Congratulations to Tiffany M. Shrenk, Esq. for being recognized as a Top Lawyer in the field of Personal Injury by Main Line Today in 2022. Each year lawyers around the Main Line and western suburbs nominate their colleagues for recognition as a Main Line Today Top Lawyer. Tiffany has been recognized as a Main Line Today Top Lawyer in the field of personal injury since 2019.
Slip and Fall Accident
WHAT IS THE MITIGATION OF DAMAGES PRINCIPLE AND HOW DOES IT APPLY TO YOUR CAR ACCIDENT CASE
When a person claims a right to recover damages, the law imposes a duty upon the claimant to mitigate those damages. This means that someone who has suffered a loss or injury must take advantage of reasonable opportunities to decrease the amount of damages suffered. While this principle applies in a variety of civil cases, there are a few notable situations where the mitigation of damages principle arises in a personal injury case.
If you have been in a car accident, your first introduction to the mitigation of damages principle often arises with your property damage claim. If your car has been towed from the accident scene, it will most likely be towed to a lot that incurs daily storage fees. The mitigation of damages principle arises in this scenario to require you to resolve your property damage claim without any unnecessary delays such that you are mitigating the amount of storage fees incurred.
At this stage you may receive a letter from the liability insurance carrier informing you of your duty to mitigate your damages. The mitigation of damages letter will advise you that your vehicle needs to be moved to a storage free facility and will most likely state that the insurance carrier has a storage free lot where your car can be moved. If you do not take advantage of the insurance carrier’s offer to move your car to the storage free lot, you will most likely end up with a dispute regarding the amount of storage fees the insurance company is willing to pay.
Similarly, insurance carriers often assert the mitigation of damages principle as a defense to compensating for reimbursement of rental car fees. Disputes often arise with reimbursement of rental car fees where the insurance company will not agree to compensate the claimant for keeping a rental car longer than necessary.
The next area in my personal injury practice where I find myself discussing the mitigation of damages principle with clients is with a lost wage claim. If you are unable to work because of the injuries sustained in a car accident or other incident, you are entitled to recover for your lost wages. However, the mitigation of damages principle applies so that if you are able to work in some capacity, the law imposes a duty upon you to continue to earn wages.
One scenario where this issue arises is when a doctor places a limitation on the number of hours that the injured claimant can work. Although you may no longer be able to work full-time, the mitigation of damages principle applies to impose a duty on you to find suitable part-time employment to mitigate your wage losses.
Another scenario where we see mitigation of damages principle arising with a wage loss claim is when an injured claimant has physical limitations. In this scenario, a claimant who was working a strenuous job pre-accident is no longer able to perform the job requirements due to the injuries sustained in the accident. In this scenario, if the claimant has not found alternative employment, it is common for the insurance carrier to hire a vocational expert who will perform an assessment and identify jobs that would be alternative forms of employment.
These are just a few examples of how the mitigation of damages principle may apply to your motor vehicle or personal injury case. Personal injury attorneys are experienced with handling disputes when the mitigation of damages principle is asserted as a defense and advise their clients so that they are not negatively impacted by the mitigation of damages principle. If you have been injured in a motor vehicle collision and have concerns regarding how the mitigation of damages principle will apply in your case, you should consult a personal injury attorney who will assess your situation and guide you in asserting your claim for damages.
Tiffany is a partner at MacElree Harvey, a full-service law firm serving Delaware and Pennsylvania. Licensed to practice law in Delaware and Pennsylvania, Tiffany represents clients in a variety of civil litigation matters, including personal injury, trust and estate litigation, real estate litigation, and corporate disputes. She joined MacElree Harvey in the summer of 2016 and spends her time in the Delaware office located in the Village of Centreville and the Kennett Square office. Contact Tiffany at (302) 654-4454 or tshrenk@macelree.com to discuss your car accident or other civil litigation matter.
When Accidents Happen to Your Holiday House Guests…
The busy holiday travel season is upon us. It is likely that at some point this holiday season, you will welcome family and friends into your home to celebrate the holidays with you. As a personal injury attorney, I often represent travelers and guests who are injured as a result of defects or defective conditions at hotels, stores, and other public places. There are also some occasions where a person injured on private residential property may successfully bring a claim against the homeowner.
However, the law does incorporate a form of immunity that prevents many of those incidents from being actionable. Delaware’s Guest Premises Statute is a law that provides immunity to the owners of private residential properties and prevents a guest without payment from bringing a claim against the owner of private residential property for injuries resulting from a defect or defective condition on the property. This means that even if there was some negligence or carelessness by a homeowner that caused injury, the law prevents a guest without payment from pursuing a negligence action against the homeowner.
There are some exceptions to this immunity, and the owner of private residential property is not shielded from responsibility for intentional or reckless acts or conditions that are willful and wanton. Additionally, because of a separate statute that provides strict liability for dog owners, homeowners will be held responsible for a guest’s injuries caused by the homeowner’s dog. Although the law does provide a form of immunity for homeowners against premises liability claims, homeowners can protect themselves from these claims by carrying sufficient homeowner’s insurance to cover them in the event there is a claim brought against them because of an injury that occurred on their property.
Falls on Snow or Ice: Delaware’s Continuing Storm Doctrine
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Not all slip and falls caused by snow and ice will result in a successful legal claim for damages against a Delaware landowner. Whether a Delaware landowner will be held responsible for injuries that occur on a snowy or icy walkway will first depend on whether the fall occurred during a winter storm. This is because Delaware, like the States of Virginia and Iowa, recognize the “Continuing Storm Doctrine.”
The Continuing Storm Doctrine provides that a landowner is permitted to wait until the end of a storm and a reasonable time thereafter prior to beginning snow and ice removal operations. Although the landowner has a duty to keep walkways safe from the dangers that accompany the natural accumulation of snow and ice during the winter months, Delaware courts will allow the landowner to await the end of the winter storm and a reasonable time thereafter prior to removing the snow and ice from walkways.
In applying the Continuing Storm Doctrine, Delaware courts will rely upon weather reports documenting when the winter storm began and ended. It is also important to keep in mind that just because it has stopped snowing does not mean that the storm has ended. Even a light drizzle is sufficient to establish an ongoing storm. Lengthy storms may even have periods of no precipitation or lulls, but if the storm has not completely passed there is no responsibility on the landowner to clear snow and ice. This means that even if the landowner makes some effort to clear snow and ice during the storm, the landowner will not be held responsible for a fall that occurred during a storm.
If you slip and fall on a snowy or icy walkway and the landowner failed to clear the snow or ice within a reasonable time after the winter storm ended, the landowner will be responsible for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
If you have been injured in a slip and fall, contact Delaware personal injury lawyer Tiffany M. Shrenk at 302-654-4454 or tshrenk@macelree.com. Tiffany is experienced in helping injured accident victims receive fair compensation for their injuries. Tiffany is licensed to practice law in Delaware and Pennsylvania. Tiffany regularly practices in Delaware in the firm’s Centreville office, located minutes north of Wilmington, Delaware.
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