Slip and falls occur for numerous reasons, whether you lose your footing from an unseen patch of ice or trip over a loose floorboard or step. Unfortunately, many accidents of this nature lead to much worse injuries with long-lasting and sometimes even life-changing consequences. Often, these types of accidents can be traced directly back to the negligence of a specific property owner or manager.
If you believe your slipping or tripping accident happened because a landowner failed to provide reasonably safe premises for you, you should strongly consider speaking with a Victoria slip and fall lawyer as soon as you can. While it is often possible to hold negligent landowners liable for injuries and damages caused by slipping incidents, doing so without support from a seasoned personal injury lawyer will make it much harder to recover financial damages.
The exact “duty of care” that landowners in British Columbia owe to property visitors will change somewhat depending on why a particular visitor is on their land to begin with. Broadly speaking, landowners are expected to provide reasonably safe premises that are free of hazardous physical conditions, used for appropriate activities, and have measures in place to prevent “foreseeable” acts from occurring. A failure to fulfill any of these requirements, and which directly leads to a lawful visitor being injured, generally qualifies as legally actionable “negligence.”
Someone injured in a slip and fall accident in Victoria should contact a lawyer immediately since the liable party may be held financially accountable for all losses that resulted, including:
As a qualified lawyer can explain in more detail, there are “caps” imposed by British Columbia law on how much money a plaintiff can demand for “non-pecuniary” damages like physical pain and emotional suffering.
Unfortunately, the abovementioned damage cap is not the only limitation that B.C. law places on slip and fall victims. For example, the Negligence Act holds that any person found partially at fault for causing their own injury through their own reckless or careless conduct is subject to having their final damage award or settlement amount reduced. This reduction will be in proportion to an assigned percentage of “contributory negligence” meant to account for their own misconduct.
In addition, the Limitations Act generally provides people injured through negligence no more than two years to file after being hurt or initially discovering they were hurt through someone else’s negligence. In some scenarios, the limitation may be less than 2 years. It is important that you seek legal advice to ensure you are not missing a limitation. These are just some of the legal roadblocks that a qualified lawyer could help navigate during a slip and fall claim in Victoria.
Accidental falls can cause many types of injuries, including but not limited to catastrophic injuries. If you have suffered harm in this way, you may have grounds to demand compensation from any person who played a role in causing your accident.
As noted above, you have limited time to take legal action after being hurt due to a property owner’s insufficient care for their land. Call today to discuss your legal options in a free consultation with our respected law firm, and learn what a Victoria slip and fall lawyer could do for you.