Accidents may occur at any time, at any place. When some force outside of an injured party’s control causes an accident, some difficult questions may arise, but typically, there is legal recourse available. For over 113 years, the attorneys at Powell, Zero, Mundy have litigated on behalf of Pennsylvania personal injury and slip-and-fall victims.

In public, there is never complete certainty as to what is just around the corner. One step and the result may be a fall, and worse, a serious injury. The two main issues in these types of cases relate to the cause of the fall and whether the party responsible for this cause was negligent by violating a duty to the person harmed.

Any case based on premises liability requires proof that the defendant acted unreasonably, i.e., it must have known about or been able to foresee a defect and then failed to repair or remedy it. In some cases, the owner or operator of the premises may actually cause the hazardous condition, for example, by leaving a hazardous obstacle on a sidewalk or pathway.

In Pennsylvania, government agencies may be immune from tort claims for incidents involving premises liability. An exception to this rule states that a public entity may be liable if the property is in the care, custody or control of real property in possession of the local government agency.