Slip and Fall Lawyers
How Slip and Fall Injury Lawyers Can Help
Have you ever fallen because of an imperfect sidewalk or a wet floor at the supermarket? Injury from a fall is known as a slip and fall and can be pretty unpleasant. You could get scrapes, scratches, fractured bones, or even a concussion from a fall.
When a person trips or falls on another person’s property, they have suffered a slip and fall injury. These mishaps can occur anywhere, from stores and homes to restaurants and parks. Slipping and falling can cause injuries as minor as scrapes and scratches or as serious as broken bones, concussions, and even spinal cord injuries.
A person’s pain threshold, mobility, and independence are all negatively impacted by falls. Financial losses, such as medical costs, time off work, and other costs, can add up quickly when someone suffers a catastrophic injury after slipping and falling. Nevertheless, an injury’s psychological ramifications can be devastating, causing mental discomfort and lowering one’s quality of life.
There are several potential contributors to slip and fall accidents, including but not limited to a wet floor or slick flooring, uneven surfaces, and a lack of lighting. Property owners and businesses generally have a duty to use reasonable care to keep their premises reasonably safe for visitors. If they do not do this, they may be held accountable for any injuries that occur there. If you or someone you care about has been hurt in a slip-and-fall incident, it is in your utmost interest to consult with an experienced attorney about your case.
Various Kinds of Injuries Caused by a Slip and Fall
Injuries sustained in slip and fall accidents can range from superficial ones like scrapes and scratches to more serious ones like bone fractures, brain trauma, and spinal cord injury. Factors such as the age and health of the victim, the nature of the surface they fell on, the height from which they fell, and the angle of contact can all contribute to the severity of the injuries sustained.
Minor Injuries
Many slip-and-fall incidents cause only minor wounds. These wounds might not be life-threatening, but they hurt and might take a while to heal. Getting prompt medical attention for even seemingly minor injuries is essential, as they can worsen over time if left untreated.
Moderate Injuries
Moderate injuries like sprains and strains develop when muscles or ligaments are overstretched or torn. Injuries like this often lead to discomfort, edema, and in some cases, inability to move about. Injuries come in varying degrees of severity, and treatment options range from bed rest to surgical intervention.
Serious Injuries
Slip-and-fall accidents can also cause more serious injuries than small cuts and scrapes, like broken bones and dislocations. These wounds can cause a lot of pain and need a lot of medical care, like surgery, physical therapy, and constant care. Bone fractures can be extremely painful; healing might take months in some situations.
A fall can also cause serious injury to the head or spinal cord. These wounds can be severe, leading to permanent disability or even death. Trauma to the head can cause concussions, skull fractures, and traumatic brain injuries. Spinal cord injuries can cause paralysis and other problems with how the body moves.
Legal Options Available for Victims
Those who have been hurt in slip and fall accidents may be entitled to file a claim in court for damages. Depending on the specifics of the incident, you can file a lawsuit, negotiate a settlement, or pursue some other form of legal recourse.
Filing a Lawsuit
Victims of slip and fall incidents often file a lawsuit as their course of action. A court complaint detailing the incident and the victim’s losses is required. The defendant would be notified of the complaint and have a chance to respond. At trial, the plaintiff must show that the defendant was at fault for the victim’s harm.
Seeking Compensation Through a Settlement
Alternatively, the claim may be resolved through a settlement. Settlements can often be reached through informal negotiations with the defendant or their insurance provider, avoiding the time and expense of a trial. Each party may commence settlement talks at any moment during the litigation process. When a settlement is made, the victim receives money in exchange for waiving their right to sue.
Other Options
Victims may also be able to submit a claim with the property owner’s insurance company or, if the accident occurred on the job, seek compensation through the workers’ compensation program.
To fully understand their rights and alternatives, victims of slip and fall accidents should consult with an experienced attorney. An attorney with relevant experience can advise the victim on the case’s merits, negotiate with the other side, and fight for the victim’s best interests at every stage.
Accident Law Group represents victims of slip and fall injuries, and we know how much a serious fall can affect your life.
Call us for a free consultation today at (602) 333-3333 or visit www.accidentlawgroup.com
Helpful Tips for Recovering from a Slip and Fall Injury
Getting better might be a trying ordeal if you’ve been hurt in a fall. There are, however, measures you can take to safeguard your rights and finances and make the road to recovery easier.
