Assisted living facilities provide personalized care and assistance and are supposed to ensure the safety and well-being of their residents. However, accidents can and do happen, even in the best circumstances. What if your loved one slips and falls? Can you sue an assisted living facility for a fall? Yes, in some instances, you can sue the facility for compensation to cover your loved one’s injuries and other damages.
If you have questions about suing an assisted living facility for a fall, please get in touch with the skilled legal team at Senior Justice Law Firm.
The Standard of Care in an Assisted Living Facility
One key factor determining the viability of your lawsuit involves the standard of care that the assisted living facility owes to its residents. Assisted living facilities have a legal duty to provide a reasonably safe environment for their residents, which includes taking adequate precautions to prevent falls and other accidents.
This standard of care encompasses everything from ensuring floors are clean and dry to installing handrails and other safety measures where needed. If the facility breaches this duty, it could be held liable for any injuries that result from its negligence.
Establishing Legal Liability
To successfully sue an assisted living center for a fall injury, you must establish negligence, which consists of the following elements:
- The facility had a legal duty to provide a reasonably safe environment;
- The facility breached that duty of care, which resulted in an unsafe condition that led to the fall;
- There must be a direct causal link between the facility’s breach of duty and your loved one’s injuries; and
- Your loved one must have suffered actual harm due to the fall, such as physical injury and financial losses.
It is important to note that assisted living facilities will attempt to defend themselves against slip-and-fall lawsuits by arguing that the injured party was partially or wholly responsible for their own injuries. This defense relies on the legal concepts of contributory or comparative negligence. The success of this defense will depend on the state’s specific laws where the facility is located.
If the facility can prove that your loved one’s actions or inactions contributed to their fall, your potential compensation may be reduced or even eliminated.
Understanding the Statute of Limitations
If you want to sue an assisted living center for a fall injury, you must be aware of your jurisdiction’s statute of limitations for personal injury claims. This is the amount of time you have to file a lawsuit. The clock typically starts ticking from the injury date, and failure to file a lawsuit within the deadline means the court might dismiss your case entirely.
Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer
If your loved one was injured, it’s time to contact a skilled lawyer with experience with assisted living negligence cases. We know the challenges of filing these types of lawsuits at Senior Justice Law Firm. Don’t attempt to go up against an assisted living facility without proper legal representation. Please contact our office to schedule a consultation and learn how we can help.
