Slip & Fall

Slip and falls are a common type of personal injury case. Falls account for over 8 million hospital emergency room visits, representing the leading cause of visits (21.3%). Slips and falls account for over 1 million visits or 12% of total visits. These happen when a person is injured in a fall, and they think someone else's behavior (or lack thereof) caused that fall. Many of these cases involve negligence (for example, when a property owner doesn't fix a damaged walkway and it causes someone to fall, or a store doesn't let customers know that a floor has just been mopped and is slippery).

"Slip and fall" and “trip and fall” are terms used for a personal injury case in which a person slips or trips and is injured on someone else’s property. These cases usually fall under the broader category of cases known as “premises liability” claims.

In order to have a case, certain factors need to be evident when your client slips and falls.

These include when a property owner fails to inspect (look!) and maintain (fix!) their property or when water, grease, oil, or other substances end up on the floor that shouldn’t be there.

Another example is when there is a sudden and unexpected change in elevation. These are common on sidewalks next to trees whose roots lift the concrete and in areas that are exposed to the rain, like parking lots. Poor construction can also lead to sudden and unintended changes in elevation.

Items carelessly left on walkways, such as brooms, ropes, boxes, and construction materials are also a tripping hazard to the public.

If the incident occurred on someone else’s property, such as commercial, residential, retail or government property, here are some important steps your client must take to support your client’s claim:

• Report the fall to the property owner/manager and ask for an incident report.
• Take photos of what caused the fall.
• Get names, phone numbers and email addresses of witnesses who saw the fall.
• Seek treatment if in pain and fully document all symptoms.