Two individuals suffered non-life threatening injuries Tuesday night when a wooden staircase between the first and second floor gave way at a Palm River apartment complex.
Hillsborough County Fire Rescue transported the two adults to a local hospital, according to the St. Petersburg Times.
A ladder truck safely escorted four adults, three infants, and one family dog off the second floor.
County code enforcement is further exploring how the collapse happened.
According to a Harvard University renter demographics study, 80 percent of Americans aged 29 and under rent homes. While the number of renter’s shows a trend of declining with age, 4.1 million households aged 65 and above fall within the home renter category.
Property owners are responsible for injuries on their property, such as negligence or communication errors. Any person or organization that owns a property has a legal obligation to keep the area free from hazards or notify the public if a hazard cannot be fixed immediately.
Property owners must provide reasonable accommodations for tenants and routinely examine, preserve, and restore all dangerous areas. Here, the two injured adults could file a premises liability lawsuit against the apartment complex owners for negligence in maintaining the property.
Since the adults were sent to the hospital for suffering injuries, whether they are permanent ones or not, they could be compensated for any medical expenses, lost wages, and any additional pain and suffering that is endured.
If you or someone you care for has been injured on someone else’s property anywhere in the state of Florida, contact the Florida Premises Liability Lawyers at the Law Offices of Whittel & Melton, LLC online or call 1-866-608-5LAW (5529).