Slip And Fall & Premises Liability
What are your legal rights after a slip and fall accident?
Slip and fall or premises liability incidents occur when the owner of the real property where the slip and fall injury occurred, failed to maintain the property in such a way as a reasonable and prudent person would in order to make it safe for people to travel on, that come onto the property. This is the legal concept of negligence in relation to premises liability. If a property owner or property manager fails to maintain the real property, sometimes the people coming onto that property can be seriously injured, and in extreme circumstances, even killed by that real property owner’s negligence.
There are many scenarios where the owner, or manager of the real properties failure to adequately maintain that property can cause injury or the deaths of the people who come onto that property.
Below are some brief examples of how slip and falls, and other personal injuries can occur:
Improperly maintained icy, snowy, or wet parking lots, stairwells, sidewalks and other walkways, etc.
Improperly maintained stairwells (i.e. loose or missing stair risers, loose or missing handrails, etc..).
Oil, grease and other chemical spills on parking lots, stairways, sidewalks, walkways.
Improperly maintained sidewalks and walkways (i.e. large cracks in sidewalks, heaved sidewalk paving from tree roots or other uneven walkways, or frost heaving of walkway surfacing from winter ice, etc..).Improperly maintained parking lots and driveways (i.e. potholes, cracks, sinkholes in the pavement, protruding pipes or other obstructions in the parking lot or driveway surfacing causing a tripping or impaling hazard.
Improperly maintained lighting or signage that leads to a slip and fall injury.
Improperly maintained flooring or carpeting which causes a slip and fall.
Improperly restrained snowpacks on roofs that lead to snow slides and ice falls onto passerby’s traveling adjacent to the building.
Dog attacks, and other animal attacks arising from animals improperly contained or housed on the real property.
Improperly maintained swimming pools, water parks, water features, or other swimming facilities.
Improperly maintained or operated machinery on the property such as cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder assisted, or roller track assisted machinery on the property similar to, but not to limited elevators, and escalators.
Improperly maintained or operated machinery on the property such as light and heavy industrial commercial or other commercial equipment.
Other dangerous conditions or hazards that are unknown to the users of the property that lead to a slip and fall or other personal injury which occurs on the real property.
What you should do if you’re involved in a Slip and Fall incident or other personal injury that occurs on someone else’s property:
Be safe, seek medical attention for your injuries, call 911. Ask the 911 operator to call for an ambulance (if necessary) and ask for the police to be dispatched to the scene so they can document the incident and file a report.
Report the incident to the landowner or property manager right away, ask them to file an incident report documenting the incident.
Record what caused the slip and fall incident, take cell phone pictures of the thing that caused your fall and the incident scene. Where there any witnesses? If Yes, ask them for their names and contact information.
As soon as possible while the circumstances surrounding the incident are still fresh in your mind, write down everything that you can remember about the incident.
Take notes on the weather and conditions present at the time, the time of day.
Where there any witnesses? If Yes, get their names and contact information.
What did you trip over or stumble on?
Did you get knocked out?
Did you hit your head on anything?
Did you strike another part of your body strike anything?
Was anyone else with you when you fell?
If you find yourself in injured in a slip and fall incident on the real property of another person, you will want an experienced legal team behind you that has experience litigating the full range of slip and fall and premises liability incidents involving unsafe or hazardous conditions on the real property of another, improperly maintained equipment, stairways, sidewalks, walkways, parking lots, dog bites, and everything in between. We help people injured on the real property of other people get healthier and wealthier.
