Slip and Fall Lawyers in Hobbs, NM

Comparative Negligence

A common argument against your claim will be comparative negligence. This is where the property owner claims you also were negligent in causing the slip and fall and your injuries.

Under New Mexico’s pure comparative negligence law, you can still recover compensation even if you were somewhat at fault. But the amount is reduced by your degree of fault, whether that percentage is 5% or 95%. To ensure you receive as much compensation as possible, we prepare to push back against any comparative negligence arguments.

Open and Obvious Hazards

Another common defense is that the hazard that caused your slip and fall was open and obvious. In New Mexico, whether the hazard was open and obvious can be important, but it is not a complete defense. If the dangerous condition was visible and could be anticipated and avoided, then you may be considered partly liable. We will strive to prove the danger was not open and obvious, and you could not have seen and avoided it.

Slip & Fall Accident Claims in NM

Our slip & fall accident attorneys are here to guide you through the entire process of pursuing compensation. If you are concerned about what goes into seeking a slip and fall settlement, do not hesitate to call us. We are here to explain the law and process of filing a claim, as well as discuss how we handle each step.

The slip and fall claim process involves:

• Seeking medical care for your slip and fall injuries;
• Contacting a slip and fall injury lawyer;
• Providing notice to the property owner’s insurance provider;
• Collecting and analyzing evidence during an in-depth investigation of the accident;
• Filing a premises liability lawsuit against the property owner and/or manager;
• Utilizing the discovery process to obtain additional evidence;
• Hiring any necessary expert witnesses, including medical, vocational, economic, accident reconstruction, or industry experts.
• Providing evidence of the property owner’s liability and your injuries to the insurer;
• Entering into settlement negotiations with the insurer; and
• Resolving your claim with a pre-trial settlement or going to trial.

New Mexico Slip and Fall Accidents

Property owners and managers owe you a duty of reasonable care in New Mexico.

Under this standard, the premises should be reasonably safe, and the owners and managers must act to protect visitors from known and foreseeable dangers. A breach of their duty of care, which causes another harm is known as negligence A property owner might owe you compensation for your slip and fall injury if they failed to uphold their duty of care.

To obtain establish negligence, you must show:

• Duty: The property owner owed you a duty of care. In other words, you were not a trespasser.
• Breach: The property owner failed to uphold their duty of care by failing to keep their property reasonably safe.
• Causation: The property owner’s failure to maintain reasonably safe premises caused your slip and fall accident.
• Damages: You suffered a compensable injury in the slip and fall accident.

To establish the four elements of a NM premises liability claim, you need evidence. Our slip and fall lawyers collect evidence through an independent and thorough investigation. We will gather photos of the area where you fell, any video footage of the fall, eyewitness statements, and background on the property owner.

We will also investigate whether the property owner has a history of accidents on any of their premises. We’ll look into how the owner maintains their premises, including when and how they inspect their property, how quickly they make repairs, and how they typically warn visitors about dangers.

Your Status on the Property

In many states, the duty a property owner owes another depends on that person’s status while on the property. The different statuses are invitee, licensee, and trespassers.

An invitee is someone who has permission to be on the property and is there for a mutually beneficial reason. Invitees are often business customers, clients, or patrons. Licensees are individuals who are on another party’s property for their own benefit, including social guests. Trespassers do not have permission to be on the property at all.

New Mexico law does not recognize the differences between invitees and licensees. Property owners are required to maintain a reasonable care standard for everyone who has permission to be on the property. Whether you were a social guest or a customer at the time of the slip and fall, you would hold the owner to the same standard. New Mexico property owners and managers do not owe reasonable care to trespassers.