Picture this: you’re dressed up in your best dancing shoes and finest outfits, ready to enjoy Florida’s legendary nightclub scene. You’re at the club with friends, burning up the dance floor. Suddenly, disaster strikes. The heel of your shoe gets busted, and you end up falling and hurting yourself in front of a crowd. It sounds like a nightmarish scenario, but it has happened many times. So what happens when you get hurt in a Florida nightclub? What sort of legal protections or defenses are at your disposal?
Luckily, while your night on the town might be ruined, you can still get an expert legal defense to help you deal with your injuries. With an experienced Florida personal injury lawyer, you’ll be able to get the personal injury representation you deserve. Here are a few of the things to keep in mind when an unfortunate personal injury incident strikes after a night out on the town.
Elements of Civil Negligence
In the state of Florida, there are a number of civil principles to keep in mind. A breach of any of these principles would result in a civil liability case for the plaintiff. Whether it’s a nightclub, the grocery store, or some other establishment, the rules for civil liability apply to virtually every business.
Here are the essential elements to keep in mind before filing any personal injury case, particularly one involving an injury at a nightclub:
- Duty to Act: A duty to act is required by any business or establishment that is providing use of its services to a patron. This means that the establishment has a duty to provide protection and service to anyone using its services or on the premises. For example, the nightclub you visit during your night on the town has a duty to keep you safe and provide a secure environment
- Breach of Duty: A breach of duty means a business or establishment failed to keep you safe or to abide by its obligation to prevent harm to you, the patron. If the nightclub fails to post “Caution: Wet Floor” signs when the establishment’s servers spill a drink and you slip and break your back, the establishment breached its duty in failing to keep the floor safe and dry.
- Injury: To prove injury, there has to be something tangible proving they were the cause of it. Another patron spilling their drink on the ground won’t be sufficient grounds to prove injury. You would need the spillage to have been negligently caused by the establishment itself to prove they were legally responsible.
- Damages: In the above example of slipping and breaking your back, ambulance transportation and medical bills are examples of what your damages would be. These medical expenses would have to be handled by the establishment since they were directly responsible for your injury.
These are the essential elements of civil negligence, but an experienced Florida civil liability lawyer can review your case and make an in-depth assessment, and ultimately give you a pre-case evaluation. If the elements for a substantial liability case are present, then you very well may receive compensation for damages.
Get Rightful Compensation With a Personal Injury Attorney
An embarrassing nightclub injury doesn’t have to cost you more than your pride; get the personal injury representation you deserve with the Salpeter Gitkin, LLP. We are experienced and dedicated Florida personal injury lawyers with decades of combined experience. Let us fight on your behalf and help you move on with your life.
For a personalized free case review and evaluation, call us 24/7 at (954) 467-8622 or complete our online contact form.
