Are business owners liable if people become injured in their businesses? Sometimes. Even if the business owner is technically at fault, there’s no guarantee you will be able to easily win compensation. People sometimes misguidedly believe they have a guaranteed win if they sue after suffering an injury in somebody’s business, but the situation and what you can prove will likely determine the success of your claim.

Slip and Fall Accidents

Slip and fall claims are a type of personal injury case that falls under the larger scope of premises liability claims. Slip and fall accidents occur when somebody slips (or trips) and falls on someone else’s property. While it is not always the case, a classic example in mainstream media is when a customer falls because they are not warned that the floor is wet. While that scenario can and does occasionally occur in the real world, slip and falls often aren’t that straightforward.

What Actions Should a Business Take to Prevent Premises Liability Claims?

A business owner and their employees are expected to follow certain steps to ensure a business’s premises is safe. They are expected to identify potential dangers and take action to remove them or warn visitors of the risks.

Identify Dangers

Business owners are expected to perform building inspections and stay on top of building maintenance. The employees should undergo regular safety training to ensure they know how to maintain a safe environment by identifying and managing safety hazards. Some hazards that could lead to slip and fall accidents include:

• Wet floors
• Icy or slippery sidewalks, parking lots or driveways
• Torn carpeting
• Uneven walkways
• Obstructed walkways

Take Action

If there are hazards on the premises, business owners or employees should take prompt action to eliminate the threat, such as removing snow from their walkways or using sand or salt to melt ice. If it is a matter of torn carpeting or uneven flooring or sidewalks, the owner should make repairs to remove the danger. Objects blocking walkways, like boxes, or those creating tripping hazards, like extension cords, should be limited as much as possible so people do not trip.  

Warn Visitors of Hazards

In situations where the hazard cannot be easily remedied or removed quickly, employees are expected to warn visitors of the risk. For instance, visitors should be warned via a Wet Floor sign if a floor is wet.

What Is My Responsibility?

Business owners and workers are not the only ones responsible. Shoppers and visitors to a property have agency over their own behavior. If a customer trips on a step because they decide to run up the business’s stairs, the visitor may be found at least partially responsible. It’s not the business’s fault you slipped on a wet floor if you were looking at your phone and didn’t see a wet floor sign.

In many cases, your success is determined by what can or can’t be proven about your accident.

The Key to a Successful Premises Liability Claim Is Negligence

The key to winning fair compensation in a premises liability case is proving the business owner’s or employees’ negligent actions resulted in your injury. Business owners have a duty to eliminate, manage or warn customers of any dangers on the premises. If you can prove that their negligence prevented them from fulfilling this duty and caused you to get hurt, you may have a good chance of receiving fair compensation for your injury.

How Can I Prove Negligence?

Negligence can be difficult to prove. It’s usually best to act quickly to gather as much evidence as possible. If the company has security cameras, the footage could help back up your story if it shows you slipping on a puddle in the store.

In case you cannot get video footage, photos of the hazard could help, but there is still the issue of proving the spill did not occur immediately prior to your fall, or that you were the one who caused the mess in which you slipped.

Witness statements from others in the store can go a long way to demonstrating the company’s negligence, so you may benefit from getting names and contact information from bystanders. 

Fight for Your Compensation After a Slip and Fall in Phoenix

PHX Elite Lawyers connects Arizonans with personal injury lawyers who will fight to get the compensation they deserve. If you have suffered a slip and fall accident or another premises liability injury caused by a business’s negligence in Phoenix, you may want to contact us so you can find a lawyer today.