Slip-and-fall accidents or trip-and-fall accidents can result in devastating injuries that require extensive medical treatment, rehabilitation and time away from work. Every year, thousands of people are injured after falling in grocery stores, apartment buildings, office complexes, parking lots, restaurants, construction sites and other locations. While these claims fall under the umbrella of personal injury law, they differ from many other accident cases in important ways.
Unlike motor vehicle collisions, where fault may be more straightforward, slip-and-fall or trip-and-fall accident claims often involve complex questions about property maintenance, notice of hazardous conditions and the responsibilities of owners and managers. Understanding these differences can help injured victims appreciate why these cases require prompt action and thorough investigation.
1. Liability Depends on Dangerous Property Conditions
One of the biggest differences between these cases and other personal injury cases is that liability centers on the condition of the property rather than the actions of a driver or another individual. Property owners, building owners, businesses, and property managers have a legal duty to maintain reasonably safe premises for lawful visitors. This means inspecting the property, repairing hazards within a reasonable time, and warning visitors about dangers that cannot be immediately corrected.
Common hazardous conditions include:
• Wet or slippery floors
• Uneven sidewalks
• Broken stairs
• Loose carpeting
• Missing handrails or improperly placed handrails
• Poor lighting
• Ice and snow accumulation
• Debris left in walkways
• Potholes in parking lots
• Damaged flooring
The injured person generally must show that the property owner/manager either created the hazardous condition or knew — or reasonably should have known — about it and failed to correct it.
2. Evidence Can Disappear Very Quickly
Another unique aspect of slip-and-fall or trip-and-fall cases is how quickly critical evidence can vanish. Unlike an auto accident where damaged cars remain at the scene and police often document the crash, dangerous property conditions are frequently corrected almost immediately after an accident occurs. For example, employees at a supermarket might mop up spilled liquid or a property manager may repair broken flooring right away. Warning signs may be added after your fall. Security footage may be erased after just a day or two.
If evidence disappears, proving what caused the fall becomes significantly more difficult. That is why documenting the scene immediately is so important. Photographs of the hazard, witness statements, surveillance video, incident reports and medical records can all become crucial pieces of evidence.
An experienced personal injury attorney will send preservation letters requesting that businesses, etc. retain surveillance footage, maintenance records, inspection logs and cleaning schedules before they are destroyed or overwritten.
3. Determining Whether the Property Owner/Manager Had Notice Can Be Challenging
Unlike many personal injury claims where the negligent (careless) act is immediately apparent, slip, trip, and fall cases often hinge on whether the property owner knew — or reasonably should have known — about the dangerous condition before the accident occurred. This concept, known as “notice,” is a central issue in premises liability cases.
There are generally two ways notice may be established. Actual notice exists when the property owner/manager or an employee was aware of the hazardous condition but failed to address it. Constructive notice may be established if the dangerous condition existed for a sufficient length of time that the property owner/manager should have discovered and corrected it through reasonable inspections and maintenance. For example, surveillance footage showing a spill remained on a supermarket floor for an extended period without being cleaned up may support a finding of constructive notice.
To prove notice, your attorney will examine maintenance logs, inspection schedules, employee testimony, surveillance video, cleaning records and incident reports. Establishing what the property owner/manager knew and when they knew it, can be one of the most important factors in determining liability.
Contacting an Experienced Lawyer
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 injuries, etc.
For over 54 years, the experienced New York personal injury attorneys with the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm have established a proven track record of helping injured victims get fair compensation for their losses. Our skilled attorneys can help you better understand your legal rights and options and will fight hard to recover compensation for you. It is in the best interest of injured victims and their families in such cases to contact a very experienced personal injury lawyer before contacting the people responsible for the injuries, and definitely before contacting or communicating with any insurance company, or their lawyers, investigators, or adjusters.
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 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. We also recovered $1,500,000 for a lady who was hurt by a bus, although there was only a 1 million dollar insurance policy and we got $500,000 above that insurance policy.
We also obtained $295,000 out of a $300,000 insurance policy in compensation for the victim of a bicycle dooring accident (where a car door opens into the path of a bicyclist). 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. Also, we got a $1,400,000 verdict in a motorcycle accident.
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 cases, negligence cases, motor vehicle accidents, slip-and-fall accidents, trip-and-fall accidents, ceiling collapse cases, lead poisoning, paraplegia cases, quadriplegia cases 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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