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Email UsA slip and fall accident is no laughing matter. While it is often portrayed as a punchline on sitcoms, it can result in serious and permanent injury. You may be suffering from a fractured wrist or hip, a head injury, or even a spinal cord injury. These types of injuries can result in serious impairment, pain and suffering, and a lifetime of disability. If another person or entity is to blame for that slip and fall accident, you have a right to seek compensation for your injuries and for the damages you have suffered. But what happens if you slip and fall in a parking lot? Who is to blame then?
Who is Responsible?
If you’ve been injured in a parking lot, there may be multiple parties to blame for your accident – or there could be no one to blame. Often times, slip and fall accidents in parking lots are nobody’s fault and simply an accident. Other times, the accident is caused by negligence on the part of the store owner, property manager, or other patron. In order to determine who is to blame, you must first determine who was responsible for maintaining the condition of the property.
- Was the parking lot publicly owned?
- Was the parking lot owned by an individual?
- Was the parking lot maintained by the county or the city?
- Was the parking lot owned and maintained by a private business?
Since the majority of parking lots are privately owned, you must deal with that business and their insurance company if you are injured in an accident.
Investigating the Cause of Your Slip and Fall Accident
Once you’ve determined who is responsible for maintaining the parking lot, you must then determine what led to your accident. Some of the most common causes of slip and fall accidents due to owner negligence includes:
- Standing water
- Ice
- Black ice
- Snow
- Potholes
- Cracks or divides in pavement
- Poor lighting
Determining Negligence
Once you’ve determined the elements that led to your accident, you must determine if the property owner was negligent. Property owners are not responsible for every accident that occurs in their parking lot, just the ones that they contributed to. For example, if you slipped and fell on ice that wasn’t removed from the property, then you may have cause to file a claim. In the case of ice, the property owner must take reasonable care to ensure the safety of their parking lot. This means salting the parking lot, placing warning signs if applicable, and removing snow and ice promptly.
Your lawyer will need to investigate to determine if the property owner had sufficient knowledge of the dangers and then failed to take appropriate safety measures to prevent accidents from occurring. In the case of the parking lot ice, your attorney might ask if the property owner knew the ice storm was coming, if they failed to salt or attempt to remove the ice, and if they purposefully kept the store open despite knowing that ice had accumulated on their property.
Have You Been Injured in a New Jersey Slip and Fall Accident?
If you or someone you love has been injured in a slip and fall accident, it is important to know that you may not have to battle these injuries alone. At Rosner Law Offices, P.C., we know that injured slip and fall accident victims need money to pay for their injuries. When their injuries are caused by a property owner’s negligence, we can help. To learn more about your rights, call the Vineland, New Jersey slip and fall accident attorneys at Rosner Law Offices, P.C. today for a free initial consultation and review of your case. Contact us at (856) 502-1655 or fill out our confidential contact form and someone will call you back immediately. Our office is conveniently located in Vineland, New Jersey and we are ready to help you through this difficult time. Call today!