Slip and Fall Accidents in Ottawa
If you slipped in a grocery store as a result of a negligent store owner or because water or some other slippery item was left on the floor, you are likely entitled to compensation under the tort of negligence. If you find yourself in need of medical attention, can’t work, bills are mounting and you a suffering pain, you are likely entitled to receive compensation.
How do you recover these losses and obtain fair compensation?
Personal injury lawsuits are meant to compensate you for pain and suffers and meant also to cover your expenses and losses. Injury lawsuits will force the party responsible for the accident to provide fair and reasonable financial compensation to the injured person.
In most cases, store owners will have liability insurance and the insurance company will, after investigating the incident, provide compensation if you have an experienced personal injury lawyer experienced in slip and fall or trip and fall cases. Insurance companies are unlikely to offer fair compensation without an experienced injury lawyer involved. Their aim is to reduce payouts and save money.
In some cases, a fall can result in severe disability or permanent injury and the insurance company will use whatever is at their disposal to avoid or minimize payout of the claim. If the insurer, or store owner directly if they have no insurance, will not offer a air settlement, you will need to file a lawsuit. Most slip and fall cases fall under the Occupier’s Liability Act of Ontario. That Act provides that owners and occupiers of property and premises must take reasonable steps to ensure the property and premises are reasonably safe for persons using it. Every slip and fall / trip and fall case must be proved and it is up to the injured person to prove negligence. An injured person must prove certain elements to succeed, For instance, to prevail under negligence, the injured person must prove, in part, that the property owner or occupier owed the injured person a duty to take care but they were careless and that carelessness caused the injury in question. Further, the injured person must prove damages, such as pain and suffering, lost wages, medical expenses etc., and that these damages were caused by the negligence of the store owner.
In Ontario, all business owners owe a positive duty to its customers to maintain their property and premises in a safe condition. By leaving water, the business owner acted carelessly and therefore breached their duty of care owed in that it knew or should have known of the presence of the water. The store owner should have taken steps to make sure that their floor was clean and clear of water; he knew or should have known of the danger in other words.
Once a duty of care has been established and proof was provided that the duty of care was breached, the next issue is proving causation. If the wet floor was the cause of the fall and the fall was the cause of your injury and if the injury caused the damaged, then causation was proved and the owner should be liable to pay compensation.
This brief article is a simplistic way of looking at a very complex legal issue. If you have suffered injuries in an accident, contact one of our lawyers free of charge. Our team of injury lawyers accept injury and accident cases on a no fee until you win basis. Call us at 613-315-4878 or 613-563-1131.