Property owners in the Lone Star State are expected to keep their land in a reasonably safe condition and to warn lawful visitors about hazards they are aware of but have not yet addressed. Any landowner who neither fixes a hazardous condition nor warns visitors about it in advance may be legally liable for injuries a visitor suffers from slipping or tripping and falling over that hazard.
In order to successfully hold a landowner liable for this sort of accident, you need to prove the landowner had notice of the hazard in the first place. Depending on the circumstances leading up to your injury, that can often be much easier said than done. Here is a brief primer on the role of notices in Houston slip and fall cases, as well as how a seasoned slip and fall attorney from Ramji Law Group could help you build the strongest possible claim around your unique accident.
In legal terms, there are two types of notice a landowner can have of a dangerous condition on their property: actual notice and constructive notice. Actual notice is direct knowledge of a hazard’s existence based on the landowner personally seeing it with their own eyes or being notified of it by a subordinate. Constructive notice is a more subjective state of being where the landowner reasonably should have had knowledge of the hazard’s existence based on factors like the amount of time it had already been present on their property.
Landowners have a legal duty to warn all lawful visitors of hazards they have actual notice of, with the only exception being that landowners do not have to warn illegal trespassers about known hazards. Constructive notice can only serve as valid grounds for a slip and fall case in Houston if the injured person filing suit was an invitee on the defendant landowner’s property, meaning they were visiting lawfully and specifically to benefit the landowner financially or in some other quantifiable way.
Unlike actual notice, which can often be established objectively through written, testimonial, and sometimes even video-recorded evidence, figuring out whether someone had constructive notice of a hazard that led to a slip and fall accident in Houston can be a very subjective and tricky process. For example, most retail store owners do not personally patrol their own property on a regular basis, so they are dependent on individual employees to perform inspections and notify them of any hazards. Whether a particular employee should have noticed a hazard in the course of their normal job duties can be a contested matter.
Likewise, the question of whether a hazard existed long enough that a property owner or one of their affiliates should have noticed it can have different answers in different situations. Sorting through all available evidence to construct a strong civil claim is something a skilled legal professional could provide invaluable assistance with.
Of course, establishing notice in a Houston slip and fall case is just one step of many you need to take during the legal process. You also need to prove that your injury stemmed directly from the hazard in question, that you suffered specific losses directly because of that injury, and that you are demanding an appropriate amount of money to pay for those specific losses.
Working closely with a capable lawyer from Ramji Law Group may be essential to moving through this process efficiently and getting the best possible result from your lawsuit or settlement demand. Call (713)-888-8888 today to discuss your legal options.
We’re here to help. Schedule a freeevaluation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in Houston, TX today by filling out the form below, or call us at (713) 888-8888