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Slip and Fall

Slip and falls are the second leading cause of injuries in the United States. They account for an estimated 16,000 deaths each year. Many more slip and falls result in serious injuries. Often these injuries and deaths are caused by a dangerous or hazardous condition in someone else's property. An injury or death from a fall that is caused by a hazardous condition in another person's property may entitle the victim or the victim's family to compensation.

Why Do Slip and Fall Accidents Occur? Over 70% of falls occur due to dangerous conditions and hazards in our environment. Dangerous conditions that cause slip and fall accidents frequently result from poor design or improper maintenance. Other hazards are created by the presence of slippery surfaces and substances, such as areas with food spillage or water leakage.

Where Do Slip and Fall Accidents Occur? Slip and fall accidents occur virtually everywhere - in a supermarket or shopping mall; at school or at an office; or on a sidewalk. Your slip and fall may be caused, for example, by a defect in flooring, which may be wet or uneven, or else it may be attributable to inadequate lighting that obstructs your ability to foresee a danger.

How Do Slip and Fall Accidents Occur? Slip and fall accidents have two main types of mechanism. In one slip and fall scenario, your front foot slips forward, causing you to fall backward. In the alternative scenario, your rear foot slips backward, causing you to fall forward. A related type of accident, a trip and fall, occurs when your foot comes into contact with an obstacle, such as a protrusion, along your path.

The traumatic impact of a slip and fall or a trip and fall accident can cause severe and long-lasting injuries. Therefore, if you suffer a slip and fall or a trip and fall, it is in your best interests that you seek medical and legal help without delay.

What Should You Do After a Slip and Fall Accident?

Seek Medical Help for Your Slip and Fall Injuries. If you suffer a slip and fall or a trip and fall, seek immediate medical attention for your injuries. In the case of severe injuries, an ambulance should be summoned for emergency transport to a hospital. Too often, however, severe injuries sustained in a slip and fall accident may not manifest themselves for some days or weeks, making it all the more important that you be examined by a medical provider without delay.

Determine the Hazard That Caused Your Slip and Fall. Take Photos. In order to have a viable slip and fall (or trip and fall) claim, it is necessary to identify the dangerous condition or hazard that caused you to slip and fall. Time is of the essence in preserving the evidence at the site of your fall. Therefore, do what is reasonably necessary to take photos. If you have a camera with you (your cell phone will do), snap photos, or ask a companion or anyone at the scene to take one.

Report the Slip and Fall Accident. If you suffer your slip and fall injury in any commercial establishment, such as a store, a supermarket, or a mall, you should report the slip and fall accident to management right there and then. It is very important to document your slip and fall accident in this way. Incident reports contain useful information about the accident, including the date and time of the slip and fall, the names of witnesses, and the circumstances of the injury. Most importantly, incident reports help establish that the slip and fall accident actually occurred, preventing a property owner from later claiming that the incident never took place.

Contact a Reputable Slip and Fall Attorney. Time is of the essence after a slip and fall (or a trip and fall) accident, so you should protect your rights by immediately contacting a reputable slip and fall attorney. A prompt investigation is vital to a successful slip and fall claim. In many instances, the hazard that caused the slip and fall may be a temporary one (such as a liquid spill in a supermarket) and may be cleaned up quickly, destroying critical evidence for your case. An expert slip and fall attorney will initiate the proper steps to preserve evidence, identify and locate witnesses, and assist you in obtaining the necessary medical care. He will also protect against complicated filing deadlines, which for some slip and fall claims may be as short as six months if certain government entities are involved. Failure to meet these deadlines may mean that any claim for compensation that you may have for your slip and fall injuries is lost forever.

Who Is Responsible for Your Slip and Fall?

Property owners, operators, and managers - whether they are individuals or business entities - may be liable for your slip and fall. A knowledgeable slip and fall attorney can locate the owners of any given property by checking the appropriate government records, including tax rolls.

Some owners and operators who bear responsibility for your slip and fall may not be as obvious. They may, for instance, include service providers - such as concessionaires and janitorial companies - on the property in question. They may include franchisors and parent corporations. And they may well include government entities. A slip and fall at a public school, for instance, may impose liability on a local governmental body, whereas a slip and fall at a post office would implicate the federal government.

A Property Owner's Duty to Prevent Slip and Fall Accidents

The law requires that property owners use reasonable care in the management and maintenance of their premises and avoid exposing others to an unreasonable risk of harm, such as a slip and fall or a trip and fall. Therefore, property owners have a duty to reasonably inspect for any unsafe conditions on their premises and either to repair or give adequate warning of conditions that pose a risk of harm to others.

The victim of a slip and fall must prove that the property owner knew or should have known about the hazard that caused the slip and fall accident, and that he failed to remedy it. If the property owner, or any of his employees, created the dangerous condition that caused the slip and fall injury, knowledge of the hazard may be automatically imputed to them. However, if the hazard was created by a non-employee, such as a customer, the claimant must show that there was time enough for the property owner to have discovered and repaired the dangerous condition, or that the hazardous condition occurred with such frequency that the owner should have been aware of its presence.

In some instances, a property owner may have a duty to post warnings of a danger (such as "wet floor" signs), but these warnings must be visible and effective in order to be deemed sufficient.

Damages You May Recover for Suffering a Slip and Fall

If your slip and fall accident was due to negligence on the part of a property owner, operator, or manager, then you would be able to recover compensation for:

pain and suffering;
medical bills for past and future care;
lost wages; and
any reduction in your earning capacity.

Although punitive damages are uncommon in slip and fall cases, a skilled slip and fall attorney would be able to recover such damages if the defendant's conduct amounted to a reckless disregard for safety - that is, if a property owner or manager egregiously ignored a known safety hazard, thus causing the slip and fall.

Choosing the Right Slip and Fall Lawyer

Slip and fall cases are often challenging and difficult to prove. To prevail, a slip and fall attorney must establish not only the existence of a dangerous condition, but the property owner's actual or constructive knowledge of that condition. An experienced slip and fall attorney would initiate an immediate investigation, and:

Conduct a site inspection to ascertain the dangerous condition that caused the slip and fall accident;

Secure evidence of the dangerous condition before it "disappears";

Track down witnesses to the slip and fall accident or with knowledge of the dangerous condition;

Locate proof of prior complaints about the dangerous condition or of prior slip and fall accidents at the same location.

A resourceful slip and fall attorney would then hire the appropriate experts on safety standards to determine the applicability and violation of governmental codes and regulations, and thus establish liability on the part of the negligent property owner for the slip and fall. For example, if the slip and fall occurred on a faulty staircase, he might engage the services of a structural engineer to show deviation in the height or width of the steps.

California Slip and Fall Lawyer