Each year, more than 800,000 people are hospitalized because of a fall, most often for head injuries or hip fractures. In fact, falling is the most common cause of traumatic brain injuries.
While people often picture falling from a significant height when they think about falls, the reality is that most falls happen at ground level. There can be multiple contributing factors, but in many cases, people fall because they slipped or tripped.
Unfortunately, these accidents can cause serious injuries. Besides head injuries or a fractured hip, you could experience additional broken bones, internal injuries, lacerations, and soft tissue injuries.
Many people experience long recoveries and chronic pain while also dealing with medical bills and lost income from missing work. If you’ve suffered a fall, you may be wondering if there are options to recover compensation for your injuries.
If your fall was the result of another party’s negligence, we may be able to secure compensation from the liable party. In most of these cases, the fall took place on the other party’s property – either a private residence, like a neighbor’s home, or a business, such as a store.
When you experience a fall on someone else’s property, it’s always a good idea to consult an attorney and learn if negligence caused your accident.
How do you know if a property owner negligently caused your injury or if you simply had an unfortunate accident? First, let’s look at the basic elements of any negligence claim:
Puddles and spilled drinks aren’t the only hazards that can cause a slip-and-fall accident. Here are some other everyday situations we see in these cases:
This is the solid equivalent of puddles and spilled drinks.
Any solid object left lying on the floor can cause a person to trip. This includes lawns and other outdoor areas, where the owner might leave gardening tools, hoses, or other items on the ground.
For instance, if you trip on a shovel on your neighbor’s walkway, they might have been negligent in leaving the shovel there. Exposed wires or power cords are also common tripping hazards.
Carpet defects can be even more insidious than spilled drinks or garden tools because they may be very hard to see. Even a small tear in a carpet can catch your foot and cause you to trip, and unless you’re staring directly at it, you’re unlikely to see the small tear.
Strings from a frayed carpet or rug might also trip you up. Throw rugs or entryway mats can be hazardous if they aren’t lying flat – for instance, if the rug gets flipped back or has a crease, that could also cause you to fall.
Again, a torn carpet isn’t negligence on its own, but if the property owner knowingly fails to warn people about the tear until they can have it repaired, they might be negligent.
Hardwood or tile floors can be dangerous if a tile is missing, loose, or damaged. Until the floor can be repaired, the owner should take steps to keep people away from the damaged area, such as roping it off or placing a warning sign.
In some buildings, the floor may also be slightly uneven, which can be hazardous when you’re expecting the floor to be flat (as floors usually are). The property owner may address the problem by putting up an “Uneven Flooring – Watch Your Step” sign.
Think of this category as flooring hazards moved outside.
A property owner has a duty to maintain a safe parking lot, sidewalk, and walkway in front of their building. If there is a large enough crack or pothole to pose a tripping hazard, and the owner doesn’t take steps to address it, they could be negligent.
Sometimes, the floor itself isn’t the problem, but poor visibility in a particular area is. For instance, there might not be anything wrong with the staircase at your local mall, but if several of the overhead lights are burned out, and you can’t see where you’re going, you might miss the bottom step and fall.
We also see a significant number of cases involving patients who fell at a hospital or nursing home. In these situations, there may be an external hazard like a puddle that causes the patient to slip and fall, but there are additional considerations.
Many patients in these facilities are deemed “fall risks” due to a medical condition, disability, or medication side effects.
When a medical facility has a patient who is a fall risk, staff are required to take certain measures to protect the patient. These can vary depending on why the patient is a fall risk, but if the particular steps to protect the patient aren’t followed, the hospital or nursing home might have been negligent.
Although Georgia often enjoys mild southern winters, we still have winter weather from time to time. What happens if you slip and fall on ice in a parking lot or on a sidewalk outside a business?
While the owner has a responsibility to deal with parking lot hazards, these cases can be complicated. The owner might argue that the winter precipitation wasn’t limited to their parking lot, and the injured person should have already known the parking lot would probably be icy.
However, if there are “unnatural accumulations” of ice in some areas – such as a sloped wheelchair ramp or an area where a pile of snow melted – the property owner has a responsibility to warn guests or address the hazards.
In any of these situations, it’s helpful to take pictures of the area where you slipped and fell so you can show what the hazardous condition was at the time of your accident. If you can, try to get the name and contact info of anyone who saw your accident.
After seeing a healthcare professional about your injuries, we recommend seeking legal advice to learn more about your options.
If you or a loved one have been hurt in a slip-and-fall accident, you may have questions about your damages and the possibilities for securing compensation. Please contact the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm for a free consultation.
We’ll review the details of your accident, answer your questions, and explain the options.
Attorney Ali Awad founded the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm only a few short years ago and has since transformed it into one of the fastest-growing personal injury law firms in the country. At the same time, he has recovered millions of dollars in compensation for injured people and their families.
When he’s not negotiating with insurance companies or arguing a case in court, you can find him dispensing no-nonsense legal advice for more than a million followers on social media. Call his expert legal team at 833-254-2923.
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After a personal injury, you're bound to have legal questions. The CEO Lawyer Ali Awad can provide you with answers to these questions, just as he's given answers to his millions of curious social media followers. Take a look at some of the most common personal injury law questions for general information, and then reach out to one of our seasoned attorneys for specific guidance on your case!
To quickly resolve matters following an accident, insurance companies will offer you less than you deserve in compensation for your injuries. Many victims feel pressured to accept these offers as the bills begin to pile up, but that is rarely a good idea. The insurance company is looking to protect its bottom line; and will offer injured victims less than they deserve. An experienced personal injury attorney understands how to negotiate with the insurance company and can look out for your best interests by getting you the compensation you deserve after an injury. If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident, it is important to avoid negotiating or providing recorded statements to the insurance company without first seeking help from a qualified personal injury attorney.
The best way to determine if you have a personal injury case is to speak with a knowledgeable attorney. Our legal professionals have the expertise to evaluate your case and determine a strong legal strategy so that you can obtain the greatest amount of compensation possible under the law. We will enlist investigators, assistants, and other specialists to collect accident reports, speak with witnesses to your accident, and put together a plan. While you focus on your physical recovery, we will remain committed to fighting for the compensation that you deserve.
Accident victims have a limited time to file a personal injury lawsuit. This time period is referred to as the statute of limitations. This means that if you or a loved one has been injured in an accident, you have only two years to pursue a personal injury suit. If you wait too long to reach out to an experienced attorney, you might be forever barred from seeking the compensation you deserve.
During your initial consultation with CEO Lawyer team, we will go over the important details of your personal injury accident, which include the nature and extent of your injuries, how your injuries have impacted your ability to earn a paycheck, the cost of your medical treatment, and whether further medical treatment will be required. We will answer any questions you might have, as well, in regards to our experience, our track record of success, and what to expect from the legal process. Many personal injury victims wonder if they will be able to afford the legal fees required to pursue a lawsuit. CEO Lawyer injury and accident attorneys will not ask for any type of upfront fee unless we are successful in obtaining compensation for you. That means that if you have been harmed in a motor vehicle accident, slip and fall accident, defective product accident, or any other type of personal injury accident, you can absolutely afford to contact our law office today for assistance. In fact, you cannot afford to wait. Reach out today. We understand that some accident victims might have already obtained the assistance of an attorney but may be dissatisfied with the services provided. We are standing by and prepared to help you change legal representation, regardless of where you are in the process.
If you or a loved one has been injured in any type of personal injury accident, you should not hesitate to speak with the experienced attorneys at CEO Lawyer personal injury law firm. Call, email, or fill out our online contact form today so that we can begin helping you pursue the compensation you deserve.