Just because you slipped and fell on a slick surface or object, doesn’t necessarily mean that the property owner is liable. You have to prove that the defendant breached a duty that was owed and you were injured as a result. Below are some of the duties of property owners and store owners:
• Duty to exercise ordinary care towards people who are invited onto the property
• Duty to have premises in a reasonably safe condition
• Duty to remove, within a reasonable amount of time, foreign objects on the ground
• Duty to warn visitors of any known dangerous conditions that they may not be aware of
If you were injured from a Virginia slip and fall accident caused by an object or substance on the floor, it is your responsibility to show that the defendant placed it there. When that cannot be proven, you have to show that the property owner or store owner knew it was there, or should have known because it had been there long enough, and did not remove it or warn of the danger.
The length of time the object or substance was on the ground is a key factor in slip and fall and trip and fall cases. According to the Supreme Court of Virginia, “it is just as logical to assume that it was placed upon the floor an instant before the plaintiff struck it as it is to infer that it had been there long enough that the defendant should, in the exercise of reasonable care, have known about it.”
