If You Are Injured On A Business’ Property, What Should You Do?

Just imagine this: you are visiting your favorite bookstore. And, while you are at this bookstore, you slip and fall on a wet stairway. This stairway had been mopped just moments prior, but there was no indication of this.

Scenarios very similar, if not identical, to the above happen every single day. But it isn’t always unclear what to do if something like that happens, much less how to do it.

Going over what you should do if you are injured on a business’ property, and speaking with a California personal injury attorney, will allow you to obtain the compensation you are entitled to.

What Is Premises Liability?

The term “premises liability” refers to businesses’ legal responsibility regarding injuries that occur on their property.

Just as an example, if someone is injured in a bookstore, not unlike the one outlined in the introduction, then that bookstore can bear a legal responsibility regarding that injury.

The keyword in the sentence outlined above is “can.”

Every business owes a duty of care to its customers. But, a business is, in most cases, only liable for an injury if certain conditions are met. And with that in mind, some of the most notable of these conditions are as follows:

  • The business should’ve known about the dangerous conditions that led to the injury.
  • The business failed to take active measures to prevent those dangerous conditions from leading to an injury.

Returning to the example we outlined in the introduction, if that bookstore chose to mop the stairs, but did not lay down a sign, then they have failed to take active measures to prevent an injury they knew could occur.

You can, as a result of this, take legal action against them.

What Can You Do To Obtain Damages From A Business?

To obtain damages from a business, you must:

  • Obtain a medical evaluation so that you can understand and then present the injuries you have received; a number of injuries can start off small, but become much more serious, so you should always get checked.
  • Document where your injury occurred, what surrounds the scene, and any other relevant information; you can do so with photographs and videos, among other things.
  • Gather physical evidence that you can present, such as a damaged personal item or torn clothing, among a wide variety of other possibilities.

Right after that, you must also:

  • Demonstrate that the business owes you a duty to care.
  • Show that the business should’ve known about the conditions that led to your injury.
  • Demonstrate that the business failed to take active measures to prevent your injury.

Every single one of the above will make it much, much easier for you to obtain damages from a business. But, out of all of the steps outlined above, there is one step that is far more important: speaking with an attorney.

If you speak with an attorney, you will be able to build an effective case that is, more than anything else, legally sound and effective.

On the other hand, if you do not speak with an attorney, obtaining the damages you are entitled to can be, and almost always is, far more difficult than it should be.

Speak With A Northern California Personal Injury Attorney Today

If you were injured while at a business, then you can, and should, obtain damages. Speak with a Northern California personal injury attorney at Maire & Deedon today and we will help you do so.