Slip/Trip & Falls

You slipped and fell on a patch of ice in the parking lot of the local mall. Or, you tripped over a broken section of sidewalk in the common area of your apartment building. Perhaps you stepped on a grape in the produce aisle of the supermarket. Do you have a case? The answer is---it depends.

Slip/Trip and Fall cases are governed by the law of negligence. To win these cases an injured victim must prove either that the property owner created the dangerous condition that led to the accident or that the property owner knew or should have known of the dangerous condition and failed to warn of the hazard or remediate the dangerous condition. This can be a challenging task, since proving when a hazard first appeared can be difficult. Photographs of the scene taken soon after the accident are invaluable. Even if photographs cannot be taken immediately, they should be obtained as soon as possible to preserve any potential evidence.

Of course, in many cases photographs of the hazardous condition are difficult, if not impossible to be taken. For example, as mentioned above, if you step on a grape in the supermarket, the grape will usually be thrown out and the area cleaned before any photographs can be taken. In these cases it is important to make careful observations and include your findings in an accident report. Since it is the injured person’s burden to prove that the defendant knew or should have known of the dangerous condition, it is important to be descriptive. In other words, it may not be enough to simply state that you slipped on a grape. For example, if you slipped on a grape that fell to the floor from another shopper’s cart only a few seconds before you fell, it would be difficult to prove that the supermarket knew or should have known about it. On the other hand, if there were many grapes on the floor in the produce aisle that appeared brown, dried out and crushed by shopping cart wheels, this would suggest that the supermarket should have known of the hazardous condition and failed to make the area safe for its customers.

Defective Conditions

Hazardous conditions caused by negligent maintenance or designcan be a significant cause of injury. Cracked sidewalks, parking lot potholes, uneven steps, broken tile, torn carpeting, leaking pipes or gutters can create dangerous conditions for customers or other visitors to a building or property.

Sometimes negligence can be proven by a violation of a statute or building code. For example, poor lighting, narrow stairs, abrupt changes in flooring, insufficient or lack of appropriate handrails may cause you to trip and fall. If these conditions were in violation of theapplicable building code, you may have a valid claim against the property owner.

Weather Related Conditions

Commercial property owners are generally expected to take reasonable steps to make their property safe for its customers. This often includes plowing snow in the parking lots, shoveling the sidewalks, salting or sanding walkways, installing carpeting or other anti-slip devices in and around entrance areas and placing warningsas appropriate. Of course, all of the above must be done in a reasonable and workmanlike fashion.

Comparative Negligence

In almost every fall down case the defendant will attempt to assert the doctrine of comparative negligence. In other words, they will argue that you were partially, if not totally, at fault for causing your own injuries. If it is determined that you were comparatively negligent, your recovery will be reduced by the percentage of fault that is attributed to you.