Slip and fall injuries can lead to broken bones, head and spine injuries, and other serious injuries. If you’re hurt in a store or public place, you may expect the owner’s insurance to take care of your bills. But what about an apartment complex or rental property? In many cases, you may still be able to seek compensation from the property owner or their insurance carrier.
Sometimes these cases may be complicated by issues like why you were on the property, if it was a sublet, and how you were using the property. We’ll go over some general rules about understanding liability for injuries on a rental property, but the best way to learn the options for your case is to speak with a slip and fall accident lawyer.
Attorney Ali Awad founded the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm. It quickly became the fastest-growing law firm in the country, besting 499 others. When he’s not in the courtroom or negotiating with insurance companies, Mr. Awad offers entertaining yet informative posts about legal issues to more than a million followers on social media. If you’ve been hurt in a slip and fall accident, please contact the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm for a free consultation and explanation of your options.
Understanding Slip and Fall Injuries on Rental Property
Most property owners who rent their property or leave it open to the public have insurance policies in case of on-site injuries. However, most insurance policies will not cover every injury. Often a client may tell us that their injury should be covered, but the insurance company has denied their claim for various reasons. If this happens to you, call an attorney right away. We may be able to negotiate with the insurance carrier and convince them to reconsider.
In general, an insurance adjuster will probably look at the following factors when considering your claim:
- Was the landlord aware of the hazard that caused your injury?
- Was there any kind of warning about the hazard – for example, a “wet floor” sign, a “keep out” sign, etc.?
- Had the dangerous condition been present for a long time, and did property management have ample time to address the issue? If a pipe started leaking and the manager was on their way to the maintenance closet to grab a “wet floor” sign when you slipped, it may be difficult to prove that they were negligent. However, if the pipe had been leaking for days and no one bothered to fix it, put up a sign, or rope off the area, then the property manager may have been negligent.
- Did you act appropriately if there was a warning? For example, did you see a “Caution, stairs may ice in cold weather” sign and run down the stairs on a cold day anyway?
- Were you acting in a generally reckless way on the property? For example, if you decided to make a video of yourself skateboarding off the diving board in your apartment complex’s pool and you got hurt, your landlord and their insurer would probably not be found liable.
- Why were you on the property? In most cases, if you legally entered the property and were injured due to the owner or manager’s negligence, they could be liable for your injuries. If you were trespassing, they might not be.
In many situations, the injured person was acting responsibly and legally when they were hurt, but the insurance company refuses to pay their claim anyway. There may be various reasons given – it wasn’t the owner’s fault, they were not made aware of the hazard, you acted inappropriately, etc. Insurance adjusters are tasked with saving the company money, so they will scour a policy and look for a reason not to pay your claim. These policy clauses may be complex and hard for most people to understand, and sometimes the claimant will just take the insurance adjuster’s word that their injury is not covered. But in many of these situations, a skilled negotiator who understands insurance law may be able to help.
Your lawyer may ask you about your efforts to inform the landlord of the dangerous condition. If you have proof, such as emails you sent to the office, these could be very helpful. If not, that doesn’t necessarily mean your case is hopeless. Sometimes we send one of our investigators out to chat with other apartment residents. We may learn that several neighbors called or sent emails about the problem, and nothing was done. With additional evidence or testimony, we may be able to convince the insurance company that it’s in their best interest to pay your claim instead of going to court. If not, we can sue the insurance company and/or the landlord.
In most cases, the insurance policy is sufficient to cover any damages, including medical bills (current and future), lost income, permanent disability or disfigurement, and pain and suffering. Rental property insurance tends to be very robust. So if you can get the insurance carrier to pay your claim, your damages will likely be covered fully. In a few rare cases where the injured party was severely hurt or even killed, the damages may exceed the limits of the insurance policy. If this happens, you can also sue the landlord.
Should You Try to Negotiate with the Insurance Company Yourself?
This is not recommended unless you believe you know more about insurance laws in Georgia than your insurance adjuster. (Most people don’t.) Insurance adjusters are typically well-trained, knowledgeable about various loopholes in their policies, and spend a lot of time rejecting claims for various reasons. They will usually record conversations with claimants, often with a very brief message at the beginning of the call that says, “We record calls for quality control purposes.” In reality, they will play back the recording and pick apart everything you said in the hopes of finding something they can claim indicates that you were at fault. Unfortunately, many people have inadvertently made things more challenging by trying to convince the insurance company to pay their claim.
Call a Slip and Fall Attorney at the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm
If you’ve been injured in a slip and fall accident on someone else’s property, including a property you rent, please contact the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm to learn about your rights to compensation. Your initial consultation is free, and we never charge a fee until we win, so there is no immediate cost to you. Call us today at (470) 323-8779.
