Slip-and-fall and trip-and-fall accidents are among the most common causes of personal injuries in the United States. While these incidents sometimes tend to be dismissed as minor, they often lead to serious injuries for victims, requiring prolonged recovery time and in some cases, causing permanent disability. Regardless of the location of such accidents — whether they occur in public spaces, private properties or workplaces, they bear significant physical, emotional and financial consequences.
Here are four important facts everyone should know about slip-and-fall and trip-and-fall accidents.
1. Property Owners and Managers Have a Legal Duty to Maintain Safe Premises
Under premises liability laws, property owners and managers — whether they own a store, office building, rental property, or private home — have a legal obligation to maintain their property in a reasonably safe condition. This duty applies to both indoor and outdoor areas.
When a property owner or manager fails to correct a hazardous condition or fails to warn visitors about a potential danger, they may be held liable for injuries that occur as a result. Common hazardous conditions that lead to falls include:
- Wet or slippery floors (from spills, leaks or recently mopped surfaces)
- Uneven flooring or loose tiles
- Poorly-lit stairways and hallways
- Broken or missing handrails
- Cracks in sidewalks or potholes in parking lots
- Loose rugs, carpets or mats
- Clutter or obstacles left in walkways
- Snow and ice accumulation (particularly relevant in colder months)
Failure to uphold this duty may form the basis of a premises liability claim if someone is injured in a slip-and-fall or trip and fall accident.
2. Slip-and-Fall and Trip-and-Fall Accidents Cause Serious Injuries
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), falls are a leading cause of both fatal and non-fatal injuries in the United States. In fact, they are the number one cause of injury-related deaths for adults aged 65 and older.
Injuries sustained from slip-and-fall and trip-and-fall accidents can include:
Fractures and broken bones: Victims are at risk of hurting their wrists, hips, arms and ankles.
Head injuries: These might include concussions and other types of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), which can have lasting cognitive and neurological effects.
Spinal cord injuries: These may cause chronic pain, limited mobility or even paralysis.
Back injuries: These may include herniated discs, sprains and strains that can lead to long-term effects such as chronic pain.
Soft tissue injuries: Examples of such injuries include torn ligaments, bruises and muscle strains.
These types of injuries often require extensive medical treatment, rehabilitation and time off work. For elderly individuals, a broken hip from a fall can be life-altering or even fatal due to complications like infections or loss of mobility.
3. Victims Must Prove Negligence to Recover Compensation
A key component of any slip-and-fall or trip-and-fall claim is proving negligence
(carelessness). This generally requires demonstrating four elements:
Duty of care: The property owner/manager owed a legal duty to maintain a reasonably safe environment for visitors.
Breach of duty: The owner/manager breached that duty by allowing a dangerous
condition to exist.
Causation: The hazardous condition directly caused the fall and resulting injuries.
Damages: The victim suffered actual harm, including medical expenses, lost wages and pain and suffering.
A common challenge is showing that the property owner/manager knew or should have known about the hazard. This is typically established by demonstrating that the dangerous condition existed for a sufficient length of time that the owner reasonably should have noticed and fixed it, or the owner/manager created the hazardous condition by for example, leaving a spill unaddressed or failing to repair broken stairs.
4. Preserving Evidence is Important in Such Injury Cases
Victims can strengthen their cases by gathering evidence such as:
- Photographs of the hazard
- Incident reports (if the fall occurred in a commercial setting)
- Witness statements
- Surveillance video footage
- Medical records documenting injuries
Contacting an Experienced Personal Injury Lawyer
Slip-trip-and-fall accidents could result in serious, disabling or even life-threatening injuries. If you were involved in a slip-and-fall or a trip-and-fall accident as a result of someone else’s negligence (carelessness), please remember that you have rights. Some of the damages that victims of such accidents can claim include, but are not limited to, medical expenses, loss of wages and benefits, cost of hospitalization, surgery, physical therapy, past and future pain and suffering, permanent injury, etc.
The experienced New York personal injury attorneys with the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options and also fight hard to recover just compensation for you. For over 53 years, our skilled attorneys have established a proven track record of helping injured victims.
Our law firm recovered $1,700,000 for a woman who slipped and fell and received no hospital or medical treatment for one month after the accident. Our law firm also recently recovered $5,600,000 for a bicyclist who was hit by a van, and $2,550,000 for another victim of a truck accident, and $3,000,000 for a pedestrian who was hit by a car, and $2,000,000 in a hit-and-run accident, and the full $1,000,000 insurance policy for a pedestrian who was hit by a truck, and $4,625,000 for a driver who was in a car and was hit by a van, and $2,500,000 for a man who fell through an improperly secured hole. Also, one of our clients obtained a verdict for $43,940,000 and another of our clients got
a verdict for $23,500,000, both in medical malpractice cases.
Please contact us TOLL FREE 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496). <strong>WE CAN EVEN COME TO YOU. There is no attorneys’ fee unless we recover money for you.</strong> We can also help with personal injury, lead poisoning and medical malpractice cases including, brachial plexus palsy (Erb’s palsy) and cerebral palsy cases in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. If you have been seriously injured in any of the 50 U.S. states, please call us and we will try to help you with your case.
Other TOLL FREE phone numbers for us are:
1-800-RADIO-LAW, 1-888-WYPADEK, OR 1-800-LAS-LEYES
Please visit us at: www.WORK4YOULAW.com
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External link: https://www.cdc.gov/falls/data-research/facts-stats/index.html