According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over one million Americans are injured during slip and fall accidents each year in the United States. Many of these slip and fall accidents occur in buildings where facility owners neglected to take proper safety precautions that could have prevented these falls.
Read on to learn about three common slip and fall injury myths that prevent many people from filing slip and fall claims when they should and the truth behind them.
Myth #1: You Have No Personal Injury Claim if You Were Partially At Fault for the Fall
Many people who slip and fall think that they are completely to blame for the accident if they did anything that may have contributed to it. For example, a person may feel solely to blame if they were wearing high-heeled shoes or shoes with bad traction when they slipped on a puddle of water or if they were running instead of walking when they tripped on a torn edge of a rug.
The truth is that the state of South Carolina has a modified comparative negligence rule that applies to all personal injury claims. This rule states that any person less than 50 percent at fault for an accident may file a personal injury claim against the person or entity whose negligence they believe also contributed to the accident.
When both parties are determined to be at fault, a judge determines just how much each party contributed to the slip and fall, and then adjusts the compensation awarded to the injured based on this determination.
Myth #2: The Premise Owner is Only At Fault if the Floor Was Wet
Many slip and fall accidents occur on wet floors since spilled liquids are such a common floor hazard. However, there are a wide number of additional premise hazards that can lead to slip and fall accidents.
Slip and fall accidents can also occur on uneven ground, broken floor tiles, and damaged carpets. Stairwells are especially hazardous. Some slip and falls also occur when business lighting is extremely dim or when dry debris is present on floors that should have been removed.
Never hesitate to consult an attorney to determine if you have a slip and fall accident claim, even if you do not know exactly what hazard contributed to your accident. They can inspect the area where you fell, check into local building codes, and perform other tasks that may reveal the premise hazard that led to your fall, even if it is not obvious to you.
Myth #3: You Are At Fault if a Hazard Sign Was Present When and Where You Fell
Many people believe that they are completely at fault for a slip and fall accident if a hazard sign was present near the area where they fell that alerted them of a potentially hazardous floor problem. However, the truth is that many factors affect whether these signs protect the owner from accident liability.
If the sign was not in a location where you could easily see it, it was too small to easily read, or the hazardous floor was your only path out of the building, then the presence of the sign may not protect the facility owner from liability. Photos of the sign and its location when you fell can help your attorney determine if the sign protects the facility owner from slip and fall liability or not.
Everyone should understand personal injury law, including laws that govern slip and fall liability. Forget these three slip and fall accident myths and contact the experienced personal injury attorneys at Palmetto Injury Lawyers LLC for help filing a slip and fall injury claim today.