If you were seriously injured in a slip and fall accident on someone else’s property, you may wonder whether you can file a legal claim against the property owner. Your options will depend on several details about the accident, including whether the property owner had notice (knowledge) about the hazardous condition that caused your injuries.
Such details can be more complex than they seem, which is why it is a good idea to speak with an experienced slip and fall attorney at Maschka Personal Injury. Our firm serves Mankato and the surrounding areas, and our attorneys regularly help injury victims understand how the law applies to their cases. When you schedule a free consultation about your accident, one of our attorneys can explain actual vs. constructive notice in Mankato slip and fall cases and how to prove that the property owner was responsible for your injuries.
Proving notice can be an important part of establishing liability. The types of notice for Mankato slip and fall injury claims include actual and constructive.
Actual notice is the most straightforward, and often the easiest to prove. It means that the property owner knew about the hazardous slip and fall condition because they or an employee personally caused it, someone reported the hazard to them (either in writing or verbally), or they directly saw the hazardous condition before it led to an accident.
In the case of a slip and fall at a store, you might be able to prove actual notice by showing written reports from staff members based on customer complaints about a spill.
When you allege constructive notice, you are claiming that the property owner should have known about the hazard for one of several reasons, including:
To prove constructive notice for a slip and fall in a store, you might show—with security camera footage—that the hazardous condition had existed for hours ahead of your accident.
Our Mankato attorneys know how to address actual or constructive notice issues and combat the common defense strategies property owners use to reduce or deny their liability in slip and fall cases. These include the following tactics:
As long as you were not more at fault than the other party for causing the accident, you may be eligible for compensation. Our attorneys use all available evidence to keep blame where it belongs—on the property owner.
If a hazard is visible and apparent to a reasonable person who is paying attention, property owners have less of an immediate duty to warn visitors about it. Property owners often make this claim when a slip and fall hazard was neither open nor obvious. We will use all the available evidence to counter claims that you were to blame for your injuries.
If you have questions about actual vs. constructive notice in Mankato slip and fall cases or want to learn more about your legal options, reach out to Maschka Personal Injury today. During your free consultation, you can share your story and learn more about how our firm can help.
