| Accidents Outside Your Home - For Someone Else Who Has Been Injured or Died |
| Introduction |
Normally accidents due to improper conditions of the premises, properties are often known as slip and fall cases. If a person whom you are representing has injured or died in a property or a place where he was a visitor, then you can claim compensation on his behalf.
You should claim compensation as quickly as possible, or if you have crossed the time limit set by the law then consulting an experienced attorney would be helpful. |
| The Law Says, |
If the person who died was injured in someone else’s property/premises then the owner/occupier of the premises would be held responsible “if” you can prove that his acts of negligence had caused the injury or death. She/he may be the owner of the property, a tenant, the local authority.
You should be able to prove that
- The owner/possessor created situations responsible for accident.
- The owner/possessor did not act upon improper conditions of the premises(for example the floor was wet due to spilling of oil, and he did not get it cleaned immediately and the person slipped over it and died).
In case of residential properties
- The landlord was negligent as he is the proper authority over the premises and he did not take adequate care to prevent the condition to be created in the first place, in some cases it can be alleged that the landlord created the conditions himself/herself and thus can be liable for the slipshod.
- It is known that landlord did not repair the condition despite knowing that it was not difficult to repair the condition.
- A serious injury was the foreseeable consequence of not fixing the condition.
- The landlord's failure to take reasonable steps to avoid an accident caused the tenant's slip and fall injury.
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Generally, the persons who have visited a premise can fall under any of the following three categories:
- Invitee
- Licensee
- Trespasser
Normally, the law uses the simple discretion to determine the status of the visitor. That is whether the visitor was invited or he trespassed illegally. Invitee is for example a customer in store. Invitee has greater chance for claim because it is assumed that the owner took necessary precautions or created the conditions that are conducive for free movement of the invited guest.
In the later two cases that is licensees and trespassers, it is understood that there is no promise from the owner to take reasonable care of the person who trespassed.
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The occupier or the owner will not be held responsible, if he had given the following
- He/she might have given a proper warning of the impending danger of moving in the premises(For example, he put a sign board warning about the spilt paint or he might have warned verbally about the same).
There was a note by the owner saying that he/she would not be held responsible for the individuals inside the premises(Dangerous zones in Zoos, or area under construction). |
If the owner did not take adequate care or give proper warning, then you can sue him for
- being neglectful
- not giving proper warning.
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| If you observe, the two claims are quite similar. In both cases, you must prove that the person who was injured/died because of an act which the occupier performed deliberately or failed to do. If the person would have been injured/died in any case with the neither of the above reasons being the main reason(s), then the occupier will not be responsible for such mishap. |
| If the person who died or injured was not an invitee into the premises, then the case is little weak. However, help is at hand, as there are number of experienced attorneys who can provide the right guidance. |
You can only bring a claim on behalf of the person who died and for losses which you undergo as a consequence of his/her death, if you fall within the groups mentioned below and also you satisfy a number of other clauses. The categories of persons who can claim are:
(i) You are the personal representative of the person who died.
(ii) You being wife/husband (spouse) or a former wife/husband of the deceased.
(iii)You are the person who was living as husband or wife with the deceased (but you should have been living with him/her for a period of 2 years before she/he died).
(iv) You were either the parent or the grandparent of the person who died or even if you were treated as his/her parent.
(v) You are the child of the person who died (you can be an adopted child) or grandchild or even great-grandson/daughter or a child of a spouse of the deceased whom the deceased treated as his/her child.
(vi) You can also claim if you were a brother, half-brother or step-brother, sister, half-sister or step-sister, uncle/aunty. |
You will be able to get compensation, if you can somehow prove that the occupier was responsible for :
(i) Pain and suffering caused to the deceased.
(ii) The deceased lost earnings due to the death.
(iii) Funeral and medical expenses that you had to incur.
(iv) You also provided care services to the deceased who died because of the injury.
(v) You were deprived of finances that is financial losses because of the death of the person(e.g. loss of his/her future wages, pension etc.).
(vi) Bereavement (provided you fall within certain categories).
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| You can claim interest on your compensation. However, if the person who died was partly responsible for his/her injuries, that is s/he did not take sufficient care for his/her own safety or failed to comply with any obligations put by the law then your compensation may be reduced. |
