Experiencing a "Slip and Falls" in Minnesota

Last February, there was a interesting story in the Minnesota Tribune about a slip and fall at Denny's. The most startling thing about the story is that the hazard that caused a woman to be injured is still present. The fall took place when a down spout was distributing water right into a handicapped spot. The water froze and a person fell getting out of their car.

It seems that Denny's would have learned and done something about this hazard. Move the spout, move the handicap spot, or maybe at least put a sign up. They know that it's there and that some ones been hurt.

The next place worth reading is the comments. There is the usual group of people blaming the lawyer or who pointed out that you can fall in Minnesota in winter. These are the jurors that Denny's is really playing to. They profit from having customers come in, you would think they would except that responsibility that comes with the money. No, it's easier and cheaper to hide from the responsibility and blame the costumer.

We are getting a lot of slip and fall calls right now. The tough thing is that most of them aren't going to be successful. The type of injury or the circumstances that caused the falls make it a likely loser:

– The Minnesota courts have been hostile to these claims. These past couple of years have given us some of the harshest rulings on falls that have been seen for a long time.

– You don't just recover because it happened on someone else's land. There are policies that have some amounts that pay for a limited amount of medical costs, but those don't involve any payments for liability without proof of negligence.

– Without a fracture or a surgery, the cost that goes into the cases, which include experts from the medical field, but also from engineers or architects, make these cases very costly. When you factor in the risks, a soft tissue injury is not going to justify the expense to pursue the case in most circumstances.

Slip and fall cases probably bother me the most because jurors are harsh, the judges seem not to care, and often they involve businesses that make the customer the scape goat. They invite people on the property and don't make sure they are safe. It's really a case that shouldn't be as hard and as unjust as they really are.