Slip and Fall Accidents

When you visit someone else’s property, you probably do not worry about your safety. You do not expect to be hurt by a dangerous property condition. Unfortunately, slip and fall accidents often happen, and they can cause serious injuries, such as spinal cord damage, broken pelvic bones, fractured hips, and traumatic brain injuries. If you were hurt in a slip and fall accident on someone else’s property, our Orange County slip and fall lawyers can help you pursue damages.

Slip and fall accidents can happen in many possible ways. Sometimes employees at a retail establishment fail to notice water or another liquid spilled on the floor, and a customer slips and falls. Other conditions that can result in a slip and fall include newly waxed or washed floors, uneven floors, loose floorboards, loose or detached carpet, and objects left on the floor. Although a slip and fall may sound minor, serious injuries can result. All property owners in California have a duty to keep their property safe for visitors, although the scope of this duty can vary.

Generally, if you are shopping at a retail establishment or dining out at a restaurant, you are owed a duty of reasonable care by the person or entity that owns or occupies the property. The property owner or occupier should keep their property safe by taking reasonable measures. These measures can include conducting regular inspections and cleaning up or making repairs as necessary to avoid harm to visitors.

To establish liability, a slip and fall attorney in Orange County will need to show that the property owner or occupier had actual or constructive notice of the hazardous condition. It is rare that a visitor can show actual notice of the danger. However, sometimes there are business records that contain notes about a customer who complained, or there may be inspection records that reveal that there was a known dangerous property condition. For example, an employee at a grocery store may have been assigned the task of making sure that the floors were clean and dry, and they may have noted a problem many hours before you slipped but forgotten to come back and clean it up.

More often, if you slipped and fell, you will need to show the owner’s constructive notice of the hazard to recover damages. Constructive notice exists if the defendant should have known about a danger, even if there is no direct proof that it did. Often, this is shown by revealing how long the dangerous property condition existed before a visitor slipped and fell. Our Orange County slip and fall attorneys can gather and preserve the evidence needed in these cases.

Property owners and their insurers may try to argue that a customer or visitor was at fault for their own fall. A property owner may argue that you did not pay attention as you were walking, or you would have seen the hazard. Another common argument that you may face is that you wore improper shoes for the situation. A property owner may argue that reasonable steps were taken to protect visitors like you; these steps could include cones and warning signs. Under the doctrine of comparative negligence, the jury will evaluate the evidence and arguments, determine damages, and assign each party a percentage of fault. As an accident victim, your damages could be reduced by an amount equaling your percentage of fault.

If we can establish liability for a slip and fall, you may be able to recover both economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages are tangible damages, such as medical bills and lost wages. Non-economic damages include pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of consortium.

If you were injured in a slip and fall in Southern California, you should talk to the premises liability attorneys at the Serendib Law Firm. Our firm represents people in Orange, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside Counties. Call us at 1-800-LAW-8825 (800-529-8825) or contact us via our online form.