Slip & Fall Accidents In Florida Bars
As the weather heats up, more and more people are returning to Florida’s hot spots to enjoy themselves. City bars are enjoying a massive uptick in traffic since the rollback of pandemic restrictions – but the more people crowd into bars, the more likely accidents are to happen. Slip and fall accidents in bars and nightclubs are common, and if you are so unfortunate as to experience one, the injuries may be severe. Calling an experienced attorney can help.
A Duty Of Care
If someone is injured on another person’s property, any resulting lawsuit will usually fall under a legal theory known as premises liability. At common law, premises liability establishes a duty of care owed to the people who come onto land, depending on their status. Florida law recognizes three classifications: invitees (who are invited onto land either for a public purpose or a business purpose); licensees (who are permitted onto land for their own reasons); and trespassers, who have no right to be present on someone’s property.
Bars and clubs are some of Florida’s favorite places to unwind, particularly in these difficult times. Bar customers are generally invitees, which means they are owed the highest possible duty of care. Florida law actually imposes a statutory duty of care on bar and club owners that requires them to try and correct any dangers on the property that they knew of (or should have known of), and to warn customers about any they could not correct, and if this duty is not upheld, the establishment can be held liable.
Partial Responsibility Does Not Bar Recovery
About a decade ago, Florida’s legislature passed Sec. 768.0755, which requires that if someone slips and falls on a “transitory foreign substance” in a business establishment, they must establish that the business had either actual or constructive knowledge (that is, they knew or should have known) of its presence, and did nothing to fix it. This does set a fairly high burden of proof for an injured plaintiff, but it is not impossible to reach it.
It is important to keep in mind that the bar or club’s attorney may try to argue that you were partially responsible for your own injuries – the most common argument being that the plaintiff was intoxicated at the time of the accident. However, even if it is held that you were partially responsible, Florida law permits recovery for an injured plaintiff; you would simply recover an amount minus your percentage for fault. For example, if a court held you were 30 percent responsible for the accident, you could still, in theory, recover 70 percent of your damages.
Call An Orlando Premises Liability Attorney
Quite a few Floridians enjoy going to the bar or club on a weekend, but it is a good idea to keep in mind that accidents can happen. If you are injured at the bar, consulting an Orlando personal injury attorney may be a good idea, so that you can understand your potential options. Contact the Hornsby Law Group today for a free consultation.
Resource:
leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0768/Sections/0768.0755.html
