SLIP AND FALL ON BUSINESS PROPERTY – MN LAWYER
We had a call today from someone whose mother broke her hip when she slipped and fell. She fell on ice on a sidewalk as she was coming out of her apartment building. This is a terrible injury that will require surgery and a long period of recovery. Our MN slip fall injury attorneys frequently get calls like this. You may have been injured in an accident by slipping on ice in the parking lot of a store or mall. Many people fall on the sidewalk as they are going into or out of a business or apartment building.
In some cases, you may be injured at another person’s house and want to know if you can bring a claim against the other person’s homeowner’s insurance. The caller usually has heard that the property owner is automatically responsible. They want to know if our attorneys can get their medical bills paid. Of course, you also want compensation for lost wages / unpaid time off from work because of the slip and fall accident.
SLIP FALL LAW IN MN
The answer is that Minnesota law does not say the property owner is automatically responsible just because the accident happened and you were injured in a slip fall on their property. The property owner is only responsible if they or their staff did something to create the hazard or failed to clean it up within a reasonable time. In the case of the caller our attorney spoke with today, the caller’s mother slipped and fell on ice that formed because of an ice storm the night before.
Generally, the property owner is allowed to wait a reasonable time after it has stopped snowing before clearing the snow and removing the ice. In that case, the ice storm had just stopped a few hours earlier. Therefore, it was unlikely that the landlord would be found to be unreasonable for not having removed the just-formed ice.
COMPENSATION FOR SLIP FALL INJURY
Most successful claims where someone slips and falls on ice involve a business parking lot or location where ice has been poorly maintained for a long period of time. In most cases is is at least a few weeks.Sometimes it is the whole winter. Usually, there is a fresh snow or poor lighting that makes it difficult to see the patches of ice that have accumulated.
If you or a family member are injured in a slip and fall accident at a business, please make sure that you get lots of photos of the area where you fell. Also, get the name and contact information of any witnesses. Then, call us and speak with an attorney as soon as possible. We will investigate your case and explain your rights to you. When you call our office because you have been injured in a slip fall accident on ice in MN, an experienced lawyer will give you a free consultation to discuss your case and determine if you have a claim.
CONTACT A SLIP FALL ACCIDENT INJURY ATTORNEY
Pam Rochlin is one of Minnesota’s few women personal injury Super Lawyers and was formerly apartner at Meshbesher and Spence. We have over 25 years’ experience successfully handling hundreds of accident injury cases. A slip fall lawyer from our office will provide you with a free initial consultation. Further, we never charge anything unless you receive compensation.
We have big firm experience but provide small firm attention. We have offices in Minneapolis, Edina, Woodbury, and St. Louis Park. Our lawyers also meet people at their homes in many surrounding cities including St. Paul, Maplewood, Eagan, Chaska, Chanhassen, Rogers, Anoka, Lakeville, Apple Valley, Burnsville, Maple Grove, Brooklyn Park, etc.