There are millions of slip and fall accidents each year. Many of these incidents involve customers or clients falling while in a commercial business. For these cases, an important legal question arises: who is responsible for any resulting personal injury, the customer or the business?
The answer is—it depends. Businesses have a duty to keep their premises safe, but this doesn’t mean all instances of slipping and falling are the businesses fault. Under Georgia’s premises liability law, certain requirements must be met for slip and fall claims to be viable against businesses.
Georgia Premises Liability Law
Customers or clients of a business are classified as “invitees” under Georgia law. This means that, because the landowner has invited them to come onto the property, the business has an affirmative duty to ensure that its property is safe for its customers.
Store owners thus have a duty to protect their customers from foreseeable harm by taking reasonable steps to clean up any hazards in their store. Typical hazards include spilled drinks or food, knocked over merchandise, uneven surfaces, or damaged handrails or flooring. When a person slips and falls in a store due to hazardous conditions, they can bring a claim against the store owner. To win premises liability cases, a plaintiff must prove the following elements:
- A hazard posing an unreasonable risk of injury existed;
- The store had actual or constructive knowledge of the hazard;
- The store failed to take reasonable steps to either eliminate the hazard or warn people of the danger, and
- The hazardous condition caused the victim’s harm.
The “Hazardous” Condition Requirement
Merely proving that some condition in the store caused the injury isn’t enough; a plaintiff must show that that condition presented an “unreasonable risk of injury.” Gibson v. Symbion, Inc., 277 Ga. App. 721 (2006).
Proving Knowledge of the Risk
Actual knowledge of a hazard exists if a store created the hazard itself or was notified of the specific hazard in question. Proving actual knowledge is usually straightforward, but even if actual knowledge can’t be proven, it doesn’t mean that a slip and fall victim has no case. This element can also be established by proving that the store owner had constructive knowledge.
Constructive knowledge exists if a store should have been aware of a risk, even if it didn’t actually know about it. Constructive knowledge is proven by circumstantial evidence, such as how long a hazard had been present before the injury took place, what the store’s inspection procedures were prior to the accident, and how frequently the particular hazard occurs.
Proving that the Business Didn’t Exercise Reasonable Care
A plaintiff must also prove that the store didn’t take reasonable steps to prevent the harm. Reasonable care could include eliminating the hazard, or sufficiently warning customers about it.
Defenses to a Slip and Fall Claim
Even if all of the above elements are met, a plaintiff could still lose a slip and fall claim. If a plaintiff was fully aware of the risk before walking into or over the hazard, they may not be able to gain compensation from the store because they will have assumed the risk of harm. Similarly, if a plaintiff was contributorily negligent in causing their own harm, damages are more difficult to recover.
Contact Attorney Joel Williams if You Have Suffered a Slip and Fall Accident
If you have been injured in a slip and fall accident inside of a business’ premises, it is important to have an experienced premises liability lawyer investigate your potential case. If you would like more information about this issue or would like to schedule a free consultation, please call us at 833-LEGALGA.
