Car Dealership Slip And Fall Case - Expert Advice

[Joseph M. Maus]

The following is an expert answer given by Florida Premises Liability Lawyer, Joseph M. Maus, and taken from AllExperts.com, a free Q & A service on the internet:

Subject: Slip and Fall case at Car Dealership

Question: I was at a used car dealership in Stuart, Florida and I fell down the top step of a pair of wobbly wooden stairs. The stairs had about six steps. I also was holding my 7 month old son in my hand when I fell. I landed on my back on the bottom step. When the owner and co-workers saw me fall, they did not try to call an ambulance or write an incident report. I got drove to the ER right after. Do I have a case and how much money am I looking at?

Answer: A property/business owner in Florida owes two duties to people lawfully on the property/business - 1. maintain the property in a reasonably safe condition, and 2. warn business invitees (customers and people legally on the property) of dangerous conditions that the person may not be able to appreciate on their own.

That means that the car dealership, and possibly the person that owned the building, was required to keep the stairs in a safe condition. Your question says that the stairs were wobbly. If by wobbly, you mean they were not stable and would move back and forth, and not being stable is what caused you to fall, then you most likely have a cause of action against the business and the person that owned the building.

Your email says you drove to the ER after the fall, but it does not indicate what your injuries are, and how severe the injury is. Do you need additional medical treatment? Have any diagnostic tests been done, i.e. x-rays, MRI's?

In Florida, you can make a claim for another parties negligence under a slip and fall case. The damages you can recover are for medical injuries, medical bills, lost wages and loss of future earning capacity, and pain and suffering. The amount you may be able to recover depends on a number of factors. These include the nature and severity of your injury, how much medical care you received and whether you need any additional care in the future, whether the injury has caused you to miss time from work, or prevented you from returning to your chosen profession, and additional damages for pain and suffering. Right now, without knowing more about the stairs and the extent of your injuries, it would be difficult to give you an accurate estimate of the slip and fall case value.

If you want to pursue a claim, you should retain an attorney right away. You need someone experienced in premises liability claims to investigate the claim now before critical evidence/witnesses are lost. You also need to seek follow up medical care after the ER.

I handle premises liability claims (a slip and fall case) on a contingent basis. That means there are no attorneys fees if we do not recover money for your injury. If there is a recovery, the attorney fee is a percentage of what is recovered, usually 33%. If there is no recovery, you do not owe anything. I am also AV rated by Martindale Hubbell, the highest legal ability and ethical rating awarded.

For more information about a slip and fall case, contact Florida premises liability lawyer Joseph M. Maus at 1-866-556-5529, visit his website at www.jmmlawyers.com, or email him today.