PERSONAL INJURY SOLICITORS MONAGHAN BARRY HEALY & COMPANY

PERSONAL INJURY

Determining Negligence is vital in Slips, Trips and Falls Claims

Slips, trips, and falls are a common form of injury in personal injury claims. The owners of property, whether private, commercial, or State owned, are required by law to take reasonable steps to avoid such accidents happening on their property.

It is becoming more common nowadays that the courts are dismissing false or exaggerated claims, so it is important that people taking such cases have had genuine accidents and that they can establish both that the property owner was negligent and that such negligence was the cause of the accident.

Examples of claims that would fail are:

·       At the time of the accident the claimant was trespassing on the property. This is where the claimant had no right to be on the property when the accident occurred.

·       Where the claimant caused the injury through their own dangerous or reckless actions.

·       Where the claimant ignored warnings of the property being dangerous.

·       Where there was clearly a dangerous building or part of a building in dangerous condition which the claimant ignored.

A general rule applies to property owners that they owe a duty of care to lawful visitors to maintain their premises in a clean and safe condition. This applies very much in the workplace so that employers, whether they own the property or lease it, have a duty of care to ensure the building is safe for employees to work in.