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Slipping and falling on a wet surface is something that happens to almost everyone at some point. When the fall happens on someone else’s property and you sustain an injury, you could hold the property owner or occupier liable for your losses.
Speak with one of our seasoned slip and fall lawyers if you got hurt in a wet floor accident in Chilliwack. If you have a viable claim, our legal professionals will work to ensure you receive fair compensation for your injury.
According to British Columbia’s Occupiers Liability Act, anyone who owns or has control over property must make reasonable efforts to keep it safe for people with permission to enter. The law applies to buildings, land, boats, and some temporary structures.
The reasonableness of an occupier’s efforts will depend on the circumstances. It is reasonable to expect a grocer to clean up a spill immediately and have staff regularly mopping up wet days when customers track in water. It may not be reasonable to expect a ferry operator to keep the boat decks completely dry while the ferry is operating.
Signs that warn of a wet or slippery surface may be sufficient where it is impossible to keep a floor completely dry. However, the signs must be prominent, placed appropriately, and easy to read. A lawyer in our Chilliwack office will investigate the circumstances of a slip and fall on a wet floor to determine whether an occupier took reasonable steps to prevent it.
In order to collect full compensation for their losses, an injured person’s conduct must also be reasonable. When someone behaves unreasonably by ignoring a wet floor sign or running on a slippery floor, they may have partial responsibility for their injuries.
The Negligence Act requires each party to an accident to be responsible for their part in it. When an injury case goes to trial, a jury allocates responsibility by percentage. If a jury finds a claimant is 10 percent responsible for the accident, they can collect only 90 percent of their losses from the other responsible parties.
Most injury cases get resolved by negotiated settlement. Insurance Companies representing responsible parties will attempt to shift as much responsibility as possible onto the claimant to reduce their own liability. The lawyers in our Chilliwack office will advocate aggressively to ensure a claimant bears only a fair percentage of the blame for a wet floor accident.
Anyone bringing a claim for compensation after a wet floor accident must prove the owner or occupier was negligent. A claimant can strengthen their case by taking several simple steps at the time of the injury.
Assuming a claimant remains conscious, notifying the property owner or occupier immediately is critical. They also should collect the contact information of witnesses, names of any staff who were present at the time, and note the date and time of the accident. When possible, photographs or video of the accident location can provide critical evidence.
The most important step for someone hurt in a fall on a wet floor is to see a medical professional as quickly as possible. A medical evaluation conducted on the same day can establish a link between the claimant’s injuries and the accident. The lawyers in our Chilliwack office will use the medical record to prove the wet floor accident caused the claimant’s losses; without it, an Insurance Company could claim they were not as badly injured as they say, or that they received their injuries somewhere else.
If you were hurt in a wet floor accident in Chilliwack and you believe the property owner did not take reasonable steps to prevent it, you may have a claim for compensation. Zacharias Vickers McCann has been in business for more than five years, and our legal team is ready to assist you in your pursuit of justice. Talk to us today to find out if you have a viable injury case.