Can a Building Owner’s Violation of a Building Code Ever Be Used In Claim?

Many conditions can cause a slip and fall injury on someone else’s property.  If the owner, manager, or tenant was negligent, causing a dangerous condition or allowing an unsafe situation not up to building codes, and that condition led to the slip and fall injury, a slip and fall attorney may be able to file a premise liability claim. 

Premise liability means that the owner/possessor is responsible or liable for the slip and fall injury that happened on their premises.  

Causes of a Slip and Fall Injury
A slip and fall injury may occur on someone’s property under conditions such as torn carpets, wet floors, cracked sidewalks, inadequate lighting, uneven flooring, and more.  If any of those conditions were dangerous and existed for a significant period so that the owner/possessor should have corrected them but did not, a building violation slip and fall attorney may be able to file a premise liability lawsuit for your slip and fall injury.

In addition, there are a few situations where a property owner/possessor did not ensure that all building codes were met when construction was completed.  If your injury occurred because of that code violation, your attorney may have grounds to file a premise liability claim. They may also be able to file a premise liability claim if the property owner/possessor did not maintain that property according to codes, and a slip and fall injury occurred as a result.  These code violations can be electrical, plumbing, or structural; but if they cause a dangerous condition that results in a slip and fall injury.

By contrast, the person who suffers a slip and fall injury may be at fault for their own injury, and a personal injury lawyer may advise you that you do not have a premise liability case.  People can be careless and distracted, suffering a slip and fall injury where no dangerous condition exists. 

There are other times when a visitor acts irresponsibly and is at fault for their slip and fall injuries.  As long as there was no dangerous condition or negligence on the part of the property owner, a building violation slip and fall attorney will not have grounds to file a premise liability claim.  Therefore, too, if a property own has marked an area unsafe or off limits, so that a reasonable person should have avoided it, and a slip and fall injury occurs there, a building violation slip and fall attorney may reject your premise liability claim.

Grounds for Premise Liability
In order for a personal injury lawyer to file a premise liability lawsuit for a slip and fall injury, one of three conditions must generally exist.  The owner/possessor of the property must have caused the dangerous condition or code violation.  They must have known about the dangerous condition or code violation and ignored it.  The dangerous condition or code violation must have existed for long enough that an owner/possessor performing reasonable maintenance would have seen it and corrected it.  If a slip and fall injury results, a building violation slip and fall attorney may have grounds to file a premise liability claim.

Premise Liability Lawsuit Process
If you have suffered a slip and fall injury on someone else’s property and you believe their negligence caused it, you should consult a building violation slip and fall attorney who will be able to advise you whether or not you should file a premise liability claim.  Be sure you have kept a written record of what happened so your building violation slip and fall attorney will have enough facts to compile a premise liability lawsuit.  If there were witnesses, have your building violation slip and fall attorney contact them to testify about your slip and fall injury.  The more evidence you have, the more likely it is that your accident attorney will be able to prove premise liability.

Your lawyer will attempt to settle your premise liability suit out of court, if possible.  Nevertheless, if the conditions of the injury are complex enough, your legal counsel may need to employ a mediator to help.  If those negotiations fail, the next step is for attorney to take your slip and fall injury case to trial.  There a judge and jury will decide if injuries were due to a unsafe area or buidling violations.