Parking Lot Trip and Fall Accidents

Many businesses in Pensacola offer their guests and customer the convenience of parking in a lot. People generally walk through parking lots without concern, but if a lot is not properly designed or maintained, it can lead to trip and fall accidents. Falls often cause painful injuries, financial harm, and psychological trauma. Most falls are avoidable, though, and only occur because property owners neglect their premises. If you suffered injuries in a parking lot trip and fall accident, you might be able to recover damages from the owner of the lot, and you should contact an attorney to discuss your options. At Cardoso Law, PLLC, our seasoned Florida attorneys can advise you of your potential claims and gather any evidence that will support of a favorable outcome. We have an office in Pensacola, and we represent parties in trip and fall cases in cities throughout Florida.

Generally, two types of issues lead to parking lot trip and fall accidents: unsafe designs and poor maintenance. Examples of hazardous designs can include inadequate lighting, which can make it hard for people to see where they are going, unguarded areas at the edge of a lot where people can easily fall, and uneven ground. Additionally, inadequate means of diverting water can cause erosion or decay, which can eventually lead to tripping hazards. People are likely to trip over poorly marked curbs or steps as well. Poor maintenance can include potholes, cracks, crumbling ground, and divots, all of which create fall hazards. People who lose their footing and fall in parking lots may sustain fractures, soft tissue injuries like sprains, strains, and tears, lacerations, and contusions. In some instances, they may suffer severe harm like concussions or hemorrhaging.

While some falls happen for reasons beyond anyone’s control, most trip and fall accidents that occur in parking lots are usually brought about by carelessness. As such, people injured in such falls will assert negligence claims against the party that owns the lot.

Under Florida law, negligence is comprised of four elements: duty, breach, causation, and damages, and a plaintiff must prove each element to recover compensation. Generally, the duty imposed on property owners is to maintain their premises in a reasonably safe condition, to prevent people who lawfully enter the property from suffering harm. In other words, they have to warn visitors of any known hazards they are unlikely to discover on their own and alleviate any harmful conditions. As such, if a property owner knows that a parking lot is in disrepair or suffers from an unsafe design and fails to fix it, it may constitute a breach of the duty owed.

The third and fourth elements, causation and damages, are linked in that a plaintiff must show that the fall caused measurable harm, and the defendant’s breach directly led to the fall. While the defendant’s actions do not have to be the sole cause of the fall, the plaintiff must show that the fall would not have happened but for the defendant’s breach.

Property owners have an obligation to maintain their premises in a reasonably safe condition, and that duty extends to parking lots. If you were hurt in a parking lot trip and fall accident, you may be owed damages, and it is advisable to speak to an attorney. The experienced Florida lawyers of Cardoso Law, PLLC, possess the skills and resources needed to achieve favorable outcomes, and if you hire us, we will work tirelessly on your behalf. Our office is located in Pensacola, and we regularly handle claims arising out of trip and fall accidents in Pensacola, Ferry Pass, Brent, Cantonment, Bellview, Century, Milton, Navarre, Gulf Breeze, West Pensacola, Jay, Crestview, Fort Walton Beach, and Niceville. We also help injured parties pursue premises liability claims in cities throughout Florida, including many in Escambia, Santa Rosa, and Okaloosa Counties. You can reach us via the form online or at (850) 466-2073 to set up a conference.