Potholes in parking lots are common, and they can be dangerous both to cars and to people who are walking between their vehicles and buildings. Stepping in a pothole can cause a fall that may result in broken bones, head trauma, spinal cord injuries, cuts, scrapes, and bruises.
If you were hurt when you slipped and fell on a pothole in a parking lot, you might have medical bills totaling thousands of dollars. You may need to continue to receive care for several months, and you may have a lifelong disability as a result of the accident.
You may not be able to perform your old job, at least not on a full-time basis. You may only be able to do a fraction of the tasks you used to handle. If you had a physically challenging job, your injuries might prevent you from ever returning to that line of work. You may have to undergo new training and seek employment in a different field.
While you are trying to sort things out and get back on your feet, the bills for medical care and for your regular expenses, such as your mortgage, auto loans, and credit cards, might be piling up. Without your income, you and your spouse may be finding it difficult to make ends meet. You may have used up most or all of your emergency fund, and you may be thinking about using money that you had invested for retirement to cover essentials.
A Miami slip and fall caused by potholes in parking lots lawyer may be able to help you seek compensation for your losses. You may be entitled to a financial award to cover bills for the medical care you have already received, as well as anticipated costs for treatment you will need in the future. You may also be eligible for compensation for lost income and lost or reduced earning potential, plus pain and suffering. Contact the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine today at 1-800-747-3733 to speak with a member of our staff about how we may be able to assist you.
Liability for a Slip and Fall Accident in a Parking Lot
Potholes can cause serious injuries. Since parking lots experience heavy traffic from both vehicles and pedestrians, property owners have a duty to warn visitors of potholes to prevent accidents.
If you fell in a parking lot at a business or at a residential property, such as an apartment building, the owner of the premises may be found responsible for your injuries. According to the principle of premises liability, property owners owe a duty of care to visitors.
If you were a customer at a business or a residence, the property owner had a duty to protect you from harm. That means that the owner should have had a pothole in the parking lot filled in to prevent an accident. Until repairs were made, the area should have been clearly marked or blocked off to warn you and other visitors of the danger. If the owner of the property failed to take reasonable action to protect people, that party may be found negligent and may be held liable for your injuries.
If you slipped and fell because of a pothole in a parking lot outside a government-owned building, determining who was liable and seeking justice may be more complicated. Governments have sovereign immunity that protects them from liability in some cases.
Under Florida Statute § 768.28, however, you may be able to seek compensation for your losses if you were injured because of an employee’s “negligent or wrongful act or omission” while that individual was acting within the scope of employment if that person would have been liable acting as a private person.
A member of our staff can explain these and other issues in more detail. Call the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine at 1-800-747-3733 to discuss your case.
How a Miami Slip and Fall Caused by Potholes in Parking Lots Lawyer Can Help You Seek Justice
The team at the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine can investigate to determine who was liable for the accident that caused your injuries. We can interview you and witnesses and review any surveillance footage of the accident that may exist. We can also review maintenance and repair records to find out whether the owner was aware of the pothole and failed to have it repaired.
If you were hurt in a parking lot at a business or at a residential property, we might be able to file a personal injury lawsuit against the owner. If you were injured in a slip and fall accident in the parking lot outside a government building, we might be able to sue the relevant government or agency for compensation for your losses, depending on the specific circumstances.
An attorney representing the defendant may argue that you are partly liable for your injuries because you did or failed to do something that contributed to the accident. For example, you may have ignored a warning sign and entered an area that had been blocked off, or you may have failed to see the pothole because you were walking through the parking lot while looking down at your phone.
Under those types of circumstances, you may still be able to collect a financial award because of Florida’s comparative negligence law, Florida Statutes § 768.81. Your amount of compensation will be reduced to take your percentage of liability into account.
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The statute of limitations to file a personal injury lawsuit will depend on the party being sued. In a case involving a business or a residential property owner, you will have four years to file a lawsuit, according to Florida Statutes § 95.11.
If you want to take legal action against a government agency, you will have to provide notice within three years of the date when you were injured, as required by Florida Statutes § 768.28. If you miss the relevant statute of limitations, you may be unable to seek a financial award, even if you have a valid claim.
Gathering evidence and figuring out who was liable for the slip and fall accident may be a complex and time-consuming process. The sooner you contact the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine, the sooner our team will be able to get to work. Call us today at 1-800-747-3733.
