Cases are stronger if the property owner actually knew of the defect or clearly should have known of it. Some defective and dangerous conditions are long term or permanent conditions. Examples include poor lighting, abrupt changes in floor levels, or a gap or a hole in the flooring. These conditions obviously have existed long enough for the property owner to know about them. Falls because of these types of defects are usually strong cases under Maryland Slip and Fall Law.

Other types of defects may be temporary or short term. Examples of this include slippery or sticky substances on the floor of a store. These cases are harder to prove under Maryland Slip and Fall Law. You have to be able to prove that the dangerous condition existed long enough for the property owner to know about it and have a fair chance to correct it.

To distinguish between these two situations, let's look at two examples.

Suppose you are walking in a grocery store and slip on an ice cream spill that you didn’t see. Assume also that the spill occurred 1 minute before you slipped, was caused by another customer and had not yet been seen by employees of the store.

In this example, the store did not have a fair chance to know about the spill and do anything about it. The store is not liable for your fall under Maryland Slip and Fall Law.

On the other hand, assume the same facts except that the ice cream is still on the floor, say, 6 hours after it was spilled. Under these facts, the sticky and slippery substance was on the floor long enough for the store to know about it, or, at least, long enough that the store should have known about it if it was doing periodic inspections as it should have. In this situation, under Maryland Slip and Fall Law the store is liable for your fall.

If you're still confused, you should consult with a Maryland slip and fall lawyer who has a history of success with these types of cases.

"... you were able not only to represent me very effectively in court, but also to help me personally to get through some very trying times. Thanks to you, my case resulted in a positive outcome, both legally and emotionally. Your extra effort and guidance are second to none. You have earned my legal business for life."*

J.M.
Germantown, Maryland

Do as many of these things as you can . . .

** If there were witnesses, get their names and contact information.

** If possible, make photographs of the scene of your fall as soon as possible.

** Write down all of the details of your fall. Exactly what happened? When did it happen? Why did it happen? What caused your fall? If you fell on a substance, what was it? Exactly how did you fall? What part of your body did you land on? How was the lighting? If you fell outside, what were the weather conditions? What did the property owner – or employees of the property owner – say to you? It is especially important to note anything that they said which indicates that they knew of the defect.

** Safeguard the clothing that you were wearing, especially your shoes. The defense may claim that your shoes were the problem. Keep them, without using them further, for as long as you are considering making a claim. Keep the clothing that you were wearing, too.

If you decide to hire a Maryland slip and fall lawyer, you should do so as soon as possible to give your lawyer time to investigate and evaluate your claim. If you hire a Maryland slip and fall lawyer later, give your lawyer the evidence that you have saved to help your lawyer catch up to the "Bad Guys" who have been investigating the claim from the time that it happened.

If you were a trespasser, the defense will be that the property owner met its duty to you. Under Maryland Slip and Fall Law, these are very difficult cases to win.

The Bad Guys will virtually always blame you, claiming that you should have seen whatever caused your fall and avoided it.

This is the doctrine called “contributory negligence.” Unfortunately, Maryland is one of only 4 states to have this very harsh rule. If it exists, contributory negligence defeats your claim.

Contributory Negligence means that if you contributed in any way to causing your fall -- such as by not paying attention to where you were walking – you have no claim. In theory, if you are only 1% responsible for causing an injury and the property owner is 99% at fault, under Maryland Slip and Fall Law you are not entitled to any recovery from the property owner!

Maryland slip and fall lawyers are trained to evaluate defenses that can defeat your claim. If there is a valid defense, better to know it in the beginning instead of after you have invested months of time and energy in the case.

Under Maryland Slip and Fall Law, "Damages" is the term that refers to the consequences of the property owner’s carelessness. In other words, "What harm did the carelessness cause?"

Some insurance companies call these personal injury claims, or "P.I." claims. Others call them bodily injury, or "B.I.," claims. By whatever name, this is your claim to be compensated for the injuries that the property owner’s carelessness caused.

Under Maryland Slip and Fall Law, P.I. (or B.I.) damages include economic losses and noneconomic losses.

The economic losses that you can recover include . . .

** reimbursement for all of your medical bills for treating injuries that result from the fall,

** reimbursement for any loss of employment income and

** any other economic losses that result from the fall.

If the law merely required the careless property owner to pay for your financial losses, you would not be fully and fairly compensated.

The economic losses are not what you will remember years later about this experience. What you will remember more is the pain of your injuries, the mental uncertainty, the sleepless nights (or whatever your symptoms were) and the disruption to your life that the careless property owner caused.

Because you did nothing to cause these losses, fundamental fairness -- and Maryland Slip and Fall Law – require the one who caused your injuries to compensate you in money damages for such noneconomic losses as . . .

** physical pain,

** mental anguish,

** disfigurement,

** inconvenience,

** physical impairment,

** damage to your marital relationship.

Identifying all of the damages for which you can recover, and gathering legally sufficient proof of them are among the things that a Maryland slip and fall lawyer can do for you.

How much compensation you are entitled to receive for your injuries under Maryland Slip and Fall Law depends on the circumstances of your case. Obviously, that determination will depend on such things as

** how seriously you are injured,

** how long you suffer with your injuries and

** whether you recover fully from them.

What you want is a full and speedy recovery from your injuries. If that happens, you will still have a claim against the property owner, but it will be for less than the claim that you will have if you do not recover quickly or completely.

Fair compensation for your injuries includes the full amount of the medical bills that were caused by your fall, the full amount of the income that you lost as a result of your fall and an additional amount for pain, suffering, inconvenience and the like.

The end result could be as little as about 1 ½ times your out-of-pocket losses for your medical bills and loss of income to an amount 10 times your financial losses, or more, if your injuries are very severe and permanent.

Here, again, an experienced Maryland slip and fall lawyer can help to determine how much compensation is fair. If the Bad Guys won't voluntarily pay what is fair, a Maryland slip and fall lawyer can fight your case in court for you.

Even if there is no liability, you may be able to recover the amount that you spent to treat your fall related injuries.

Many businesses, and private property owners, have a kind of insurance called “medical payments” coverage. It pays for medical bills incurred as a result of an occurrence on the property, no matter who caused the occurrence.

Medical payments coverages, if they exist, are usually limited to five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) or less.

To learn more about Maryland Slip and Fall Law, contact us.