Fort Worth Slip-and-Fall Lawyers

When you slip and fall on another person’s property, whether at a friend’s house or a grocery store, your first instinct may be to stand up and walk away before anyone notices. Slipping and falling can be embarrassing, but unfortunately, it can also cause serious injuries. In some cases, the property owner is to blame for knowing about a dangerous condition and failing to fix the issue or warn about it. 

If the property owner or manager was at fault in your slip-and-fall accident, you have the right to seek compensation. At Fadduol, Cluff, Hardy & Conaway, P.C., our Fort Worth slip-and-fall lawyers help accident victims pursue funds to compensate for their injuries. We can provide legal guidance and representation to help you start moving forward from this traumatic event. 

Contact us today at 800-433-2408 to schedule a consultation and learn more about your legal rights. 

Common Causes of Slip-and-Fall Accidents in Fort Worth 

Slip-and-fall accidents may be due to a wide range of hazards. The following are common causes of slipping, tripping, and falling on another person’s property:

• Wet floors
• Bunched carpeting
• Uneven flooring
• Poor lighting
• Clutter in aisles
• Holes in yards
• Broken stairs
• Loose rugs

Weather-Related Hazards

Fort Worth is known for its occasional extreme weather events, ranging from torrential downpours to unexpected snowstorms. Although property owners can’t control the climate, they are still responsible for implementing measures to prevent weather-related conditions on the premises that are under their control. 

For example, store owners should place non-slip rugs in entryways if their floors regularly become slippery from tracked-in rainwater. Homeowners should clear their sidewalks of snow before inviting friends over. 

Negligence for weather-related hazards may be more challenging to prove than other, more concrete hazards, but our attorneys can help you collect evidence to support your claim and evaluate your legal right to proceed with a case. 

Is a Property Owner Responsible for Your Accident? 

Property owners aren’t automatically liable for all accidents that occur on their premises. However, they may be responsible if they were aware or reasonably should have been aware of the hazard that caused your accident yet failed to mitigate it. 

Property owners have a duty of care to keep visitors safe. But they don’t owe the same duty of care to everyone.

• Invitees are people the property owner invites in for the property owner’s gain. An example is a customer at a store. 
• Licensees are people permitted to enter the store for their own gain. An example is someone who stops by a gas station to use the restroom. 
• Trespassers are people who are prohibited from entering the property. 

Property owners owe the highest duty of care to invitees and a slightly lower duty to licensees. They typically do not owe a duty of care to trespassers; if a trespasser becomes injured on another person’s property, the property owner generally is not liable.

Children are the primary exception. Property owners should take care to minimize hazards that could put children at risk of injury, even when those children are technically trespassing.

Are you unsure whether the property owner owed you a duty of care? Our Fort Worth slip-and-fall lawyers can evaluate the circumstances of your accident and determine whether the owner may be liable. 

How Do You Prove a Property Owner’s Negligence After a Slip-and-Fall Accident? 

Slip-and-fall accidents fall under the premises liability umbrella, a type of personal injury claim. To prove that a person or party was at fault in an accident and owes you compensation, you will need to prove the following:

• The property owner owed you a duty of care.
• The property owner breached their duty of care.
• An accident occurred due to the breach. 
• You suffered injuries in the accident. 

You can establish a duty of care by proving that you were either an invitee or licensee of the property owner. Showing that the owner breached their duty of care is more challenging. 

Property owners are responsible for taking reasonable measures to safeguard their premises. Proving any of the following can help support your claim: 

• The hazard existed for long enough that the property owner should have known about it
• Another person tripped or slipped on the hazard previously
• The average person could have experienced an injury in the same way 

Photos or videos of the accident and witness testimonies can support your claim that the hazard caused your injuries. You can also use medical documentation to tie your injuries to the accident. 

At Fadduol, Cluff, Hardy & Conaway, P.C., we have extensive experience helping Fort Worth accident victims prove property owner negligence. We’ll take care of the investigation and evidence-collection process while you focus on your recovery. 

Fort Worth’s Modified Comparative Negligence Laws 

Texas follows a modified comparative negligence policy for personal injury cases. Under this policy, a plaintiff can recover compensation as long as they were less than 51% at fault for an accident. 

The defendant may claim that you were partially at fault for the accident. For example, maybe you tripped on a hazard, but you were also texting while walking, putting you at a greater risk of tripping. Our attorneys can help maximize the property owner’s percentage of fault for the accident. 

Seeking Compensation After a Fort Worth Slip-and-Fall Accident

If the property owner was negligent in your accident, you have the right to seek compensation through an insurance claim, lawsuit, or both. Our Fort Worth slip-and-fall lawyers can guide you through the compensation process. 

Insurance Claim

Business owners and homeowners typically carry liability insurance to pay for accidents that happen on their premises. If this is the case, you can begin your compensation process by filing a claim with the property owner’s insurance company. 

If your accident didn’t leave you with steep medical bills, the property owner’s insurance policy may offer adequate coverage for your medical attention and other expenses. We can help you navigate an insurance claim and negotiate a higher offer with the insurer if necessary. 

Premises Liability Lawsuit

If there is no agreement to resolve the case with the insurance company, we can help you pursue formal legal action against the property owner. 

A premises liability lawsuit could allow you to seek economic and non-economic damages to compensate you for the accident. Economic damages include the direct expenses you incurred from the accident, such as medical bills and loss of income. Non-economic damages help make up for the loss you can’t assign a price tag to, such as the following:

• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Loss of quality of life
• Loss of consortium

You may even qualify for punitive damages if the property owner acted with gross negligence, causing serious injuries you would otherwise not have suffered. Our attorneys can explore all of your opportunities for compensation and calculate how much you may qualify for through an insurance claim or lawsuit. 

Contact Our Fort Worth Slip-and-Fall Lawyers Today

The idea of pursuing compensation after a slip-and-fall accident may feel overwhelming, but you don’t have to go it alone. Our attorneys can guide you through the entire process, handling as many of the steps for you as possible. You can focus on recovering from your injuries and moving forward.

Ready to pursue compensation for a slip-and-fall accident? Contact Fadduol, Cluff, Hardy & Conaway, P.C. today at 800-433-2408 to schedule a consultation with an experienced Fort Worth slip-and-fall lawyer and see whether you have grounds for a lawsuit.