A fall down a flight of stairs is no laughing matter. Many Riverside residents are seriously injured each year in such accidents. And in many cases, such falls are the result of a defect in construction. If that is the case, then the company responsible for building the stairs in the first place may be legally liable in a Riverside personal injury lawsuit.
Patent vs. Latent Defects—Why Does It Matter?
The rules governing such lawsuits can get quite complicated depending on the facts surrounding a specific accident. A recent California appeals court decision, Adams v. STN Builders, Inc., provides a case in point. In this case, the plaintiff was injured in an accident that occurred while attending a party in someone’s home. The plaintiff was descending a staircase in the house when his “foot slipped off the edge of the top step, and he fell to the concrete ground,” according to court records.
This was not a minor slip-and-fall, as the plaintiff fractured his elbow and required surgery. He subsequently filed a personal injury lawsuit against the homeowner. He later amended the lawsuit to name the general contractor who built the staircase as a co-defendant.
The homeowner eventually settled with the plaintiff, but the general contractor denied any liability.
The contractor then asked the Superior Court to dismiss the case on statute of limitations grounds.
Under California law, a personal injury claim based on an alleged “patent defect” in construction must be filed within four years of the “substantial completion” of that construction. In simple terms, the contractor substantially completed their work on the staircase in July 2013. This means that any lawsuit arising from a patent defect had to be filed no later than July 2017. But the plaintiff did not file his lawsuit until 2018.
A “patent defect” means that the alleged problem with the staircase was “apparent by reasonable inspection.” In other words, if the average person could see the staircase was broken or defective in some way, then it is a patent defect. If the problem is not so open-and-obvious, however, it is considered a “latent defect.” And the deadline for filing a personal injury claim based on a latent defect is 10 years under California law rather than four years.
Here, the appellate court concluded that since there was evidence to suggest the defect that led to the plaintiff’s slip-and-fall accident was a latent defect, he could proceed with his personal injury lawsuit on that basis alone.
Contact a Riverside Personal Injury Lawyer Today
In any personal injury case, there is a ticking clock to file a lawsuit before the applicable statute of limitations kicks in. Do not forfeit your right to recover compensation because the clock runs out. If you have been seriously hurt in any kind of accident caused by third-party negligence, you need to speak with a qualified Riverside personal injury lawyer as soon as possible. Contact The JLF Firm today to schedule a consultation.