You’re shopping in the grocery store, walking down an aisle like you’ve done hundreds of times before. Suddenly, your feet go out from under you. You hit the ground hard. The pain shoots through your body, and you know something is seriously wrong. You look around and realize you’ve slipped in a puddle of water you didn’t even know was there.
In the days and weeks that follow, your life is filled with doctors’ visits, medical bills, time off work, pain, and lack of sleep. But there’s something else weighing on your mind. You feel like the grocery store should help pay your bills. They were the ones who left that puddle there without warning you, after all. But you’re not sure you can do that. How would you prove what happened?
At Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp, our attorneys have been helping injured victims in North Carolina since 1985. Recognized by The Best Lawyers and with decades of experience handling premises liability cases, our team knows exactly what it takes to prove liability in slip-and-fall cases.
Contact us at 833-997-1774 for a free consultation today. We understand the challenges you’re facing and will help guide you through every step of the process.
What Kind of Case Is This?
Falls are incredibly common. Nationally, falls account for a large share of nonfatal injury emergency department visits. The National Safety Council (NSC) reports that fall-related injuries account for 35 percent of all preventable, nonfatal emergency department visits (2023). In North Carolina, public health agencies track falls as a serious and growing issue, particularly among older adults.
When you slip and fall on someone else’s property, your case falls under an area of the law called “premises liability.” This law generally requires property owners to keep their property reasonably safe for visitors.
Premises liability covers all sorts of situations where someone might get hurt on someone else’s property. This can include slips and falls, falling objects, inadequate lighting causing a fall, broken stairs, unsafe conditions in parking lots, and more. The basic idea is that property owners are expected to take reasonable care to prevent injuries to people who have a legal right to be on their property.
How Do I Prove Liability?
To win a slip and fall personal injury case in North Carolina, you need to tell your story with proof to back it up.
For example, you have to show that the property owner was responsible for the area in which you fell (in our example, the grocery store aisle), that there was something dangerous there (the puddle of water), that the owner knew or should have known about it, and that they failed to act reasonably to protect people from getting hurt. You also have to show that this failure was a direct cause of your injuries.
Let’s look at each of these steps in more detail.
Step One: Who Was Responsible?
Sometimes this is obvious, as in a grocery store or a restaurant. At other times, responsibility may be shared among owners, management companies, or maintenance contractors. Figuring this out matters because only the party in control of the property can be held responsible for keeping it safe.
Step Two: There Must Have Been a Dangerous Condition
You have to show that something unsafe existed where you were hurt. This could be a wet floor, as in the case of our grocery store, or it could be a broken step, loose handrail, uneven pavement, poor lighting, or an icy sidewalk that was not treated.
Step Three: Did the Owner Know?
This is often the hardest part of a premises liability case to prove—was the owner aware of the hazard? You have to show that the owner knew or should have known about it.
Maybe an employee saw the water spilled, as in our grocery-store example. Maybe a customer reported it. Or maybe the employee actually spilled the water. Or it could be that another customer spilled it and didn’t tell anyone. In that case, the question might be, “How long was that condition there?” Was it long enough that a reasonable owner would have found it and fixed it?
Property owners will often argue that they had no idea the hazard existed and therefore can’t be held responsible. This is why timing matters so much. Surveillance video, cleaning schedules, and witness statements can help show how long the hazard was present.
Step Four: The Owner Failed to Act Reasonably
Once you’ve proven that the owner knew or should have known about the unsafe condition, the next question is whether they acted reasonably. Did they clean it up, or just ignore it? Put out warning signs? Fix the problem within a reasonable time?
If a business owner ignores a danger, delays fixing it, or fails to warn customers about it, that failure can support a liability claim.
Step Five: The Hazard Caused Your Injury
The last step is to show that the unsafe condition directly caused your accident and injury. The insurance company for the opposing side—let’s say, the grocery store—is likely to argue that the fall was your fault. They may say you weren’t paying attention, were wearing the wrong shoes, or were walking too fast. In some cases, they may claim that a medical issue caused the fall.
You have to connect the hazard directly to your fall. This is where photos, witness statements, medical records, and video footage can be very important.
Why Are North Carolina Premises Liability Cases Especially Challenging?
North Carolina follows a rule called “contributory negligence.” That means that if you are found to be even one percent at fault for your accident, you will not be able to recover any compensation from the property owner or other at-fault parties.
That doesn’t mean that every fall victim loses their case. It just means the defense will use this rule to try to shift the blame to you. Having an experienced Outer Banks personal injury lawyer on your side will help make sure you prepare a strong case that relies on evidence and facts.
How Our Personal Injury Law Firm Can Help
If you or a loved one was injured in a slip-and-fall case, contact our offices right away to schedule a free consultation with one of our OBX personal injury lawyers. We will work to identify the right responsible parties, preserve evidence, obtain the right records, and prepare for common defense arguments. We also know how North Carolina law works and how contributory negligence is used against injured people, so we will take steps to protect your rights.
In one of our North Carolina premises liability cases, for example, a customer was injured when a store shelf fell and caused a serious shoulder injury. We gathered the medical evidence needed to prove her case, and negotiated a settlement that covered most of the money spent by our client’s insurer, all the money spent by our client, and some of our client’s pain, suffering, and inconvenience.
You can find our offices in Kitty Hawk, as well as in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Suffolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, and Portsmouth.