Slip and Fall Law in Quincy, MA

The Unpredictability of a Slip and Fall Accident Makes It All the More Serious

When you go out in public, you don’t expect to suffer a severe injury, but it can happen. They are caused by unsafe or unkempt property, foreign substances, or obstructions. These accidents can happen anywhere – in a supermarket or grocery store, hotel, office building, park, stairwell, parking lot, or even at work.
If you slip, fall, and injure yourself on someone else’s property, you need to understand your rights and the options open to you. To make your case viable, Massachusetts law requires proof of negligence from the owner of the property.

Premises Liability in Massachusetts

Premises liability, also known as property negligence, outlines cases in which a legal claim for monetary damages is made by a person who was injured due to a hazardous defect on a property.
Property owners in Massachusetts have a duty to maintain their property and keep it reasonably safe for lawful visitors. This includes residential properties such as apartments, condominiums, and single-family homes; commercial properties such as shopping malls, retail stores, hotels, hospitals, private schools, university campuses, and anywhere else the public is likely to step foot regularly.

Who Is Legally Responsible?

While property owners have a duty to maintain an acceptable standard of safety, they are not automatically liable if an accident occurs. The injured person seeking compensation has to show that there was a defect or hazard on the property, and in the exercise of reasonable care, the property owner should have known about it and failed to do something to fix it
There are a few ways the injured party can show negligence:

• The property owner or employees created or had clear knowledge of the hazardous condition
• The property owner or employees were in a position in which they should have seen and corrected the hazardous condition
• The plaintiff (injured person) was injured because of interference caused by a foreign substance that was present for a long enough time that the property owner or employee should have known about it