Woman Visiting Social Party Falls into a Hole in a Poorly Lit Area and Fractures Hip – Who Is Responsible?
Recently I was contacted by a client who attended a party at a friend’s house and what turned out to be a pleasant evening ended up with catastrophic consequences. My client, a middle aged woman, attended a party where alcohol was being served. As she left the suburban home with her husband and walked down a pathway to her car, she tripped and fell into a hole in a poorly lit area sustaining multiple comminuted fractures of her legs, hip, and arms. She required multiple open reduction surgeries and the doctors have told her that she will have a permanent shortening of her leg and she has been unable to work. This case presents a not so uncommon situation for this experienced Pennsylvania premises liability or slip and fall lawyer.
Typically, the owner or renter of a premises where a slip and fall accident took place is liable for an accident under an area of law known as premise liability. If the slip and fall occurs as a result of a dangerous or hazardous condition on someone else’s property and it can be proven that the owner of the property knew or should have known of the defect, then the victim may be entitled to compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. The Pennsylvania premise liability firm of Reiff & Bily has an extraordinarily successful track record in obtaining substantial compensation for medical rehabilitation and loss of life’s pleasures for victims injured in slip and fall and unsafe property accidents.
Premise liability is a complex and specialized area of personal injury law and a slip and fall accident lawyer must carefully investigate this claim and prove the following:
1. That the property owner or management responsible for the property knew or should have known of the dangerous condition.
2. That the party failed to make either condition safe or warn the persons of the danger.
3. The victim did not have reason to know of the dangerous condition and suffered an injury as a result.
If you add alcohol into the equation, as was the case mentioned above, an additional duty may be imposed on the property owner under a social host doctrine. The Pennsylvania premise liability and slip and fall law firm of Reiff & Bily has recovered millions of dollars for victims of slip and fall accidents.
