What is Constructive Knowledge in a Florida Premise Liability Suit?
When you are injured by another party’s negligence, and you want to file a personal injury claim for compensation, then it is dependent upon you to show that the other party had a duty of care to you that they violated and that their error caused your harm. There are several ways that unintentional injuries can arise out of careless behavior on the part of others. For premise liability instances, showing negligence can be challenging but achievable. In Florida, a plaintiff will have to show that the property owner had knowledge that a hazardous condition existed on their premises, and they did not address it to make the property reasonably safe for others to enter. Proving constructive knowledge can do this.
Establishing constructive knowledge for your premise liability case in Florida is something that the Tampa premise liability lawyers at Fulgencio Law know how to do and can help you with. Doing so is necessary to be successful under Florida’s premise liability laws. Read on further to learn more about what constructive knowledge is and how it works in a premise liability suit.
Constructive Knowledge Explained
If you slip and fall on another party’s property, that property owner may not be able to simply say they didn’t know there was a hazard as a means to avoid liability. This is because there are situations where knowledge can be implied. There are instances where a problem might exist on a property without the property owner’s direct knowledge of it, but they should have known that it could have existed.
For example, let’s say you walk into your local grocery store. You end up slipping on spilled milk. It may be said that the store is liable for your damages because they should have seen the milk at some point and cleaned it up. The milk was on the ground long enough to where it was visible for some amount of time that it could have reasonably been taken care of, but it wasn’t.
There are two elements that must be demonstrated to show an establishment had constructive knowledge, and these include:
- The length of time the danger was present was long enough that it is fair to believe an employee would have had to notice it or be aware of it.
- The danger is something that happens enough that employees should be alert and expect the possibility of it happening at any time.
In the illustration of the spilled milk at the grocery store, first, a spill could have happened and was left all over the floor for a long time. Second, spills at grocery stores happen with great regularity, so employees should always be on the lookout for potential spills to clean them up quickly.
Speak with a Tampa Premis Liability Attorney Today
Making the case that an establishment had constructive knowledge of peril is imperative to filing an injury claim and obtaining the compensation necessary to pay for your losses. For help with a premise liability claim in Florida or another personal injury claim, please call the Tampa personal injury attorneys at Fulgencio Law today to schedule a free consultation at (813) 463-0123.