Maryland Personal Injury Slip and Fall

As in any Maryland personal injury case the plaintiff must provide liability and damages. Liability in the premises liability case or slip and fall as we generically refer to them revolves around notice. The owner of the property must have a reason to know of the danger and then fail to correct the danger or warn the plaintiff of the danger provided the plaintiff could not discover the danger himself with the exercise of ordinary care. Also, depending upon how the plaintiff is categorized the duty owned by the owner changes. For example the duty owed to a social guest is different then the duty owed to a business invitee. I find the most pertinent questions in my interview with a potential client is a slip and fall is what made you fall, how did the danger get there if you know, and how long was it there before you arrived. This last question is generally answered by circumstantial evidence. I once had a slip and fall at a gas station. My client feel on oil left by a prior vehicle. How long was the oil there before she arrived was a major problem. I solved the problem with eye witnesses who testified they saw foot prints in the oil and tire tracks in the oil. Some of the foot print stains actually travelled from the oil spill right to the attendant's window where customers pay. We won the case. The owners will always argue we did not know of the danger. However, if the danger was there for a sufficiently long enough period of time or the owner's own conduct created the danger, then you have some thing to work with in terms of proving liability. Since these are always difficult cases on liability the damages have to be adequate to justify the work the attorney will invest in the case. If you have a slip and fall case and you need to bounce it off an attorney please feel free to call. I am more then happy to review the facts with you and give you my opinion.