Slip and fall accidents, under United States law, are personal injury compensation claims based on an event of a person slipping, tripping, or falling, causing bodily injury.  The assertion in these cases is that the property owner was to blame for the incident due to being negligent in allowing some hazardous condition to exist on their premises causing the slip and fall accident.

The property owner generally has two basic defenses to slip and fall injury claims:

The first typical defense by the property owner is that the person who fell is at fault.  For example, the owner will claim that any sensible person walking through their premises would exercise due diligence for their own safety, and should easily be able to avoid stepping on a visible hazard in their path, such as a dropped pencil on the floor.  Unfortunately, due to a general perception that slip and falls are at least partially the fault of the person who fell, slip and fall injury claims are usually worth less than those from other types of accidental injury claims.

The property owner’s second main defense is that they were not negligent.  For example, the property owner may claim that the pencil dropped on the floor had been dropped only moments before by another customer, and that even a cautious owner acting with reasonable care would not have had sufficient time to find and fix the existence of the hazard.

If you’ve been seriously injured as a result of slipping or tripping and falling while you were on property that is not your own, first evaluate the extent of your injuries and take note of the situation and surroundings leading up to the fall.  You should see a doctor for your injuries and consult with an attorney to assess your possible personal injury claim.  If anyone happened to witness your fall, ask for their name(s) and contact information, as well as that of the owner or manager on duty at the time.  Make sure you can give an accurate description of the incident scene, the hazard, and your actions leading up to the fall. These are the major points a property owner’s insurance company will look to when processing your claim.

To negotiate with the insurance company’s attorney to obtain the best possible outcome for you, you should hire an experienced attorney of your own. You can trust Raheen Law Group to be persistent and work hard on your behalf. At Raheen Law Group, we speak English, Farsi (Dari), Urdu, Hindi, and Punjabi.  Please contact us for a FREE telephone consultation about your situation.