In the state of Florida, owners have a duty to maintain their property up to the standards mandated by state law. However, in some cases, owners choose to not abide by these laws, which can lead to dangerous outcomes. Premises liability means that the person who is the owner or the person who is in control of the premises has a duty to maintain those premises in a reasonably safe manner and if they do not maintain a reasonably safe manner and someone becomes injured because of that unsafe manner of the property, then they can be liable for those injuries.

Negligence in a Tampa premises liability case can lead to many negative consequences for both the owner and anyone that may be affected by the lack of care given to a property. This negligence can often lead to unsuspecting victims, i.e Slip and Fall victims, and can cause several issues for others. If you or someone you care about has experienced an instance due to negligence, it is in their best interest to contact knowledgeable premises liability attorneys to learn more about their options.

Difference Between a Constructive Notice and a Regular Notice

Constructive notice is not necessarily the owner knowing that something spilled on their aisle, it is instead something is spilled for three days, and no one was available to inspect said aisles to inform the owner of a spill.  Even though a person does not know that spill happened, this could be considered negligence in a Tampa premises liability case.

Constructive is a legal term that means ‘should have known,’ so even if a person does not know something, the law requires that they should have had means to recognize any problems in a timely manner because that is a reasonable person standard. For example, it is not reasonable for the owner of a grocery store to never clean their aisles, they should clean them every so often and they should have them inspected every so often. If they do not follow those reasonable person standards for cleaning and inspecting, then they are going to be on constructive notice when and if an incident occurs.

How a Notice Can Impact Slip and Fall Cases

The store owner or defendant in most cases can prove that a spill was on the ground or that water was on the ground for two seconds before a person slipped on it, then that is probably not enough notice and it may affect their liability in the case. From this, the jury may describe this as an instance of negligence in a Tampa premises liability case. The more notice that a person can show that an owner had knowledge of this dangerous condition, the better chances they have of proving that they are liable for the injuries so that is why notice is important.

A person can show that they knew there was a spill on aisle three 20 minutes before the slip and fall happened and nobody had gone over there to clean it, well they are not constructive notice but they are on actual notice that a spill occurred, that there is a dangerous condition, and they did nothing to remedy it, they can show slam-dunk that they had plenty of notice to clean this, they did not clean it and it cause an injury.

Is Tampa a Contributory or Comparative Negligence Jurisdiction?

Tampa is a contributory negligence city and it basically means that whatever each side contributed, that percentage of fault is applied to the damages. If there is a $100,000 in damages and the plaintiff is 30% liable and the owner is 70% liable, then the judgment is against the owner for 70% of $100,000. In Tampa, whatever percentage of fault a person has, that is how much they have to pay as a store owner. Get in contact with a Tampa liability attorney right away to understand what to do following these cases.

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