rain, puddle, water

Persoanl Injury by falling.

In winter, accidents caused by ice fall frequently occur.

There are cases where you can lightly hit your butt, but in severe cases, you need to be very careful because you can get serious injuries. In particular, elderly people need to be more careful because even minor injuries are not taken lightly. Then, if you have an outdoor fall accident in winter, how should you pay for the treatment cost? If I fell on the sidewalk in front of someone else’s house, can I sue the owner of the house for damages? Generally, homeowners are not obliged to take care of the sidewalks available to the public adjacent to their homes.

Even in the case of New Jersey, there was a precedent that did not oblige ordinary homeowners to clear the sidewalks adjacent to their homes from snow and ice. Even if each town has regulations or ordinances to remove snow and ice from adjacent sidewalks, even if a pedestrian falls due to unremoved snow and ice, the landlord is not obligated to compensate for damages based on this regulation.

However, exceptions do exist. For example, if a house has installed a drain from the roof to flow toward the sidewalk, and the water flowing through the drain freezes and forms an ice sheet on the sidewalk, if you fall as a passer-by, you cannot claim damages for injury against the landlord. there is. In addition, if the homeowner repairs the sidewalk and suffers a fall accident due to a defect in the repair, such as drainage problems and water pooling, you can be held liable. As such, if the cause of the injury is formed by the owner of the house, not by naturally occurring snow or ice, compensation for damages caused by the negligence can be claimed as an exception.

What if it is a commercial building rather than a house? If you fall down and get seriously injured while eating at a restaurant, you can claim damages for the injury from the landlord or restaurant owner, unlike the general residential house above. If you are passing in front of a store and are knocked over by ice, snow or an obstacle, you may be able to claim damages against the store or its owner. The reason why even the building owner can be held accountable is that there is a precedent that commercial building owners are obliged to maintain it because they also receive significant benefits from the public’s use of sidewalk.

In addition, multifamily rental units are also classified as commercial buildings, and the landlords of these buildings also have a duty to maintain these sidewalks. Since most cases of accidental injury are not the same, and the damage or cause of the accident does not occur the same, it is recommended to consult with an accidental injury lawyer first. In order to obtain the maximum amount of damages or compensation to minimize the damage caused by an accident, you must consult an experienced and reliable accident injury attorney, a recognized accident injury attorney, as soon as possible after the accident.

If you have any questions regarding accidental injury law, please feel free to contact us at mail@songlawfirm.com.

Song Law Firm
Dongho Song Law Firm is a team of professional lawyers specialized in all fields. In any case, we are committed to producing the best possible results. Click here to see more success stories, and click here for our own legal, common sense, and Q&A columns.

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