You slipped on a wet floor in a Newport shop, or a loose stair rail gave way and left you with a head or brain injury. Either way, you are hurt because of a hazard on someone else’s property. The first thing you are likely to hear is that you should have seen it coming. In Rhode Island, that argument does not end your claim. State law reduces an award in proportion to your own share of the blame, but it does not throw a claim out because the danger happened to be easy to spot. Law Offices of Ronald J. Resmini, Accident & Injury Lawyers, Ltd. represents people hurt on Newport properties, and a consultation is where you find out where you stand.
Why Turn to Us After a Fall on a Newport Property
Andrew O. Resmini, a partner at Law Offices of Ronald J. Resmini, Accident & Injury Lawyers, Ltd., clerked for Associate Justice Daniel A. Procaccini at the Kent County Superior Courthouse. A Newport fall can end up in a Superior Court well outside Newport, and Kent County is one of the Rhode Island courthouses that can hear a case like this one, depending on how it is filed. That clerkship is part of why we think about where a case will be heard as well as how it is argued.
Among our published case results is a slip and fall on the Newport Cliff Walk, one of our $1M+ results, and a consultation with us about your own situation is free. We promise to call back within the hour if we are busy, and we personally take your calls, not a call center. In that conversation we go through the property, the hazard that hurt you, and what the owner’s insurer is likely to say about it.
What Counts as a Premises Liability Claim in Newport?
A premises liability claim covers an injury caused by the condition of a property rather than by anything you did. In Newport that often means a fall on a wet floor, a torn stair tread or a broken step, which is a slip and fall claim.
The setting changes, but the rule does not. At a hotel or a rental with a pool, a missing gate or a slick deck causes an injury at a pool, and a hazard can equally be a falling object or an unmarked change in a walking surface. The same comparative negligence rule applies wherever the hazard sat, indoors or out.
What matters in each case is the property and the condition that hurt you, so we evaluate every one of them the same way. These claims are part of our wider Newport, Rhode Island injury practice, representing people hurt on properties across the city.
Can You Still Bring a Claim If the Hazard Was Obvious?
Yes. An insurer’s standard answer to a fall claim is that the hazard was there to be seen, and in Rhode Island that answer does not end anything.
Under § 9-20-4, the fact that a danger or defect was open and obvious does not bar a recovery, and neither does the fact that you were not exercising due care. The finder of fact assigns a share of fault to each side instead, and an award is reduced by whatever share lands on you. What that means for you is that even a person found mostly at fault still recovers something, reduced by that share, because the statute sets no percentage cutoff.
It also leaves room for the questions that carry your side of the percentage. We look at how a hazard was created and how it was maintained, alongside how visible it was, and all of that feeds the share of fault assigned to each side.
How Long Do You Have to Bring a Claim in Rhode Island?
Rhode Island generally gives you three years from when the claim accrues to bring a premises liability claim, under § 9-1-14(b). A missed deadline usually ends a claim, whatever its merits, so the date is one of the first things worth settling. A small number of exceptions can move it, which is why we work out the deadline that applies to your situation as part of an initial review rather than assume the general rule fits every case.
Where a family loses someone to a fall or to something on a property giving way, a separate three-year window governs. § 10-7-2 counts it from the date of the death, or, where the wrongful act behind the death was not known then, from when it was or should have been discovered. The claim itself belongs to the estate, which makes the executor or administrator the person who brings it.
Claims for loss of society and consortium work differently. Under § 10-7-1.2, family members bring those in their own names, separate from the estate’s claim. More than one claim can therefore come out of the same fall, brought by different people, and knowing early who holds which one saves a family from sorting it out under a deadline.
Where Will Your Newport Claim Be Heard?
Not necessarily in Newport. Where a case is heard follows the parties, not the place you fell.
For a claim large enough for the Superior Court, venue depends on where the parties live, or where a defendant can be found (§ 9-4-3). A Newport fall can therefore be heard in another county, including a courthouse like the one where Andrew Resmini clerked. You do not choose that: residence and where a defendant can be found settle it. For the clients we take on, the filing is handled by our office, so the courthouse named on the paperwork is not something you need to work out before you call.
FAQs About Newport Premises Liability Claims
These are the questions Newport clients ask us most often after an injury on someone else’s property.
Can an insurer deny my claim because the hazard was easy to see?
No. Rhode Island’s comparative negligence rule does not let visibility end a claim. An argument that you should have seen the hazard goes to your share of fault, which reduces an award in proportion rather than deciding whether you have a claim at all.
Does it matter whether I was hurt indoors or outside?
No. The same comparative negligence rule applies wherever the hazard sat, so a wet floor in a shop, a slick pool deck at a hotel and an unmarked change in a walking surface outdoors all come down to the property’s condition. One of our published case results came from a fall on the Newport Cliff Walk.
Can the three-year deadline ever move?
Usually not. Most circumstances do not shift it, though Rhode Island recognizes a small number of exceptions that can. Because a missed deadline usually ends a claim, we work out the date that applies to your case early rather than assume the general rule fits it.
Who can bring a claim if a loved one died after a fall?
The estate does, through an executor or administrator, within three years of the death or of when an unknown wrongful act was or should have been discovered. Family members can also bring loss of society and consortium claims in their own names, separate from the estate’s claim.
What decides my share of the fault?
The finder of fact does, and it weighs more than how obvious the hazard was. How that hazard came to be there and how the property was maintained count alongside how visible it was. Whatever share lands on you reduces your award by that much rather than ending the claim.
Is the consultation really free?
Yes. An initial conversation with us about what happened costs nothing. We use it to explain what a Rhode Island premises liability claim would involve, given the property and the hazard in your case.
Talk to Us About Your Newport Claim
If a hazard on a Newport property has left you injured and dealing with an insurer, contact Law Offices of Ronald J. Resmini, Accident & Injury Lawyers, Ltd. and tell us what happened. That conversation covers the property, the hazard, which insurer is likely to be involved, and what a Rhode Island premises liability claim generally requires next. We handle these claims across Newport, from a shop floor to a hotel pool. Call 401-367-4655, or reach us through our contact page. The conversation costs nothing, and you get a straight answer about where things stand.