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Injury on apartment complex "common area" grounds.

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samwize

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Utah

I was seriously injured this week during an activity with other tenants in an apartment complex. Peole were all running around in the grass field that is in the middle of the complex, and when I ran in to enter the fun up close, I stepped on a piece of shattered glass while running. I got 20 stitches in the ER, and the slash was very deep. My foot was moving forward when it found the glass, as i was literally running, and the cut was ~1.5ish inches at the top, and there still might be infections and other complications later.

People had been there in the field throughout the day, barefoot and not, so there is no way that I should have assumed there would be any hazard other than that inherent to fields (dips, dampness, etc).

Is the apartment complex liable? I have not spoken to the complex management yet, nor any attorneys. This is my first time living in an apartment, and my first major, serious injury. What am I entitled to, and what should I do next?

Thanks in advance to all!

- Samwize
 


outonbail

Senior Member
What is the name of your state? Utah

I was seriously injured this week during an activity with other tenants in an apartment complex. Peole were all running around in the grass field that is in the middle of the complex, and when I ran in to enter the fun up close, I stepped on a piece of shattered glass while running. I got 20 stitches in the ER, and the slash was very deep. My foot was moving forward when it found the glass, as i was literally running, and the cut was ~1.5ish inches at the top, and there still might be infections and other complications later.

People had been there in the field throughout the day, barefoot and not, so there is no way that I should have assumed there would be any hazard other than that inherent to fields (dips, dampness, etc).

Is the apartment complex liable? I have not spoken to the complex management yet, nor any attorneys. This is my first time living in an apartment, and my first major, serious injury. What am I entitled to, and what should I do next?

Thanks in advance to all!

- Samwize
I'm not very familiar with Utah law, but generally speaking, the only way the apartment complex /management company can be liable for your injuries, is if you can prove they were negligent and that you suffered an injury because of their negligence.
But from what you have posted, I don't see where they were negligent. Now if they were holding some sort of carnival and they had a bottle breaking contest which was held in the same courtyard that they scheduled a barefoot relay race immediately after-wards and they didn't clean up the smashed glass, then I would say they were negligent. But it sounds like this event was just a bunch of tenants who got together and decided to run around some sort of grass field, playground or grassy courtyard type of area, just to entertain themselves.
Since you claim that people were running around this grassy field throughout the day, I would assume that the glass wasn't there the entire day. It's entirely possible that with all this fun going on, one of the tenants dropped a beer bottle or soda bottle at some point and didn't clean up all the broken glass. You just happened to be the unfortunate one who found this glass with your foot before anyone else noticed it was there.

The management company can't be expected to know when the tenants are going to suddenly hold a rain dance in the grassy area of the complex and even if they did, they are not required to hire a babysitter to watch over the gathering to make sure no one drops a glass or bottle at some point.

Plus, whenever you see a socializing or party such as the one you've described, you should pretty much expect there to be broken glass, sharp objects and smoldering cigarette butts littering the area and therefore a good reason to put on shoes or at least sandals before you go running around in this field without a care in the world.
 

JustAPal00

Senior Member
Sam, Unfortunatly life has some risks. It's not always someones fault when you get hurt, even though most ambulance chasing PI attorneys would disagree. This is why insurance costs so much. This is why a doctor visit costs so much. This is why you can't ride a sketeboard anywhere. Do you really think in your heart that your apartment complex is responsable for your injury? Did they do something wrong?
 

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