The majority of business owners in Texas truly care for their customers and want to make sure they are as safe as possible. Unfortunately, some of those customers may still suffer injuries while on the premises of a business. Not all slip-and-fall accidents are automatically the fault of property owners, though.
Is the property owner at fault?
Victims are often quick to blame businesses and property owners for their fall-related injuries. However, these types of accidents could have often been prevented if people had exercised more caution in the moment. For example, tripping over a rake on the grass is not necessarily the fault of a property owner because one could reasonably expect this item to be in that place.
It is impossible to create a completely safe flooring, but property owners who take the effort to limit dangers can also limit their liability. Installing a drainage gate to minimize slippery conditions or putting up signs warning of wet floors are two good examples. These efforts might not stop someone from bringing a premises liability claim against a property owner, though. These claims often assert that the property owner:
- Should have known about the danger but did not
- Did know about the danger but failed to address it
- Actually caused the danger
Falling on a slippery floor is not always the property owner’s fault. There are many people in Texas who believe the opposite of this, though, and will fight for compensation for slip-and-fall accidents without any real justification for doing so. This can be emotionally and financially frustrating for businesses and property owners, which is why it is so helpful to seek guidance as early in the process as possible.