Fallen Over At The Hairdresser? Your Legal Rights

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Most people go to the hairdresser and enjoy the opportunity for a new style and a reinvigorated image, but sometimes things go wrong. If you slip or fall over at the hairdresser, you may find yourself dealing with more than injured pride, so it's important to understand what steps you can take. If you've had an accident at the hairdressing salon, learn more about your legal rights and the steps you may need to take if you want to file a lawsuit.

Causes of accidents

Hairdressing salons are surprisingly dangerous places. Although patrons normally just sit in a chair and let the stylist work his or her charm, hairdressers must still consider various potential hazards. Common causes of accidents include:

• Slippery floor surfaces from hair clippings or spilled styling products
• Unsuitable changes in floor level or texture
• Equipment and tools causing an obstruction
• Trailing electrical wires
• Inappropriate clothing or gown
• Poor lighting

Salon owners must take adequate precautions to minimize these risks, to prevent injury to staff members and customers.

Liability in slip and fall accidents

If you slip or fall over in a hairdressing salon, you cannot automatically file a lawsuit against the owner. A salon owner is only liable for this type of accident if you can prove that he or she was in some way negligent and that this negligence caused your accident. As you might expect, proving liability isn't always easy.

In all cases, the courts will expect you to prove at least one of the three following statements:

• The owner caused the hazard that led to your accident.
• The owner knew there was a hazard and did nothing about it
• The owner should have known about the hazard because a 'reasonable' person would have spotted and dealt with the hazard.

For example, all hairdressers should understand that hair clippings on the floor can cause a slip hazard. As such, staff members should promptly deal with hair clippings, to keep the area clean. If you had your hair cut, and an unreasonable amount of hair on the floor caused you to slip and fall, you might have a case to file, but you might have to prove how long the hair had been on the floor. A court will consider all the evidence before ruling, and every case is different.

Determining what is reasonable

Negligence in a slip and fall accident often depends on what a court decides is reasonable behaviour. In the earlier example, a court may consider it reasonable to sweep hair clippings up every fifteen minutes, or in between clients. If you slipped on hair clippings that had only just fallen on the floor, a court may rule that the salon owner was not liable because he or she still normally takes reasonable precautions.

As such, courts will consider each hazard carefully. Some of the questions a judge may ask include:

• Was the hazard in place long enough for a staff member to notice?
• What procedures are normally in place to deal with these hazards?
• Was there a legitimate reason for the hazard at the time of the incident?
• Was there anything the owner could have done better to deal with the hazard?

A slip and fall attorney from sites like http://www.putnamlieb.com can better help you understand the sort of information a court will ask you to give. For example, the salon owner may allege that you were negligent and failed to take due care. An attorney can help you show that this was not the case.

About the Statute of Limitations

The Statute of Limitations refers to the time you have to file a lawsuit, including slip and fall cases. The period starts as soon as the injury occurs or when you first notice the injury, and the law prevents injury claims for both civil and criminal cases outside the timescale. The Statute varies considerably between states. For example, in Maine, the Statute is one year, while it is three years in New York.

Slips and falls cause thousands of serious injuries every year. If you suffer an accident at the hairdresser, talk to an experienced slip and fall attorney to understand more about your legal rights.

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21 January 2015