How do I know if I have a legally valid personal injury claim?

How do I know if I have a legally valid personal injury claim? What has to be proved? And what kind of damages can be sought? This involves an injury sustained at a hotel due to a slip and fall at the pool facility that was unsafe.

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AyerHoffman, LLP | David C. Ayer
Woburn, MA

Your claim will likely sound in premises liability. You will have to prove negligent maintenance and/or failure to warn. For negligent maintenance you will have to show the hotel had a duty to maintain the premises, that it breached that duty somehow, that you were injured, and that your injuries were proximately caused by the hotel's breach. For failure to warn you will have to prove the hotel knew of a defect or danger on the property, that it had a duty to warn you (generally, there is a legal duty to do so but it may depend on how you came to be on the premises), that it breached that duty to warn, that you were injured, that your injury was proximately caused by the hotel's breach. You will also want to show that there was no assumption of risk (you knew it was dangerous but went onto the premises anyway) on your part and that there was no contributory negligence (you were drunk or careless or something) on your part. Depending on the nature of the incident, an injury around a hotel pool may be difficult to prosecute, but it is well worth consulting a personal injury attorney about it.

Answer Applies to: Massachusetts
Replied: 10/26/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

Answered By: Joel H. Schwartz, P.C.

In any slip and fall case, you must you liability AND damages (or injury). In order to prove liability, you would need to show that the hotel allowed an unsafe condition to exist and did nothing about it. It must reasonably know of the hazardous or dangerous condition, have an opportunity to do something about it, and have ignored it. Essentially, you must show wrongdoing on their part. It must be foreseeable that an injury could occur. Assuming you prove liability, you then must show damages or injury from that negligence.

Answer Applies to: Massachusetts
Replied: 10/27/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

Answered By: Attorney Paul Lancia

You should get a lawyer and do not represent yourself in court.

Answer Applies to: Massachusetts
Replied: 10/26/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

Answered By: David F. Stoddard

You must prove that someone was negligent, and the negligence caused the fall, which caused an injury. With a fall at a business, you normally must prove that a dangerous condition existed, that the dangerous condition was either created by the owner/operator of the facility, or that the owner/operator was aware of the condition and did nothing to make it safe (remove the condition or warn the public about the condition). If a condition is open and obvious, it is usually not considered a dangerous condition. However, even if it is open and obvious, if it could reasonably be expected that people would get hurt despite it being open and obvious, there still might be a viable case. You can recover from a "slip and fall" case if it is aggressively defended.

Answer Applies to: South Carolina
Replied: 10/26/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.