A common type of personal injury lawsuit that is filed in Ohio pertains to the slip and fall. These types of occurrences can be caused by a wide range of conditions. For example, ice on the sidewalks during the winter months or inadequate maintenance in a grocery store can both cause people to slip, fall, and incur an injury.
As far as who is responsible for slip and fall accidents, the owner of the property on which the injury occurred can be held liable. The owners or possessors of a property can typically be deemed legally responsible for the injuries incurred if the incident took place on their property and they failed to take the necessary actions to prevent or correct the issues that resulted in the accident.
Property owners are typically not required by law to remove the snow or ice that builds up outside of the building, but if there are conditions on the property that results in an excessive accumulation of snow or ice, the property owners can be held liable. This can apply to slip and fall accidents that occur due to ice building up on the roof, melting and dripping to the ground due to a clogged drain, and then freezing to the ice again on the ground. Property owners can also be held liable if a slip and fall accident occurs because a parking lot has a sloped surface that caused melting ice to create puddles, which then were refrozen into ice patches.
A personal injury attorney may advise clients who were injured on the property of another party whether they have a case to pursue financial damages under premises liability law. The attorney may litigate to hold negligent property owners liable for slip and fall accidents that resulted from the negligent maintenance of a property.