Public Accidents
Every year in Ireland, many thousands of people are injured as a result of accidents in public and private places. The largest proportion of claims relate to accidents occurring in places such as playgrounds, leisure centres, shops and supermarkets. They often result from collisions with falling masonry, slips on spillage, dog bites, or trips caused by poorly maintained pavements or footpaths.
If you were injured as a result of an accident in a public place, you may be entitled to claim compensation. The law in this area can be complex and it is important that you are provided with specialist knowledge and advice relevant to your case.
At Able Solicitors, our expert team has considerable expertise in this area and can advise you of the course of action which best suits your particular situation.
Many thousands of people are injured each year — some very seriously — when they slip or trip and fall on a dangerous floor, a flight of stairs, or a rough patch of ground. Sometimes the owner of the property where the accident occurred is responsible for the accident, sometimes not.
If you have been injured in this way, first consider that it is a normal part of living for things to fall on or to drip onto a floor or the ground, and for smooth surfaces to become uneven. Also, some things put in the ground — drainage grates, for example — serve a useful purpose there. Therefore, someone who owns or occupies property cannot always be held responsible for immediately picking up or cleaning every slippery substance on a floor. Nor is a property owner always responsible for someone slipping or tripping on something that an ordinary person should expect to find there or should see and avoid. We all have an obligation to watch where we’re going.
However, property owners do need to be careful in keeping up their property. While there is no precise way to determine when someone else is legally responsible for something on which you slip or trip, cases turn on whether the property owner acted carefully so that slipping or tripping was not likely to happen — and whether you were careless in not seeing or avoiding the thing you fell on. Here are some general rules to help you decide whether someone else was at fault for your slip or trip and fall injury.
