Slip & Fall

SLIP AND FALL ACCIDENT

In addition to painful injuries, individuals who are hurt in trip and fall accidents can suffer financial and emotional damage as well. Fortunately, many victims of trip and fall accidents can recover compensation for the damages  that they incur in a premises liability case.

 

Injuries Caused By Trip & Fall Accidents

When a trip and fall accident occurs on someone else’s property, the owner or manager of that property may be held liable for any injuries sustained from the accident. This is known as premises liability. Like slip and fall accidents, individuals involved in trip and fall accidents can suffer serious injuries resulting in both physical and financial damages. As a result, when a person is injured in a trip and fall accident that was caused by the negligence of others, he or she may be able to recover compensation for any damages suffered as a result of the accident. That being said, many factors such as the cause of the accident and the location of the accident will affect whether or not a person can successfully recover compensation.

 

Effect on One’s Life:

Tripping and falling can be a very serious incident, many people have their lives changed by a trip and fall injury. There are many dangerous conditions like torn carpeting, changes in flooring, poor lighting, narrow stairs, or a wet floor can cause someone to slip and be injured. Same goes if someone trips on a broken or cracked public sidewalks, or falls down a flight of stairs. In addition, a slip and fall case might arise when someone slips or falls outdoors because of rain, ice, snow or a hidden hazard, such as a pothole in the ground. In any event, the plaintiff must have sustained some kind of injury, however minor, in order to collect.

 

Injuries in a Slip and Fall Accident:

The following are some of the most common types of injuries victims experience after a slip and fall accident:

• Sprained ankles. As your foot slides along the floor, it falls out of alignment with your leg, putting a strain on the ankle joint. The extreme forces this pressure generates can damage ligaments, tendons, muscles, and bones in the ankle, leading to an injury that prevents you from walking unassisted for many weeks or months.

• Sprained wrists. As people fall back after a slip, they naturally extend their hands behind them to break their fall. The wrist, therefore, has to bear the brunt of the majority of the impact. A sprained wrist is a severe injury because it often prevents the affected individual from working or leading a fulfilling life.

• Shoulder dislocation. Slip and fall accidents also frequently lead to shoulder dislocation. When people reach out to break their fall, they often rotate the shoulder into a position that puts it at a mechanical disadvantage. The impact then transmits force through the arm to the joint, which can cause muscle strain and dislocation. Many people with this kind of injury require immediate surgery.

• Brain injury. Often, people who slip and fall, hit their heads on the ground, leading to brain injury. Traumatic head injuries are incredibly dangerous and can, on occasion, be life-threatening. What’s more, because traumatic brain injuries can alter cognitive function, the victim is often unaware that their capacities have changed.

• Spine and nerve damage. The spine and surrounding nerves are delicate. Slip and fall injuries can compress the spine and damage the surrounding nerve, sometimes leading to permanent loss of motor function to some parts of the body.

 

Other type of injuries:

• Limb fractures. When a person falls forward, they instinctively put their arms out to break their fall. Many people involved in trip and fall accidents, therefore, experience limb fractures, especially if they are elderly.

• Neck injuries. It is common for a victim to tell a trip and fall attorney that they have a neck injury, following a trip and fall accident. As a person falls, they use their arms break the impact on the body. The head, however, continues to move towards the ground, and the neck must take the brunt of the force.

• Foot injuries. Trip and fall accidents often lead to foot and ankle injuries, especially if the foot gets caught as the person falls over. All of a sudden, their entire weight pivots around the ankle joint in a biomechanically dangerous way.

• Cuts and abrasions. Slip and fall accidents can lead to cuts and abrasions, but damage to the skin is usually worse with trip and fall events. In slip and fall injuries, the majority of the force of impact gets transmitted through the hip and side of the body. Any damage is usually internal. With trip and fall, however, the risk of grazing skin and wounds is much higher, especially on the knees, elbows, and palms of the hands. The good news is that cuts and abrasion injuries are often relatively simple to treat. After sterilizing the wound, medical professionals may offer stitches or leave the damage to heal naturally.

• Broken finger bones. In trip and fall accidents, the hands tend to take the brunt of the force of impact. It is common, therefore, for victims to experience broken finger bones after a fall. Medical professionals usually repair fractures of small hand bones by placing the injured finger in a cast and using the surrounding fingers as a brace. Broken fingers can make it impossible for a broad swathe of people to work, especially manual laborers and typists.

• Thumb sprains. Thumb injuries are common after a trip and fall accident. As the person hits the ground, the force of the impact pushes the thumb backward behind the hand, damaging the delicate tendons and ligaments that hold it in place.

 

WHAT TO DO WHEN THE ACCIDENT OCCURS?

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STEP 1: SEEK MEDICAL TREATMENT

The first step is to seek medical treatment. As we discussed in the statistics above, a fall can be a life-threatening event.

Seeking medical treatment allows you to get the treatment you need and create an official doctors’ records of events that you may be able to use later to support any legal action you take.

 

STEP 2: REPORT THE INCIDENT

Slip and fall/trip and fall incidents can happen anywhere. Common locations include in the workplace, on commercial premises, at somebody’s house, or in a public space, like a sidewalk or park. Always record the location of the incident and report it to the landlord, manager, or supervisor. Request that they create a written report of the event, detailing what happened.

 

STEP 3: COLLECT WITNESS INFORMATION

Did anyone see your slip, trip, and fall accident? If so, you may need to rely on their witness testimony at a later date if you decide to make a claim. Collect essential contact information, such as phone numbers, email addresses, and names, as this information may help you in the future.

