Caroling during the winter season should be fun and joyous for all involved. However, there is a chance that slips on ice could cause personal injury to many. If this happens to you or someone with whom you were caroling, a lawsuit may be in order. Understanding this situation may require you to talk to a professional personal injury lawyer, though, to ensure things go well.
Slips on Ice Are No Laughing Matter
When you're out caroling with multiple people this year, you need to watch out for ice on sidewalks. This problem can be a real issue if you plan on singing at as many houses as possible this year. For example, you may end up falling on the ice or seeing other people slip and fall. And while the human instinct is to laugh when somebody falls, slips on ice can be a very dangerous problem.
For example, someone may sprain an ankle or a muscle as they fall. They may even break a bone or impact their spinal cord. These injuries can quickly make a caroling sessions a real problem and take all of the joy out of the season. And trying to pursue a personal injury case can be quite difficult because negligence may vary depending on a variety of different factors in this situation.
Winning This Type of Case
The theory of slip-and-fall cases states that negligence falls on a property owner if they should have recognized a dangerous condition and did nothing to fix it. However, they may also be negligent if they caused the conditions that led to the slip and fall. As a result, they can be negligent for your fall even if they did not invite you to sing for them – they owe all pedestrians on their sidewalk the same protection.
However, this situation complicates depending on where the fall occurred. If you fell on a public sidewalk outside their home, courts may not deem them negligent. That's because the city or whatever public group owns the sidewalk should keep it ice-free. That said, even if it happens on their property, they may still try to claim that you and your carolers were uninvited and, therefore, trespassng.
As you can see, these cases require you to take a pretty broad look at the overall case and understand what you are up against when trying to win. Therefore, you should talk to a personal injury lawyer right away to boost your chances of winning. These types of lawyers should have the skills necessary to fully understand your case and prepare it for the best chance to win.
For more information, contact a personal injury lawyer.