Can You Sue for Slipping on Ice in Parking Lot?

Slipping and falling on icy surfaces can result in serious injuries that require extensive medical treatment and recovery time. If someone else’s negligence contributed significantly to your slip-and-fall accident in an icy parking lot or other space, then you have every right to seek compensation from them.
 
So can you sue for slipping on ice in a parking lot? If you find yourself in this situation, the attorneys at Morgan & Morgan can help. We’ve been handling slip and fall claims for decades and have recovered more than $20 billion of dollars for our clients. We will do whatever it takes to ensure you get the justice you deserve.
 
Contact Morgan & Morgan today to schedule a free case evaluation.

Most Common Injuries From Falling on Ice

Wintertime brings a number of hazards, including icy surfaces. Slipping and falling on ice can result in serious injuries that can be painful and costly to treat. If you’ve been injured due to someone else’s negligence, it may be wise to contact a personal injury lawyer to discuss your legal options. Here’s a look at the most common types of injuries that can occur when slipping and falling on ice.

Head Injuries: Head injuries are one of the most common injuries that occur due to slip and falls. When someone falls on ice, their head is often the first point of contact with the ground. This can lead to traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) such as concussions or more serious conditions like skull fractures. In addition, slips and falls on ice are also leading causes of spinal cord injuries which can have long-term physical and mental consequences.

Broken Bones: Broken bones are another common injury associated with slipping and falling on ice. Depending on the severity of the fall, an individual may suffer fractures in different parts of their body including their legs, arms, ribs, or hips. These types of injuries can require lengthy recovery periods as well as potentially expensive medical treatments depending on how severe they are.

Soft Tissue Damage: Soft tissue damage is another type of injury that can occur when slipping and falling on ice. Soft tissue refers to muscles, ligaments, tendons, fascia – basically any part of the body that is not bone but helps support us structurally or aids in movement. Strains, sprains, bruises, and contusions are all types of soft tissue damage that could result from slipping and falling on ice due to someone else’s negligence or carelessness. While these kinds of soft tissue damage are not always immediately apparent after a fall, they can become worse over time if left untreated.

How to Win a Claim for Slipping and Falling on Ice

Slipping and falling on ice can result in serious injuries, including broken bones, strains, sprains, and even head trauma. Depending on the severity of the injury, you may be entitled to compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, and other damages. Here’s how to win a slip and fall claim.

Conduct an Investigation

The first step in filing a successful claim is to conduct an investigation into what happened. You should try to determine who owns the property where you slipped and fell, as well as any other relevant details about the accident or surrounding area. This could include taking pictures of the area at the time of the accident or interviewing witnesses who may have seen it happen. It’s also important to document your injuries thoroughly with pictures or doctor's reports.  

Build a Case

Once you’ve determined who owns the property and you have gathered your evidence, it’s time to build your case. This involves carefully analyzing all of the facts of your case and finding legal precedents that could support you in court. An experienced personal injury lawyer can help you build a strong case by researching these laws and helping you craft an effective argument.

Prove Negligence

To win a claim for slipping and falling on ice, you must prove that the owner of the property was negligent in some way that caused or contributed to your injury. This could include failing to clear away snow or ice after a storm, or even failing to warn people about hazardous conditions on their property (such as icy sidewalks). A good personal injury lawyer can help you identify potential evidence that could support your case in court.  

Proving Negligence in a Slip and Fall on Ice Claim

To make a successful slip and fall claim, it’s important to understand how negligence is determined in these cases. Let’s take a closer look at what you need to know.

The Burden of Proof Falls on the Injured Party

It’s important to remember that the burden of proof falls on the injured party in any slip and fall case. This means that the injured person must provide sufficient evidence that negligence was involved in order for the case to be successful. It’s not enough just to show that an accident occurred; there must also be proof that someone was negligent in allowing it to happen.

Elements of Negligence in Slip and Fall Cases

When it comes to proving negligence, there are four main elements that must be established: duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages.

Duty of Care
The most important element of any negligence claim is establishing that a duty of care exists between the claimant and the defendant. In order for a duty of care to exist, there must be an established relationship between the two parties. This relationship can be business related (i.e., landlord/tenant) or simply exist because one party had control over an area (i.e., store owner). When it comes to slip and falls on ice claims, it’s typically assumed that property owners have control over their property, making them responsible for any accidents that occur on their premises.

Breach of Duty
Once it has been established that there is a duty of care between the claimant and defendant, it must then be established that this duty was breached by the defendant’s failure to take reasonable action. For example, if a customer slips and falls on ice in a parking lot due to inadequate snow removal efforts by the business, then a breach of duty has likely occurred as snow removal is generally considered an expected responsibility of businesses during winter months.
                              
Causation
Another element necessary for negligence claims is causation; this requires proving that the defendant’s breach actually caused your injury and was foreseeable as well as preventable with appropriate actions taken by the defendant beforehand. In our previous example involving snow removal responsibilities, if there had been no snow left on the ground after proper snow removal efforts were conducted then there would have been no accident and thus no injury sustained by the customer either.

Damages
The fourth element is damages, which refers to any losses suffered as a result of the injury caused by another party’s negligence. These losses can include medical bills, lost wages due to missed workdays, pain and suffering experienced due to physical injuries sustained during an accident, and other losses, all resulting from someone else’s negligence or inaction.

Damages can also include non-economic losses like emotional distress or loss of enjoyment of life as well as punitive damages when someone acts recklessly or maliciously with regard to another person’s safety or well-being.