Slip and Fall Accidents

Premises Liability Attorneys for Victims in Grand Rapids, Traverse City, and Detroit

Owners and occupiers of property owe a duty to use reasonable care to protect their customers and others whom they invite onto their land from being harmed by dangerous conditions. Unfortunately, many landowners fail to inspect their land for spilled substances, uneven surfaces, or other hazards that could cause a visitor to trip or slip. One of the most common types of harm that may arise for a visitor on someone else’s property is a slip and fall. At Neumann Law Group, our premises liability lawyers can help you seek compensation for a property owner’s negligence. As a knowledgeable Detroit, Traverse City, and Grand Rapids slip and fall lawyer, Kelly Neumann is ready to advocate vigorously for your rights.

Pursuing Compensation for a Slip and Fall Accident

A property owner’s or occupier’s highest duty of care is owed to “invitees,” or people on the property for a business purpose. Owners and occupiers are required to protect invitees from unreasonable risks of harm posed by dangerous property conditions. This duty is breached when the owner knows or should know of a dangerous property condition and yet fails to provide warnings or repair it.

For example, if a sticky substance falls on the floor of a grocery store, and employees fail to clean it up over a five-hour period, a customer may slip on the substance and suffer injuries. Unless the employees put up hazard cones or provide some other warning, it is likely that the grocery store will be liable in this situation because it had plenty of time to respond to the hazard.

However, many property owners try to defend against these claims on the grounds that a particular hazard was open and obvious. For example, since snow and ice accumulation is common around Michigan entryways during much of the year, the dangers posed by slipping on snow or ice are often open and obvious to a visitor. If a hazard is open and obvious, a visitor is expected to recognize the danger and take reasonable steps to avoid it. There are limitations to this defense in that a slip and fall victim can argue that there were special aspects involved, such that the danger was effectively unavoidable or the danger was unreasonably hazardous.

It often requires a diligent effort to establish a property owner’s actual or constructive knowledge. Evidence may disappear quickly in slip and fall cases, so it is essential to start preparing your claim as soon as possible. You can potentially recover both economic and noneconomic damages if you are able to establish a property owner’s liability,

Contact a Slip and Fall Lawyer in Traverse City, Grand Rapids, or Detroit

If you are pursuing damages after a slip and fall accident, the injury attorneys at Neumann Law Group may be able to assist you. Our principal, Kelly Neumann, is an acclaimed Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Traverse City slip and fall attorney who has regularly secured more than $3 million in personal injury cases each year for the past several years. We represent injured individuals in Petoskey, Warren, Holland, Midland, Muskegon, Saginaw, Wyoming, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Flint, Ann Arbor, and communities throughout the Upper Peninsula. Contact us at 800-525-NEUMANN or via our online form to set up a free consultation. We also represent people in California and Massachusetts.