Seek Medical Attention
Being checked out by a doctor immediately is the first and most vital action following any injury. Even if the wounds don’t appear serious, getting medical attention is essential. Being checked out helps you get the care you need and creates a record of your injuries if you decide to pursue legal action.
Follow the Treatment Plan
The next step is to stick to your doctor’s orders for treatment. The plan may include medication, physical therapy, and following prescribed activity limitations. If you don’t follow the doctor’s orders, you’ll take longer to heal, which could hurt your court case.
Notify Persons Involved ASAP
It’s also crucial to alert the property owner or manager if an accident occurs on their premises as soon as possible. That way, they can track what happened and take necessary preventative measures. Keep track of your interactions with the property owner or manager, including who you spoke with and when.
Check Your Insurance Coverage
Also, you should check your insurance policy to see if you can get money for your injuries and missed wages. Contact your insurance company to learn more about your policy’s coverage and any potential restrictions or exclusions.
Partner with an Experienced Lawyer
Finally, it is crucial to collaborate with a skilled attorney who can assist you throughout the legal process and safeguard your interests. Your attorney can assist you in figuring out what to do, talk to insurance companies, and protect your rights as you get better.
Call us for a free consultation today at (602) 333-3333.
Injuries and financial losses sustained due to a slip and fall accident can have far-reaching consequences. But, with the assistance of knowledgeable slip and fall injury attorneys, you can safeguard your rights and preserve your legal and financial interests.
A lawyer experienced in slip-and-fall cases can advise you on how to proceed legally, assess the merits of your case, negotiate with insurers, and represent your interests. They can also aid in obtaining payment for accident-related costs like medical bills and missed earnings.
Also, attorneys specializing in slip and fall cases have the knowledge and experience to pursue compensation from negligent property owners and managers. They can look into what happened, collect evidence, and construct a solid case for you.
A slip and fall injury attorney can help you understand your options. If you or anybody you care about has been hurt in a slip-and-fall accident, it can help to talk with a lawyer early, while evidence is easier to gather and deadlines are still ahead of you.
Have you been injured by a slip and fall?
Whenever a slip and fall injury occurs the establishment will usually go on the defensive seeking to point the finger at the injured party. There are several complications that can arise in such a case with the main ones being liability and injury.
Slip and fall, or premises injury cases, can be a very difficult area of law. In a typical slip and fall case, you generally must show that the property owner or its employees created the dangerous condition, knew about it, or should have known about it in time to fix it or warn people.
Whenever a slip and fall injury occurs the establishment will usually go on the defensive seeking to point the finger at the injured party. There are several complications that can arise in such a case with the main ones being liability and injury. First, the business may dispute how the fall happened, not just whether you were hurt. Many people will immediately assume that there is constant video surveillance footage and that their injury must have been caught on tape.
This is not always the case. Even if a video does exist it is highly unlikely you will get a copy of the video until you have actually filed a lawsuit. Unfortunately, you have no legal right to that footage prior to the discovery process of litigation. Additionally, unless the company is asked in writing to preserve that footage, it may not be available later. If there is no video footage of your fall there are other things we can look for such as store sweep logs and reports of water leaks. We can make sure that the proper steps are taken so that your evidence is preserved.
Additionally, we will need to determine who is responsible for the cause of your slip and fall. If another customer spills a drink, the business may still be responsible if it knew or should have known about the spill and did not clean it up or warn people in time. A business can also be responsible for failing to warn people, for example with a wet-floor sign, when it knows about a hazard or has just mopped.
Lastly, the other side may look into your medical history and try to link your injuries to a prior condition. We want to fight to make sure your injuries are considered for what they are. Because evidence such as video can be lost, it can help to talk with an attorney early. Contact us at Accident Law Group today.
Slip and Fall FAQ
Here are plain answers to common questions about slip and fall injuries in Arizona, from who may be responsible to deadlines and fault. This is general information, not legal advice for your situation.
It is usually the person or business that owns, controls, or maintains the property, such as a store, landlord, property manager, or maintenance company. In Arizona, the question is generally whether they used reasonable care. That often means asking whether the condition was unreasonably dangerous, whether they knew or should have known about it, and whether they failed to fix it or warn people in time. A fall by itself does not show that anyone was careless. More than one party can share responsibility, and the details of where and how you fell matter.
