also includes clothing stores because things get dropped on the ground. Lawyers have experienced cases against apartment complexes where apartment complexes do not maintain their sidewalks or there is water or ice where water should not be. They do not keep their drains falling properly and speaking with a lawyer about these conditions can benefit a potential clients ability to claim damages. They can help you begin the process of establishing liability in Chattanooga slip and fall cases.
Proving Responsibility
The key to proving whom the responsible party is is who is in control of the property. Who has the legal right and the legal authority, and therefore the legal obligation, to keep the property in a safe condition, to inspect the property, to know what is going on in the property. There a many ways of establishing liability in Chattanooga slip and fall cases. To prove that the failure to meet their obligations caused the fall can be done in a lot of different ways. Sometimes it is obvious and sometimes it is not obvious. Often, when it is not obvious, the person has to hire experts.