South Florida Injury Lawyer Blawg
Carpets, rugs, and floor mats can cause individuals to fall and sustain serious injuries. Many times, this happens because the carpet, rug, or floor mat was not properly secured to the ground or has uneven edges that pose a risk to those walking on them. If you have been injured in a slip and fall on someone else’s property, you may be able to recover compensation for your injuries and hardship.
A slip or trip and fall occurs when your foot strikes something that causes you to lose your balance. Floor mats and rugs can be dangerous when they are not slip resistant on the top and bottom sides. Sometimes, an individual will step on a floor mat or rug, and the entire thing will slide forward, causing the individual to fall. Edges of carpets that get twisted and bunched up also pose a hazard to people who may be susceptible to tripping over them.
Slip and falls involving carpets and rugs can lead to serious injuries, such as broken bones, broken wrists, fractures, cuts and scrapes, torn ligaments, sprains, concussions, and even death.
If an individual slips and falls and is injured because the property owner failed to correct a hazard caused by a loose, uneven, or torn carpet or rug, that property owner may be liable under the legal theory of negligence. Property owners in Florida have a legal duty to keep their premises in generally safe condition so that those who visit the land are not injured in accidents that could easily be prevented. In Florida, visitors are categorized in one of three ways: invitees, licensees, or trespassers.
Invitees are persons who enter the property for business purposes, such as customers. Invitees are owed the highest duty of care. Property owners are required to i) warn invitees of concealed dangers that are known or should be known to the property owner and that are unknown to the invitee and cannot be discovered through the use of ordinary care; and ii) to use ordinary care to keep the property in a reasonably safe condition. Thus, if you are injured due to hazardous carpet on a commercial property, such as a restaurant, supermarket, mall, or any other market, as a result of an unreasonably dangerous condition on the premises, the property owner may be liable for your harm and may have to compensate you for your injuries.
A licensee is a social guest. Licensees are owed a higher duty of care than trespassers but lower than an invitee. Property owners have an obligation to exercise ordinary care and must avoid a known or reasonably expected risk of injury due to a hazardous condition. Thus, if you tripped or fell due to faulty carpeting at your friend’s house, you may be entitled to compensation.
A trespasser is a person who enters the property without the explicit or implicit permission of the property owner. Trespassers are not owed any particular duty of care by the property owner. In fact, the only responsibility that property owners owe trespassers is to prevent a wanton and willful injury.
If you have been hurt in a slip and fall caused by loose, uneven, or torn carpet, you should reach out to a skilled Miami slip-and-fall lawyer who can analyze the facts of your situation. At the Law Offices of Robert Dixon, we can review the circumstances of your fall to determine whether you may have a valid claim. You can trust that we will make every effort to get you the compensation you deserve for your harm. To learn more, plase call us at 1-877-499-HURT (4878) or contact us online.
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