Skip to main content

Tis the Season for Slip and Falls – Who's Liable?

Slip and Fall Injury Attorneys will determine liability

Slip and fall injuries occur all the time–particularly in the winters of Madison, Wisconsin. When you suffer a serious injury due to someone else’s negligence, you have a right to recover damages and compensation. But from whom do you seek it? Liability for your slip and fall injury will depend on the circumstances of your accident: how it happened, what caused it, and whether you could have avoided it. Your slip and fall injury attorneys will want to understand all of this when he or she works on your case.

Negligence

In Wisconsin, as in most states, property owners have a duty of reasonable care toward others. They must ensure that their property is not unreasonably safe for others. The danger has to be one that creates an unreasonable risk to people using the property, and it has to be a danger that the property owner actually knew or should have known about. In these cases, the owner has a duty to resolve the problem, and will be liable if he or she does not.

Open and Obvious Conditions

On the other hand, the property owner will not be liable for a danger so obvious that the visitor should have seen it and could have avoided it. If someone trips on an obvious obstacle when that person could have easily walked around it, for example, the property owner can escape liability. You have a duty to avoid the dangers you should see.

Safe Place Law

In Wisconsin, the Safe Place Statute creates an additional source of liability for injuries in the workplace or property open to the public. Every employer or owner of a public place has a specific duty to maintain the property and keep it safe. A visitor who is injured can pursue damages against the employer, the property owner, or the designers and architects.

If you have been injured in a slip and fall in Madison, Wisconsin, Eisenberg Law Offices can help you get the recovery you deserve. Contact us today to learn more.