Is a casino always liable when you slip and fall?

Casinos are not liable for every incident that results in slip and fall accidents. Although the casino management is required to maintain safe facilities, they are only responsible for protecting patrons from incidents that they know or should know can lead to harm. The key to holding casinos liable proving that the management or employees acted negligently in some way and the negligence led to the injury.

Proving Casino Liability

Casinos are required to do whatever is reasonably possible to protect patrons from foreseeable conditions that could cause injuries. For instance, if a person slips on a liquid that has just been splashed or spilled by another patron, the casino is unlikely to be liable because it is not reasonable to expect casino employees to clean every spill immediately.

Similarly, the casino may not be liable if a patron slips and falls on a slippery floor where a wet floor sign has been placed. The sign is evidence of employees or management attempting to take a reasonable precaution to prevent casino injuries. The casino may, however, be held liable if the wet floor sign is obstructed or hard to see because of poor lighting.

To succeed in a claim against a casino, a person has to prove that the casino breached its duty of care to him or her and that the casino’s negligence led to the slip-and-fall accident. A casino can be proven negligent if the patron shows:

1. The casino had a duty to protect him or her from injury.
2. The management knew or reasonably should have known about the hazardous situation.
3. The casino failed to correct the danger, thus was negligent.
4. This negligence caused the injury.
5. The injury has been confirmed.

Building Strong Casino Injury Claims

Building a strong claim requires knowing what to do after a slip and fall and collecting good evidence. These types of evidence are beneficial to patrons looking to prove casinos liable for their injuries:

• Photographic evidence: Cellphones are useful tools in building casino injury claims. One of the first things victims of slips and falls should do is take photos of the accident scene, particularly the dangerous situation that made them slip and fall.
• Incident report: Victims should ask staff or managers for an incident report. They need to fill out the report and take a photo of it once they are done to serve as documentary evidence. If possible, the manager can give them a copy of the report.
• Medical attention: Patrons should seek medical attention after slip-and-fall accidents, even when the injuries are not apparent. Some injuries may not be immediately obvious but still cause effects in the long term. For example, a back injury may cause complications that affect a victim’s quality of life much later. Additionally, states have personal injury statutes of limitation. Therefore, victims may be ineligible for compensation if they wait until problems surface to make a claim.

With pieces of evidence like photographs, medical records, and written reports, patrons give themselves the best case to prove casinos liable.