If you are unable to see stairs properly, you are likely to miss a step or trip and fall. Also, when there is not enough lighting in a stairwell, a person using it may not be able to spot, say, any spilled liquid or debris and can slip or trip as a result. If you have suffered injuries in a stairway slip-and-fall or trip-and-fall accident due to inadequate lighting, you may be able to seek compensation for your injuries, damages and losses.
Data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System collected between 1990 and 2012 shows that nearly 24.7 million patients were treated in emergency departments for a stair-related injury during the 23-year study period, averaging more than one million patients annually.
Stairway falls can cause a variety of injuries. The most common types in such accidents tend to be back and spinal cord injuries. Most back injuries suffered in stairway falls include sprains, herniated discs, fractured vertebrae and other broken bone injuries. Head trauma, nerve and joint injuries as well as other internal organ trauma are also common after stairway falls.
If your stairway fall was caused because of a lack of proper lighting, the property owner or manager may be held liable with a premises liability lawsuit. Poor lighting is considered a foreseeable injury risk. Therefore, property owners and managers have a responsibility to take note of issues/problems and act quickly to make the area safe.
In poor lighting premises liability claims, plaintiffs (injured victims) must typically prove the following:
• They were walking in an area where there was poor lighting.
• The property owner and/or the manager knew or should have known that the lighting was inadequate and posed a danger for those using the stairway.
• They suffered injuries because of that negligence or carelessness. Property owners, managers and their agents have a duty to maintain the premises and make sure that it is in good condition.
The property owner and/or property manager may be liable for your stairway accident. Property owners and/or property managers may also be held responsible in cases where tenants, visitors or guests at their property are injured in a slip-and-fall or trip-and-fall accident. 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 51 years, our skilled accident attorneys have established a proven track record of helping injured victims get fair compensation for their losses.
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. We 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). WE CAN EVEN COME TO YOU. There is no attorneys’ fee unless we recover money for you. 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.
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1-800-RADIO-LAW, 1-888-WYPADEK, OR 1-800-LAS-LEYES
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