The owner of property is not liable for every accident that may take place on his premises. However, the property owner is responsible for accidents that occur as a result of his negligence or the negligence of his agents and employees. For example, a store owner may be responsible for injuries to a customer resulting from an accumulation of liquid on the floor if the owner or his employees were responsible for the liquid being on the floor or if they knew or reasonably should have known of its existence and failed to take the steps necessary to remove it.
Similarly, the owner of a house may be responsible for someone's injuries that resulted from a fall caused by a loose step, inadequate lighting or other defective condition. In some situations, there may be more than one person or company at fault and therefore responsible for your injuries. One such example is where a property owner has hired a company to clean the floors and someone slips and falls on the floor because there were no signs posted warning that the floor was being clean and was slippery. In such cases, both the property owner and the cleaning company may be liable for the injuries resulting from that slip and fall accident.
With the recent Supreme Judicial Court opinion of Papadopoulos v. Target Corp., Massachusetts is now in line with other states when dealing with injuries resulting from a slip and fall on ice or snow. Whereas the injured party had been required to prove that the fall was caused by an unnatural accumulation of snow or ice, the determination of whether the land owner will be liable for the accident now depends on the amount of foot traffic expected on the property, the extent of the reasonably foreseen risk and the cost and burden of removing the ice or snow. Essentially, the standard will be similar to that of all other types of slip and fall cases: the landowner has a duty to act as a reasonable person under all of the circumstances.
With all accident claims it is important that certain steps be promptly taken. An attorney will generally make sure that the following are done:
- A thorough examination of the site of the accident is conducted;
- Witnesses are interviewed concerning how the accident occurred;
- Local codes are reviewed to determine whether the landowner was in violation;
- Reports from police or other agencies are obtained;
- Written notice of the accident is sent to the landowner.
The attorneys at Yellin & Hyman are skilled at promptly and thoroughly taking all necessary actions following an accident. With offices conveniently located in Franklin and Hyde Park, Yellin & Hyman, PC is readily available to assist you with your most urgent and pressing legal needs.
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For more information or to schedule a free initial consultation with an experienced lawyer, please contact Yellin & Hyman today.
