Injuries involving slips, trips and falls are a typical cause for a personal injury lawsuit. These incidents typically involve a victim getting injured on the negligent party’s private property, commercial property or municipal property. Those who fall on commercial property can be customers or employees, although the employee may opt for worker’s compensation instead. Regardless of the setting, the property’s owner or occupant did not provide safe passage.
Common examples
The circumstances surrounding each injury is different, but recurring types of cases include:
- A business has an unmarked wet floor that causes the victim to fall.
- A business did not properly mark an obstacle, such as a step, ledge or raised crack in the floor’s surface.
- The property did not have handrails for stairs.
- The injured victim slips or trips on a treacherous outside walkway maintained by the owner, business or municipality.
- The occupant or owner did not fix a building code violation.
Steps for building a case
The injured and their attorney need to prove that the responsible party was negligent of providing reasonably safe passage on the property. The victim should do the following if they are injured:
- Seek medical treatment: Professional medical care is the first step in the healing process. It also provides detailed documentation of the injuries.
- Report the injury: Victims or their loved ones should notify responsible parties (owner, occupant, management) that there has been a severe injury.
- Photos and documentation: It is important to take pictures of where the injury occurred, write down important details (such as the type of shoes that the victim wore) and get the names and contact information for any witnesses.
- Avoid statements: It is traumatizing to suffer an injury, but the injured should avoid accusing others or blaming themselves. These sorts of statements can come back to haunt them.
Attorneys can be a tremendous help
Slip, trip and fall injuries often involve concussions, spinal injuries or other severe impairments. These cases usually take months or years and can be quite complicated, so an experienced personal injury attorney can be invaluable in helping the victim determine the best course of action for holding the negligent accountable.