Yes. Arizona generally looks at why you were there. Customers and other invited visitors, including members of the public at places open to the public, are generally owed reasonable care, including fixing or warning about unreasonably dangerous conditions the owner knows or should know about. Social guests are generally owed a warning about hidden dangers the owner actually knows about, and the owner must not willfully or wantonly cause them harm. Trespassers are generally owed only a duty not to injure them intentionally, willfully, or wantonly (A.R.S. 12-557), with some exceptions. Different rules can apply to children. Which category fits can itself be disputed.
This is often called notice. For something like a spill, Arizona generally requires showing that the business or its employees created the hazard, actually knew about it, or that it was there long enough that reasonable care would have found it. That last option is called constructive notice, and how long the hazard was there often matters most. In some cases, if a business operates in a way that makes hazards like spills regularly foreseeable, proof of notice of the specific spill may not be required. Inspection logs, video, photos, and witnesses can all help show notice.
Possibly. In Arizona, an open and obvious hazard is not an automatic bar to a claim. The Arizona Supreme Court has said that whether a danger was open and obvious is a factor in deciding whether the owner acted reasonably, not whether the owner owed any duty at all. Owners are often not found negligent for hazards people can easily see and avoid. But if the owner should have expected people to be hurt anyway, for example because attention is likely to be distracted, the owner may still need to fix the hazard or warn about it. Your own care also matters.
Arizona uses comparative fault (A.R.S. 12-2505). If you were partly at fault, your damages are generally reduced by your percentage of fault rather than barred, with limited exceptions. For example, an insurer may argue that you were not watching where you were going or that your footwear played a part. A business may also argue that the hazard was obvious. If a case goes to trial, the jury decides each person’s share of fault based on the evidence. Being partly at fault does not, by itself, mean you have no claim. Every case turns on its own facts.
Arizona generally allows two years from the date of the injury to file a personal injury lawsuit (A.R.S. 12-542). If the fall happened on property controlled by a city, town, county, school district, or state agency, a written notice of claim usually must be filed within 180 days, and a lawsuit within one year (A.R.S. 12-821.01 and 12-821). Different rules can apply to minors (A.R.S. 12-502). Because the government deadlines are short and it is not always clear who controls a property, it can help to have the dates reviewed early.
Generally, an Arizona city or town that controls its streets and sidewalks has a duty to keep them reasonably safe for travel, but it is not responsible for every slight defect. Owners of property next to a public sidewalk generally have no common-law duty to repair it, although a city ordinance can create one, and an owner who creates a hazard can be responsible. Claims against a public entity usually require a written notice of claim within 180 days and a lawsuit within one year (A.R.S. 12-821.01 and 12-821). Photos of the exact spot and its surroundings can help.
Get medical care first, even if your injuries seem minor, since some injuries, such as head injuries, may not show symptoms right away. If you can, report the fall to a manager or the owner, ask whether an incident report is being made, and note who you spoke with. Take photos of the hazard, the lighting, any warning signs, and your shoes. Write down the names of witnesses. Keep the shoes and clothes you wore. Video may be recorded over, so it can help to ask in writing that it be saved. When you are ready, call Accident Law Group at (602) 333-3333.
Related practice areas & guides
A fall can lead to many kinds of injuries and questions. These pages may help you find related information.
- Traumatic brain injury lawyer — head injuries, including concussions, after a fall
- Dog bite injury attorney — another kind of injury that can happen on someone else’s property
- Pedestrian accident lawyers — people hurt while walking
- Product liability lawyer — when a defective product may be involved
- Scar and disfigurement injuries — scarring after cuts, burns, or surgery
- Medical malpractice lawyer — when medical care itself may have caused harm
- Wrongful death attorneys — when an injury takes a loved one’s life
- Car accident attorney — injuries from car crashes
- Bicycle accident lawyer — cyclists hurt in crashes
- Frequently asked questions — general questions about injury claims
- Meet our attorneys — the Accident Law Group team
- Visit or contact us — offices in Arizona and New Mexico
When you are ready to talk, call (602) 333-3333 in Arizona or (575) 333-3333 in New Mexico.
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