SLIP/TRIP & FALL ACCIDENTS

Fairfield Accident Attorney Helps With Slip & Fall Accidents

It is responsibility of the property owner or occupier (renter or lessee) to keep the property available to the public clean and free of debris. Unfortunately, that does not always happen and innocent people get injured as the result. Injures from slips or trips can occur almost anywhere, but stores and parking lots are the most common ones our Fairfield accident attorney get calls about.

The injures can vary from bump and a bruise that require not medical treatment at all to severe injuries that may require emergency medical treatment at the hospital or even surgery.

Determining liability or in other words, who is responsible injury, is very important. Every case has a “statute of limitation” or a time within which you must file a claim. If you fail to sue one of the potentially responsible parties within that time limit, you effectively waive your claim. That means you cannot sue them after the statute of limitations expires.

For example:

Every day we go to the grocery store to buy the thing that we need. You park your car and get out. You begin walking into the store when you trip in the parking lot on a piece of rebar sticking out of the ground and fall sustaining injuries.

• Who is responsible for your injury?
• Is it the grocery store in whose parking lot you parked?
• Is it the landlord/land owner who leases the premises to the grocery store?
• Does the grocery store have a parent company that might be help responsible?
• Is there a leasing or land management company that might have been tasked with maintaining the parking lot?

Next, just because you were injured on someone’s property does not automatically guarantee you a monetary recovery. For you case to be successful you must prove that:

1. Owner of the premises (or the occupier or property) either caused the dangerous condition (i.e., spill of some liquid that caused the surface to become slippery) or was aware of that condition.
2. Owner of the premises (or the occupier or property), aware of the dangerous condition, did nothing to protect the general public by either fixing the dangerous condition or notifying the public of its existence.
3. You, as in the injured party, were unaware of the dangerous condition.
4. The injuries sustained was the result of the slip or trip and fall caused by the dangerous condition.

To make it more clearly, here is another example. Let us take the grocery store situation again:

This time imagine yourself in the store walking the isles, picking the products you came there for, and putting them in your cart. Unknowing to you someone spilled liquid detergent in one of the isles causing the walking surface to become extremely slippery. One of the employees was called to clean up the spill, but the employee failed to block the isle or put up a caution sign. You slip and fall sustain injuries.

This fact pattern meets all the criteria described above and is a great example of a winnable case.

On the other hand, if you saw the spill and decided to walk through it anyway and fall you cannot hold the grocery store responsible. You were aware of the dangerous condition which could cause injury but failed to avoid it.

Similarly, if the spill happened just minutes before you fell and the grocery store was not aware of the spill it will be really harder to hold it responsible for your injury. This is where the term “should have known” comes in. While, the grocery store must be aware of the spill to clean it up, the reasonableness determination depends on what efforts the owner makes to keep the property safe and clean. It falls on the judge to determine if the owner’s efforts were reasonable.

To determine if your injures which resulted from a trip or slip on the property of another you must consult a Fairfield accident attorney. In these cases, attorney will not only help you determine who may be held responsible for your injuries, but also will help you identify and secure witnesses and evidence, communicate with store owners and insurance companies, and help you begin treatment with a medical professional who will be fair in the assessment of your injuries and required treatment.

The best time to call a Fairfield accident attorney after injury is – as soon as possible. Do not speak with insurance companies that represent the store or the land owner. Do not give a recorded statement. Do not let them see your medical records for your treatment. Call a Fairfield accident attorney at The Choyce Law Firm today.