Slip and fall

Slip and fall, also known as a trip and fall, is a personal injury claim or case based on a person slipping (or tripping) and falling. It is a tort, and based on a claim that the property owner was negligent in allowing some dangerous condition to exist that caused the fall.

Property owners generally have two basic defenses to public liability slip and fall claims:

• The first defense is that they were not negligent. For example, the owner may claim that the banana that a patron slipped upon had been dropped on the floor only moments ago by another patron, and that, in the exercise of due diligence, a typical store owner acting with reasonable care would not have had time to discover the danger and take steps to mitigate the danger.
• The second and more typical defense is that the person who was injured was at fault. For example, the owner may claim that any reasonable patron, exercising due diligence for his or her own safety, would see a banana on the floor, and take those steps necessary to avoid slipping on it.

Depending upon the intent or negligence of a responsible party, the injured party may be entitled to monetary compensation from that party through a settlement or a judgment. However, because of a general perception that slip and falls are often at least partly the fault of the person injured, slip and fall injuries are usually worth less than injuries from other types of torts. Aside from compensation for injuries, the injured person may get compensated for the lifetime effect of the injuries.

See also

• Wet floor sign