All people are susceptible to accidents. While sometimes, they may happen as a result of one’s own doing, they can also happen as a result of another person’s failure to provide the lawful standard of care. A personal injury accident is when a person is injured at the expense of another individual’s negligence. When this happens, the injured party may wish to pursue a personal injury lawsuit to hold the negligent party responsible for their lack of care. When a person becomes injured this way, it is important to understand how they may proceed for a personal injury case. In doing so, they must know how they were injured and who is at fault for the injury.
Premises Liability
An individual may have a case for a premises liability case if they were injured as a result of a party’s failure to take care of their own property. Situations that fall under premises liability include slip and fall accidents, dangerous conditions, defective security, inadequate maintenance, school negligence, and more.
In Washington D.C., property owners are legally responsible to maintain safe property conditions to ensure the safety of those who come onto their grounds. They are obligated to provide a duty of care towards individuals who are injured on their property. This duty of care requires them to make repairs to their property, warn people about unsafe conditions, make the property safe, and provide necessary security measures.
In order to prove another person was responsible for an injury, the injured party must prove a few things. They must prove this party was responsible for taking care of the property on which they were injured. It also requires them to prove the accident and their injuries were a direct result of that neglect and failure to provide the duty of care.
Product Liability
A product liability case may be attainable if an individual becomes injured as a result of a flawed product. This can happen if a mistake is made or manufacturers cut corners during the production of a product and a person becomes hurt as a result. There are three main categories of defects that are seen in product liability cases:
- Design defect: This is seen when a designer does not account for a user’s safety when creating the product
- Manufacturer defect: This is seen when a manufacturer strays from the usual production process, causing the product to injure someone
- Failure to warn: This is seen when a company fails to provide a warning label for a product that can hurt someone if it used incorrectly
Statute of Limitations
It is important for victims of premises or product liability cases to know that there is a statute of limitations on personal injury cases. This requires them to file a claim for a personal injury lawsuit within a certain amount of time or they will no longer be able to do so. The statute of limitations for a personal injury case in Washington D.C. is three years.
Contact our Firm
The experienced personal injury and medical malpractice attorneys at Trombly & Singer, PLLC are prepared to represent clients facing legal matters after being injured due to another person’s negligence. If you require strong legal representation in Washington D.C. or Maryland, contact our firm today to schedule a consultation.
