If a business welcomes customers to its premises, it is legally responsible for their safety. If a customer is injured on their premises, they can file a personal injury case. Even the most careful businesses may fall victim to such cases.
If you are a customer visiting a business on its premises, you deserve to feel safe. It should be clear that the business has put in some effort to create a reasonably safe environment. If it fails in this responsibility, suing a company for injury may be your best option. A basic personal injury suit has three main elements to prove;
- Duty of care
- A breach of that duty
- Harm or injury resulting from the breach
If you cannot prove all three of these elements, you are unlikely to succeed in your personal injury lawsuit. Here are a few tips to prove the elements and possibly get the compensation you deserve.
Duty of Care
All businesses are responsible for acting reasonably and giving their customers a safe environment to acquire goods or services. This, however, doesn’t mean that they are liable for any harm that customers may face while on their premises. It would be unrealistic to expect businesses to protect customers from all types of injuries.
The legal standards of care are reasonable. In every case, context is more important than what happened. Here are a few requirements that businesses need to observe:
- Give customers a warning if the floors are wet. Warning signs should be placed close to the locations of danger.
- Create a procedure for inspecting the premises regularly and stick to it
- Identify any structural defects that could harm customers and fix them
- Regular cleaning to reduce the risk of slips and falls
In most cases, the court will require expert testimony to establish the expected standards for a specific business.
Breach of Duty
After proving that the business had a duty to protect you, it is time to prove that they breached this duty. If, for example, they offered no warning regarding their slippery floors and you slipped and fell, they can be held liable. Remember that every breach claim should match the duty of care.
Harm Caused
The next step is to prove that the breach of duty caused some harm. The harm may be in the following forms:
- Medical expenses
- Pain and suffering
- The loss of your ability to enjoy life
- Reduced or lost earning capacity
Whatever the case, you need some proof. It may be in the form of your medical bills and records, previous payslips, or expert accounts. You must prove that the harm was indeed caused by a breach on the part of the business.
If you plan on using a company for your injuries, you need an excellent North Bergen Personal Injury Attorney by your side. They will help prove all the three elements of personal injury cases on your behalf and ensure that you get the most from your case. They will worry about all the legal stuff, so you don’t have to.