Glossary

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Last Updat­ed on April 25, 2023 by acci­dents

Glos­sary of terms for Slip and Fall Acci­dents.

Term	Def­i­n­i­tion
Abate­ment	The act of reduc­ing or remov­ing some­thing. In the con­text of slip and fall acci­dents, abate­ment refers to the steps that a prop­er­ty own­er must take to remove a haz­ardous con­di­tion that caused an injury.
Con­trib­u­to­ry neg­li­gence	A legal doc­trine that reduces or elim­i­nates a plain­tiff’s recov­ery if the plain­tiff was also neg­li­gent in caus­ing the acci­dent.
Dam­ages	Mon­ey that is award­ed to a plain­tiff in a civ­il law­suit to com­pen­sate them for their injuries.
Duty of care	A legal oblig­a­tion that one per­son owes to anoth­er to exer­cise rea­son­able care to avoid caus­ing harm. In the con­text of slip and fall acci­dents, prop­er­ty own­ers have a duty of care to their guests to keep their prop­er­ty safe.
Emo­tion­al dis­tress	A men­tal or emo­tion­al injury that can be caused by a slip and fall acci­dent. Emo­tion­al dis­tress can include anx­i­ety, depres­sion, and post-trau­mat­ic stress dis­or­der.
Fault	The legal respon­si­bil­i­ty for caus­ing an acci­dent. In the con­text of slip and fall acci­dents, fault can be assigned to either the prop­er­ty own­er or the injured par­ty.
Injury	Any phys­i­cal or men­tal harm that is caused by a slip and fall acci­dent. Injuries can range from minor cuts and bruis­es to seri­ous injuries, such as bro­ken bones, head injuries, and spinal cord injuries.
Lia­bil­i­ty	The legal respon­si­bil­i­ty to pay for dam­ages caused by anoth­er per­son­’s neg­li­gence. In the con­text of slip and fall acci­dents, the prop­er­ty own­er may be liable for the injuries of a guest if the prop­er­ty own­er was neg­li­gent in main­tain­ing the prop­er­ty.
Neg­li­gence	A fail­ure to exer­cise rea­son­able care that caus­es harm to anoth­er per­son. In the con­text of slip and fall acci­dents, prop­er­ty own­ers may be neg­li­gent if they fail to keep their prop­er­ty safe from haz­ards.
Premis­es lia­bil­i­ty	A legal doc­trine that holds prop­er­ty own­ers respon­si­ble for injuries that occur on their prop­er­ty due to the neg­li­gence of the prop­er­ty own­er.
Statute of lim­i­ta­tions	A law that sets a time lim­it on how long after an injury a law­suit can be filed. In the con­text of slip and fall acci­dents, the statute of lim­i­ta­tions varies from state to state, so it is impor­tant to con­sult with an attor­ney to deter­mine the dead­line in your state.
Wit­ness	A per­son who saw an acci­dent hap­pen. Wit­ness­es can pro­vide tes­ti­mo­ny about what they saw to help the court deter­mine what hap­pened.