Premises Liability Accidents At Construction Sites

Perhaps you have heard the news that South Carolina is experiencing a boom, or maybe you have even seen evidence of this with your own eyes. Even as the country’s most populous states experience declines in population, people of all ages are flocking to South Carolina to soak up the year-round sun and enjoy the reasonable prices, at least when you compare the prices to Florida and California. You can see this in the sharp increase in the number of alligator attacks in South Carolina. The reason that so many alligators have bitten humans in recent years is that real estate developers have built waterfront homes right on top of the gators’ natural habitat. Gators are not the only hazard of South Carolina’s real estate boom, though. Construction sites are also prime territory for injury accidents, even though developers have a legal responsibility to keep dangerous areas blocked off from the public. If you got injured in an accident in your neighborhood because of construction, contact a Columbia premises liability lawyer.

Court Finds Plaintiff 35 Percent at Fault for Trip and Fall Accident on Sidewalk Under Construction

Several years ago, people had moved into some of the houses in a new development on Daniel Island, while other houses remained under construction. One of the residents who had already moved into a completed home in the development was a woman named Rosemary. One day, Rosemary was walking in her neighborhood, and walked past a house that was still undergoing construction. The sidewalk in front of the house was uneven, and Rosemary tripped and fell, sustaining serious injuries.

Rosemary filed a premises liability lawsuit against the real estate developer that was building the neighborhood. She alleged that the company was negligent in leaving an uneven surface on a sidewalk where residents would frequently pass when walking to and from their houses. The developer claimed that Rosemary was at fault, because the uneven surface was clearly visible, and she should have looked where she was going.

The court applied the rule of comparative negligence, where it divides fault for the accident between two or more parties. The court will order the defendant to pay a percentage of the plaintiff’s accident-related medical expenses proportional to the percentage of fault that the defendant bears. In this case, the court assigned 65 percent of the fault for the accident to the developer and 35 percent of the fault to Rosemary. The court determined that Rosemary’s compensable accident-related losses were $500,000, but since she was 35 percent at fault for the accident, it only awarded her $325,000, which is 65 percent of that amount.

Let Us Help You Today

The personal injury lawyers at the Stanley Law Group can help you get adequate compensation if you got injured in a preventable accident due to an uneven sidewalk while you were walking in your neighborhood.  Contact The Stanley Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina or call (803)799-4700 for a free initial consultation.

Source:

scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1577954419858230304&q=premises+liability&hl=en&as_sdt=4,41&as_ylo=2015&as_yhi=2025