Slip-and-fall accidents are a common factor in personal injury cases in Georgia. Injuries sustained from slip-and-fall accidents can vary in severity, but common injuries include broken bones, injured spinal cords and even traumatic brain injuries.
In Georgia, business owners owe a duty of care to guests which means they must take reasonable steps to free their premises from potential hazards. Where this duty has been breached, and causation for your injuries can be established, you may be able to file a personal injury claim.
Typically, there are two ways that causation may be established, and these are outlined below:
Cause-in-fact
Essentially, “cause-in-fact” means that your injuries would not have occurred but for the carelessness of the management or owner of the establishment. Furthermore, cause-in-fact means that negligence can be established in the chain of events that lead to your injury. For example, if the owner spilled some liquid on the steps, didn’t clean it up or warn anybody, and that led to you falling down some stairs, the owner/manager of the premises would be liable for having failed to remove the hazard that caused your fall.
Proximate cause
Proximate cause means that the event of your injury may not have been obvious, but nonetheless, it was not unforeseeable. For example, it may not be obvious to envisage a traumatic head injury resulting from dim lighting in a stairwell. However, it is also not impossible for a reasonable person to foresee this outcome.
Understanding how to establish causation in slip-and-fall accidents could be in your best interests. It is important to note that establishments owe a duty of care to a guest. If you feel that your injury is a result of a breach of that duty of care, then there are legal options available to you.
