Definition

Personal injury refers to the area of law that seeks to protect victims who are harmed by the action or inaction of another person or entity.

Slip and Fall

Any good slip and fall summary would begin by stating what might not be so obvious to many, which is that: the mere existence of a defective condition in a store or public place of business does not, as a matter of law, render the proprietor liable for an injury caused by the defective condition unless the proprietor knew, or in the exercise of reasonable care ought to have known, of the defect, i.e. the slippery substance that caused the slip and fall.

Thus, in a situation where someone slipped on small-sized spot of clear liquid on floor where store employee had inspected floor for hazards 10 to 15 minutes before customer's fall, the store owner would not be liable even though an employee was nearby at time of fall. Likewise, although a customer who slips and falls in a restaurant may have established that she was without knowledge of substance on floor, she must still establish that the restaurant had actual or constructive knowledge of any substance on floor to succeed on a negligence claim. To constitute constructive notice, a defect on the premises must be visible and apparent and it must exist for a sufficient length of time prior to the accident to permit defendant's employees to discover and remedy it

The length of time a substance must remain on the floor before the owner should have discovered it, for purposes of premises liability, and what constitutes a reasonable inspection procedure vary with each case, depending on the nature of the business, the size of the store, the number of customers, the nature of the dangerous condition, and the store's location.

In sum, the general rule in a slip and fall case is this: to succeed you must first prove that there was a dangerous substance, that the owner or proprietor knew of the dangerous substance, or should have known of the substance in the ordinary course of business, and the dangerous substance wasn't open and obvious and easily avoided.

Traffic Accidents

If you have been in a traffic accident, the law holds the responsible party liable and compensates the injured party. Recovery or liability can be based on negligence, recklessness, or product liability. In the simplest of cases, your insurance company will handle the matter, compensating the injured party.

Unfortunately, not all cases are so simple. If you have been in a traffic accident, you are best advised to write down all the information you can and take subsequent notes on any harm you suffered and their daily affects.

In many states, you will need to report the accident to your state DMV as soon as possible. Do so, but give only a brief statement, and do not in any way implicate yourself by admitting liability. A determination of who was at fault will depend on who was the careless driver based on traffic laws. Where there was a traffic violation, there is a stronger presumption that the traffic violator was at fault. However, where there were no major traffic violations, a court or insurance company will have to determine who was at fault based on the accounts of the drivers and eyewitnesses, if there were any.

If you were hit from behind, however, it is nearly always the other drivers fault, because traffic laws require that drivers must maintain a certain distance from the automobiles in front of them to be able to stop in time. Moreover, cars making a left turn are nearly always liable to cars coming straight in the other direction unless the car going straight was going to fast or ran a light.