Reduce your liability to trip & fall lawsuits
A recent poll of Southern California property managers revealed their #2 concern in relation to managing their walkways is liability, just after safety. Managed walkways, sidewalks, stairs and parking areas that are infrequently inspected or repaired typically contain multiple hazards that can cause injury to tenants, employees, and visitors.
Property owners and property managers are liable for injuries sustained on their property if they violated their duty to regularly and reasonably inspect their walkways for potential hazards, and expeditiously repair hazards that a reasonable person could foresee as potentially injuring someone.
Another walkway liability that could result in a lawsuit or settlement involves federal responsibilities properties have to provide access routes that comply with the ADA (Americans with disabilities act).
Both these liabilities can be eliminated or substantially reduced with a simple program of yearly walkway inspections and relatively inexpensive repairs. If this is done it makes it very difficult or impossible to prove negligence or lack of compliance.
The costs of trip and fall lawsuit settlements
If you manage walkways on a property you may already know that trip and fall incidents are more common than you’d like. Whenever a trip and fall occurs there is a good chance that injury will result, and with that the likelihood that a lawyer will become involved. At this point or later if a lawsuit is filed the most common result is a settlement of some kind. The average trip and fall lawsuit settlements cost $40,000 dollars. There is no average damage award if a trip and fall lawsuit goes to trial.
When the typical cost of repairing the hazard that precipitated the trip and fall is typically in the hundreds of dollars it becomes clear that proactive risk management would save your property thousands of dollars. This does not even take into account the time and stress you and your staff will experience throughout the entire process which typically takes months.
Property owners and property managers are liable for injuries sustained on their property if they violated their duty to regularly and reasonably inspect their walkways for potential hazards, and expeditiously repair hazards that a reasonable person could foresee as potentially injuring someone.
Another walkway liability that could result in a lawsuit or settlement involves federal responsibilities properties have to provide access routes that comply with the ADA (Americans with disabilities act).
Both these liabilities can be eliminated or substantially reduced with a simple program of yearly walkway inspections and relatively inexpensive repairs. If this is done it makes it very difficult or impossible to prove negligence or lack of compliance.
The costs of trip and fall lawsuit settlements
If you manage walkways on a property you may already know that trip and fall incidents are more common than you’d like. Whenever a trip and fall occurs there is a good chance that injury will result, and with that the likelihood that a lawyer will become involved. At this point or later if a lawsuit is filed the most common result is a settlement of some kind. The average trip and fall lawsuit settlements cost $40,000 dollars. There is no average damage award if a trip and fall lawsuit goes to trial.
When the typical cost of repairing the hazard that precipitated the trip and fall is typically in the hundreds of dollars it becomes clear that proactive risk management would save your property thousands of dollars. This does not even take into account the time and stress you and your staff will experience throughout the entire process which typically takes months.