In late 2012, a woman was walking out of a storage center. She entered the parking lot and stepped in a puddle, promptly falling and presumably injuring herself. The woman has since filed a petition to get depositions from anyone who worked on a cooling unit at the storage center that allegedly leaked and caused water to pool in the parking lot.
Now, this incident didn’t happen here in New Orleans. It didn’t even happen in Louisiana. In fact, the location is largely irrelevant — but what is important is that this is a case of premises liability. Regardless of what state you are in, you have a right to safety when on a company’s property.
For example, you know those big yellow safety cones that are common sights at grocery stores? The store needs to put those up to warn customers and to uphold the safety rules they adhere to. They also need to clean the potential dangers up in a timely fashion. This is just one small example of how stores, businesses and companies need to ensure the upkeep and safety of the premises they are in charge of.
Premises liability cases often sound silly to people on the outside looking in. Someone slipped and fell — how bad could it have been, right?
But the fact is, these slip-and-fall incidents are often very serious. People can hit their head and suffer serious trauma; or they can fall awkwardly and break bones, changing their life for a long time, if not forever. If the company in charge of the premises was negligent in any way, they can be held liable for that harm.
Source: Southeast Texas Record, “Depositions sought in potential slip and fall lawsuit,” David Yates, Jan. 2, 2014