Legal Assistance for
Slip and Falls - Trip and Falls

Slip and fall accidents – sometimes called “trip and falls” – are a type of premises liability lawsuit.

Slip and fall accidents – or trip and falls – can occur anywhere.  Sidewalks.  Schools.  Restaurants.  Shopping centers.  Stores. Someone else’s home.  Hallways.  Stairwells.  Escalators.  Anywhere.

Types of Injuries
Slip and fall accidents are the third leading cause of unintentional death for all ages. Almost 19,000 people died from falls in 2004, per the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. 

There are three main types of slip and fall accidents:

• Slip and fall accidents:  When your footing slips and you fall, such as on a wet floor in a grocery store.
• Trip and fall accidents:  Where there is an object in your way and you fall over it, such as a cable across a floor.
• Step and fall accidents: When there is a hole in your path, such as a hole in a sidewalk that is under construction.

In any of these situations you may suffer a serious personal injury, such as a brain injury or a back or neck injury.

Seniors and Falls
Falls are the leading cause of death among people age 65 and older, approaching 11,000 deaths a year, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC estimates that one in three adults ages 65 or older experience a fall each year. Hip fractures, often from falls, account for 300,000 hospitalizations a year.

The CDC says that about 20% of those who suffer a hip fracture will need a nursing home within a year. And 20% who fracture their hip will die within a year of the fracture.

According to the CDC, almost half of those who survive a hip fracture never regain full mobility or their former quality of life.

How Slip and Fall Accidents Happen
Slip and fall accidents may be caused by:

• Poor or careless maintenance
• Faulty design
• Bad construction
• Inadequate lighting
• Failure to warn
• Broken or uneven pavement or concrete

Who is Responsible for Your Slip and Fall
Most slip and fall accidents have one thing in common:  they are the result of the carelessness or negligence of someone who owns or controls the area. The responsible party could be one or any combination of these:

• Property owner
• Renter or lessee of the property
• Employer
• Contractor or sub-contractor
• Manufacturer of defective product (like a ladder)
• City, county, state, or federal governments

The law considers it the duty of all property owners to inspect their property for dangers and hazards. 

The property owner is also legally bound to warn you about dangers on their property.  Sometimes a warning isn’t enough, per the law, and they must actually remove the danger or prevent accessibility to the danger.

If You are Partially at Fault
California has a comparative negligence law. This means that the court will determine what percentage of fault each party has in the accident.

For example, the court could find that you are 10% responsible, the property owner is 30% responsible, and the grocery store is 60% responsible for your slip and fall accident.

Determining who is liable for your slip and fall accident, and handling comparative negligence is complicated. That is why it is so important that your slip and fall attorney be experienced in premises liability law.

Types of Damages You Can Recover
Depending on your case, the damages you may be able to recover for a slip and fall lawsuit includes:

• Physical injuries
• Emotional distress
• Loss of a loved one who is killed or disabled
• Medical costs
• Pain and suffering
• Lost wages
• Loss of future earning capacity
• Loss of financial support
• Damage to other physical property
• Punitive damages (sometimes)

The Cost of a Slip and Fall Attorney
In most cases, David Olan of Olan Law take slip and fall lawsuits on a contingency basis.  This means that you pay nothing until your case is resolved.

The Deadline for Filing a Slip and Fall Lawsuit
There are deadlines (statutes of limitation) by which you must file your slip and fall lawsuit.  If you miss the deadline, then you are giving up your Constitutional rights to ever file a slip and fall lawsuit in this case.

The sooner you contact a slip and fall attorney at Olan Law, the better it is for your case. 

Your slip and fall attorney will investigate the facts of the case, determining who is liable for your slip and fall accident. 

He also will preserve evidence by making sure that records don’t get lost and by taking statements from witnesses before their memories fade.

Contact us
Contact David Olan at Olan Law today for a free, no-obligation consultation.