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| Name | Evidence of Repairs After a Slip and Fall | Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer |
| Video Uploader | Video From LawFull |
| Upload Date | This Video Uploaded At 23-03-2019 15:34:43 |
| Video Discription | Were you involved in a slip and fall accident, and thought that you could introduce evidence of repairs to show that the property owner was negligent? Check out this video to learn more. Hey everyone, my name is Barry Zlotowicz. I’m a Chicago personal injury lawyer and President of the Chicago Legal Group. So you were involved in a slip or trip and fall and you returned to the location to take pictures, only to find that the dangerous condition that caused you to fall was repaired? You probably thought – great – this is an open and shut case. Unfortunately, evidence of repairs after a slip and fall are not admissible as evidence to prove that the property owner was negligent. For example, I was recently contacted by a woman involved in a slip and fall accident in my home state of Illinois. She stepped off of a sidewalk and tripped and fell on a damaged patch of concrete in the street. She reported the accident and right after she did, the city came out and fixed the dangerous condition. She called me up and she had pictures of the repairs and told me she had an open and shut case for me. Unfortunately, that’s not what happens in these situations. This is an evidence issue – whether the victim can use the repairs as evidence that the property owner was negligent. And the answer, generally speaking, is no. You cannot use that evidence to prove negligence. So in this case, this woman could not use the evidence of subsequent remedial repairs to show that the owner of the property (the governmental entity) was negligent. Sometimes these rules don’t make a lot of sense. But in this case, there is a real reason prevent the use of this type of evidence to prove fault. It’s a matter of what’s called “public policy.” At some point probably back in England several hundred years ago, it was decided that as a matter of public policy, it was more important to encourage property owners to repair the dangerous conditions on their property than it was to enable victims in accidents to use photos or whatever evidence of the remedial efforts to make repairs that they have. As a result, this type of evidence cannot be introduced. It kind of makes sense right? If a property owner knows that the victim can use the evidence of the repairs against him, he won’t fix the dangerous condition. And ultimately, that could result in someone else getting hurt at the same location. Unfortunately, in the instance I spoke of earlier, that meant that the woman who called me could not use the photos she took against the city. Can you win a slip and fall case like this? Sure. This doesn’t mean she didn’t have a case against the city, it just means that the evidence she had of efforts to remediate the dangerous condition was unusable. If you want to research this topic a little more, it’s actually set forth in the Federal Rule of Evidence – Rule 407 Subsequent Remedial Measures . And it says you cannot use evidence of subsequent measures to prove: • negligence • culpable conduct • a defect in a product or its design; or • a need for a warning or instruction Now there are exceptions to the rule. For example, if the property owner is trying to say they don’t even own the property but they were the ones that fixed the dangerous condition – you can use the evidence to prove ownership or control of the property. And there are other exceptions as well. But that’s the main one. One quick tip for anyone who was involved in a slip and fall accident on a sidewalk, street or other property maintained by a governmental entity. The timeline within which to file a claim against a governmental entity is shorter in Illinois than it is to file a claim against a private property owner. So if you have a “governmental claim”, do not wait or delay filing notice and/or a lawsuit. If you do you may miss the governmental notice requirement and thus lose your right to recover. Thanks for checking out this video on Chicago slip and fall accidents. If you have any questions, please leave a comment in the comments section or email me at [email protected]. |
| Category | Education |
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