By Jedidah McKeehan

When individuals come to me and want me to represent them on their personal injury case, they are typically talking about one of two types of cases, a car wreck or a slip and fall case.

While most attorneys are willing to represent someone on a car wreck case, attorneys are much more hesitant to represent individuals on slip and fall cases.

The reason for this is because what a Plaintiff has to prove in order to win is very difficult.  In a slip and fall case, a Plaintiff has to show that the dangerous condition that caused their fall was a dangerous condition that the Defendant knew or should have known about, and that the Defendant did nothing to correct the dangerous condition.  That is tough to do.

For example, it is conceivable for you to get significantly hurt by slipping and falling on a slippery surface in Walmart.  That is unfortunate that you got hurt, but in order for you to receive compensation from Walmart for your injuries, you would have to prove that Walmart knew or should have known of the slippery surface that caused your injuries.

How in the world are you going to prove Walmart knew about that slippery surface?  Well, the usual way that this happens is that an employee of Walmart slips up and says something like, “Yeah, I meant to clean that up, but I just forgot about it.”  Okay, if that happens, they have just admitted that they knew about the slippery surface and did not clean it up.  Good for your case, bad for Walmart.

Another way to prove their fault is if Defendant should have known about a dangerous condition. So, if we are using the same scenario about a slippery surface at Walmart, if that surface had been there for such a long time, that Walmart should have realized that it was there.

So if you believe you have a slip and fall case that you would like to pursue, then you need to realize that you need to be able to prove the Defendant knew or should have known about the dangerous condition that caused your injuries and did nothing to correct it.

Jedidiah McKeehan is an attorney practicing in Knox County and surrounding counties.  He works in many areas, including criminal, personal injury, landlord-tenant, probate, and estate planning. Visit attorney-knoxville.com for more information about this legal issue and other legal issues.