If you have fallen in a parking lot, one of the key things you’ll need to do is prove the surface was unsafe. A premises liability attorney in Fort Myers, FL can help you gather the proof that Florida law requires and put it together in a clear and compelling way.
What Florida Law Requires You to Show
A fall alone does not establish a claim. You must show that the person or company who controlled the lot owed you a duty of reasonable care, that a dangerous condition existed, that the property owner or manager knew of it or should have known of it, and that the condition caused your injuries.
Actual Knowledge and Constructive Knowledge
If you slipped on a transitory foreign substance like oil or water, as opposed to falling in a structural problem like a pothole, it can be a little harder to prove that the establishment had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition for long enough that they should have taken care of it.
Actual knowledge is what an employee or manager actually saw or were told about. Constructive knowledge requires you to show that either the condition had existed long enough that the business would have been aware of it if they had been taking proper, ordinary care or that the condition occurred regularly and was thus foreseeable.
Time is usually the battleground point here. If you slipped in a smear of oil that had been there for five minutes, you can’t normally hold the business owner liable. But if that oil had tracks through it, dirt had settled into it, it had a dried edge, or you can find testimony that the leak was there for hours, you’re much more likely to be successful in arguing that the condition had been there long enough to discover.
Modified Comparative Fault
Since 2023, Florida has used a modified comparative-fault rule that allows your recovery to be reduced in proportion to your share of fault, and if you are found more than 50% at fault for your own harm, you can’t recover anything.
If you were looking at a phone, cutting between cars, or wearing shoes that the defense could call unsuitable, then you could easily be blamed for some of the accident. The defense will press that fight. If they can get you over the 50% line, they don’t have to pay you anything, and every percentage point they can bump you up even below line is money they don’t have to pay. A lawyer is your best defense here.
Talk to a Premises Liability Attorney in Fort Myers, FL
It can be difficult to bring a premises liability case here in Florida after a slip-and-fall accident, but we can help. Reach out to Goldstein, Buckley, Cechman, Rice, Purtz, Smith & Smith, P.A. today in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Port Charlotte, Lehigh Acres, or Naples today to request a free consultation on your case. We’ve won more than $825 million for the victims of Southwest Florida over the years and are top-rated attorneys who will fight for you.