Determining Liability for Personal Injuries Caused by a Cracked Sidewalk
Accidents will happen. Sometimes these accidents can result in personal injury, even when it is not your fault. When you do suffer a personal injury and neglect was found, you could have a claim on your hands, even if you are injured by a cracked sidewalk. Start by talking with a Personal injury lawyer in Philadelphia to explore the case and determine liability.
Personal Injury From a Cracked Sidewalk
Yes – you could receive damages for a personal injury case if injured from a cracked sidewalk, but how?
Sidewalks are everywhere, but not all are safe. Some have cracked pavements or chipped concrete, which can cause slip and falls leading to serious or life-threatening injuries. Injuries like head trauma, a broken hip, broken leg, or broken arm. Sidewalks can also have loose bricks in cobblestone walkways that are crumbling or broken that can cause injury.
After this happens, you want to hold the person responsible and receive compensation to help pay for medical bills and loss of wages due to the injury.
Everyone can be injured, but senior citizens, children, those with strollers, those using a cane, walkers, and wheelchairs are at most risk for injuring themselves from an unsafe sidewalk.
Location Matters
The location of the sidewalk where you were injured is going to play a role in your liability case.
For residential and business sidewalks, the owner of the property is responsible to repair all cracks timely and maintain a safe sidewalk. The same goes for apartment complexes. Some areas have their own rules and regulations (like HOA), but most areas hold the owner responsible for their property, including sidewalks.
This means the owner could receive notice to repair their sidewalks at any time and they must do this in a timely manner or they could get a ticket, fine, and be held responsible when someone is injured.
Government controlled sidewalks are a different story. If the sidewalk is not adjourning a private property, then the federal, state and municipal authority is responsible.
These sidewalks still must be safe, like at the post office or city parks. Since responsible for a larger area, they can’t patrol all of these sidewalks, which means there are special rules in place to protect your local government from being held responsible.
No matter what, all cases need to have proof of negligence that results in personal injury. Large and obvious cracks are pretty easy to see.
Government Cases
Let’s start with Sovereign Immunity. Have you heard of this? This is in place so that the government is protected from lawsuits from citizens.
However, there are ways to hold your government responsible. If you need a lawsuit against the post office for an unsafe sidewalk, you will want to look into the Tort claims act, which permits private parties to sue the United States in federal court. This is different than a claim against a homeowner or business owner. Always talk with an attorney during these. Special paperwork is needed since there are tight deadlines and no mistakes can be made.
Proving Liability
Like with any personal injury case, you must prove negligence for a successful liability case so that you can receive damages for medical treatment, loss of wages, pain, and suffering.
For this, you need to prove:
The party was aware of the condition and didn’t make an effort to fix it
The sidewalk was a danger
The sidewalk was the direct cause of injury
Prove that you suffered real and verifiable injuries
It always helps to provide photos, witness statements, and proper medical documents.
Working with Edelstein Law Firm
Have you suffered an injury from an unsafe sidewalk? The team at Edelstein Law specializes in all types of personal injury cases. We will focus on your case while aggressively fighting for you. While you are recovering from your injuries, the extra stress of receiving the damages you are owed can be a burden. With the help of Edelstein Law, our legal team will take care of your entire case so that you can direct all of your energy toward healing!