PATERSON INJURY ATTORNEY: SLIP AND FALL CASE
A Paterson injury attorney helps victims of slip and fall accidents recover compensation. If the accident occurs at a business, the victim must prove that the business acted negligently (carelessly). And that such carelessness caused the slip and fall incident. Otherwise, the victim will not be able to recover compensation.
Sometimes, negligence is self-evident. Any rational person would realize that the business did something wrong. For example, if a store removed a stairwell in a high traffic area, leaving an eight-foot drop, and failed to block off the opening. Or at least put up a warning sign.
However, more often, negligence is not self-evident. In such cases, the victim’s attorney must hire an expert witness. The expert is often an engineer or architect. He must explain to the jury exactly how the business acted negligently
A recent case illustrates this distinction. A woman fell and allegedly broke her ankle in a doctor’s waiting room. The woman claimed that the waiting room was overcrowded. The overcrowding, she claimed, forced her to step over another patient’s wheelchair. She tripped and fell in the process.
The victim’s injury attorney failed to hire an expert to confirm that the waiting room in question was overcrowded. Accordingly, the doctor’s lawyer filed a motion to dismiss the entire case.
Case Dismissed Because No Expert Hired.
The trial judge agreed with the doctor’s lawyer. There were no applicable laws that defined waiting room “overcrowding.” Thus, the judge ruled that, without expert guidance, a jury would not know how much crowding in a waiting room constitutes overcrowding.
Accordingly, the judge dismissed the case before it even reached a jury. An appeals court confirmed the ruling.
What You Need To Know.
If you are ever the victim of a slip and fall accident, be careful in the selection of an attorney. When you search for an injury attorney, think about the lawyer’s experience. Don’t hire someone who hasn’t been practicing law for a long time. Otherwise, you increase the risk of losing your case.