It can also help if you take a contemporaneous picture of where the slip, trip, or fall took place so that you can document the situation. A slip and fall attorney can provide more guidance on this if you are unsure.

 

STEP 4: DO NOT MAKE ANY STATEMENTS

This one might seem a little strange, but it is a good idea to decline to make any statements to the landlord or manager until you have spoken to a trip and fall lawyer. Don’t talk about what happened to you on social media and don’t given any statements to insurance companies until you’ve spoken to an attorney. If you say the wrong thing, you could jeopardize your chances of making a successful claim.

 

STEP 5: CONTACT YOUR ATTORNEY

If you are considering legal action, the best person to have on your side is an experienced slip and fall attorney who understands the legal landscape concerning slip and fall/trip and fall accidents.

Many slip, trip, and fall accidents can be complex cases requiring specialist legal expertise. With us, you don’t have to handle your situation by yourself. You can get the compensation that you deserve for the injuries that you have sustained. Make sure that you contact us today to explore your rights and options.

 

WHAT IS MY CASE WORTH?

In a slip and fall case, you may be entitled to compensation for:

• Medical bills

• Future medical bills, if expected

• Loss of wages from work

• Future loss of wages from work, if expected

• Lost earning power if your injury rendered you unable to work at a former job, forced you to take a lower-paying position, or left you unable to work at all

• Physical pain and suffering directly caused by the injury

• Emotional pain and suffering from trauma related to the slip and fall or the injury

• Permanent effects of an injury, such as disfigurement, impairment, or disability

 

As with any compensation claim including slip, trips, or falls, the amount of compensation awarded will be entirely dependent on your own unique injuries and accident. Our solicitors would also take into account if you’ve had to take sick leave due to your slip, trip, or fall accident, what expenses you’ve incurred as a direct result of the injury that may include home or vehicle adaptions or modifications and various other factors. All of these elements will be factored in when calculating your claim.

The drop-down compensation checker below however does contain average compensation amounts for injuries one might suffer as a result of a slip, trip or fall accident. Although it provides a general estimation of compensation amounts for slips, trips, and fall claims, for a more accurate claim evaluation we’d advise speaking with our accident claims solicitors. Our experienced Houston slip and fall lawyers know how to properly evaluate your claim so that you get the compensation you deserve under the law.

 

Theories Of Liability In Slip And Fall Cases

In order to hold another party responsible for injuries suffered in a slip and fall accident, an injured person must typically prove one of the following:

• A property owner (or an employee or agent of the property owner) should have recognized a dangerous condition (i.e. a pothole or an uneven walking surface) and removed or repaired the potential danger, but failed to do so. The key question here is whether a reasonable person would have identified the condition as hazardous, and whether the defendant had ample opportunity to remedy the situation before the accident occurred.

• A property owner (or their employee) actually caused the dangerous condition leading to the slip and fall accident—by leaving a hazardous obstacle in a walking path, for example—and it was reasonably foreseeable that someone would trip and fall due to the condition.

 

’Reasonable’ Property Owners

In addition to dangerous conditions that went negligently unattended, a slip & fall case requires proving that the property owner didn’t act as a reasonable property owner would. A reasonable property owner would have a plan in place to efficiently and comprehensively address any and all dangerous conditions so that no one gets hurt. A negligent property owner, however, fails to do this and potentially creates conditions in which people hurt, leaving them saddled with medical bills, lost wages, and upended lives.

With all of that in mind, your attorney and his or her team will seek to answer the following questions as they investigate your slip & fall claim:

• Did the hazardous area exist long enough for the property owner to be aware of it?

• Is there a standard procedure in place for examining the premises, and did the owner have proof of this procedure?

• Was there a legitimate reason for the area to be hazardous, such as a slippery floor after being washed?

• If there is a reason for the area to be hazardous, was there any way to make it safer?

• If an object caused the slip, trip, or fall, was there anywhere else the object could have been stored to make the premises safer?

• Could a warning sign or barrier have been created to prevent injury?

 

What If The Store Owner Isn’t Around?

Property owners, renters, or occupants are generally responsible for making sure that their public premises are reasonably safe. However, owners, renters, and occupants are not often available. Sometimes, a store employee may be the only individual present when your slip and fall accident occurs. Furthermore, managers and other employees are often the people who first notice a condition that could potentially cause someone to slip and be injured.

Property owners, renters, and occupants, however, are responsible for training their employees to understand the safety standards, scheduled upkeep and maintenance procedures, and protocol for warning patrons of unsafe conditions. An absent store owner is no excuse for a violation of the duty of care.

 

Do I Need To File A Claim Within A Certain Time Period?

Yes. In Texas, there is a time period within which injured parties must file any suit(s) against defendants who caused the victim’s injuries. Generally, that time limit is two years from the date of the injury. This time frame is referred to as a statute of limitations. Time is of the essence – after the statute of limitations passes, it is highly unlikely that a court will hear your case at all.

 

Holding The Property Owner Responsible

Property owners are required by Texas law to keep their properties safe and well-maintained. If a dangerous condition causes a customer or visitor to slip or fall, and that fall causes injury, the property owner may be held legally responsible for your damages. It is necessary to establish the negligence or responsibility of the property owner to secure compensation for your slip and fall injury.

In order to help you win your case, we will :

• Thoroughly investigate your case

• Establish the property owner’s negligence

• Locate the cause of the accident

• Get statements from witnesses