Slip and Fall

Visiting a store, a restaurant, or even a friend’s house for dinner should not be a dangerous activity. However, sometimes these visits can lead to serious injuries, when property owners do not take proper care to prevent or fix unsafe conditions on their premises. If you are injured in a slip and fall or other accident on someone else’s property, your injuries may require expensive medical treatment and can result in lost wages due to time missed from work. Pensacola slip and fall lawyer Ryan M. Cardoso understands that recovering from a serious injury can be overwhelming for a victim. He is dedicated to making sure that the legal aspect of their recovery is as stress-free as possible.

Ryan Cardoso provides each of his clients with individualized attention and representation, taking the time to personally address their questions and concerns at all stages of the legal process. If you are a personal injury claimant, you likely are suffering from pain, emotional distress, and financial insecurity. At Cardoso Law, PLLC, we understand that our clients come to us at some of the most stressful times in their lives. We make sure treat each client with the respect and compassion they deserve, while also zealously fighting for their legal rights.

If you suffer an injury on someone else’s property, there might be different parties that can be held legally liable for your damages. Depending on where you are visiting when you are hurt, who is in charge of maintenance or security at the location, and the actions taken by the responsible party to avoid harm, you may be entitled to compensation in a premises liability claim. Owners and occupiers of a property owe differing duties of care to people who enter their premises, depending on the status of the visitor. Everyone is responsible for taking reasonable steps to ensure their own safety by being aware of their surroundings and avoiding danger when possible. However, property owners are also responsible for keeping their areas reasonably safe. A slip and fall attorney in Pensacola can help a victim hold a negligent property owner accountable for their lack of care.

Businesses in Florida owe customers the highest duty of care. This duty applies to restaurants, shopping malls, retail stores, and any other place that an individual enters for a business purpose. People opening their premises to business invitees are required to conduct regular inspections to check for dangerous conditions. To prevail in a premises liability claim arising out of an injury suffered as an invitee, a plaintiff must prove that the business owner or occupier had actual or constructive knowledge of a hazardous condition but failed to take reasonable actions to either fix the problem or warn others of its existence. For instance, if there is a spill in a supermarket that is not cleaned up within a reasonable amount of time and a customer falls and injures themselves, that supermarket may be held accountable. A Pensacola slip and fall attorney can show that a business exercising the proper care should have known about the hazard, given the time that it existed, or a dangerous condition was foreseeable because it occurred regularly.

Licensees, or people visiting a property for a social purpose, like going to a friend’s house for dinner, are also owed a duty of care. Hosts are required to maintain their property in a way that is reasonably safe, as well as repairing any known hazards and warning visitors of their existence. In Florida, even trespassers are owed a duty of care, whereby owners are required to prevent intentionally or recklessly caused injuries to people entering their property without permission. Children are owed a special duty of care as trespassers if a property contains an “attractive nuisance,” such as a pool. In these situations, owners of properties containing an attractive nuisance must take action to protect children from dangerous conditions that are likely to draw their attention. If you have been injured as a result of a property owner’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation for past and future medical bills, loss of income, diminished earning capacity, and pain and suffering.

Cardoso Law, PLLC offers seasoned, personalized legal representation to accident victims. Ryan M. Cardoso assists people in Pensacola, West Pensacola, Cantonment, Brent, Bellview, Ferry Pass, Century, Gulf Breeze, Milton, Navarre, Jay, Crestview, Fort Walton Beach, and Niceville, as well as other areas of Escambia, Santa Rosa, and Okaloosa Counties. Contact us online or at (850) 466-2073 to speak with an attorney and learn more about your rights and options.