Articles Posted in Slip and Fall

(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this slip and fall/personal injury case and its proceedings.)

Defendant ABC Hotel’s Trial Brief
INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff was talking to her friend and admittedly not paying attention to where she was walking when she allegedly tripped over a stack of luggage in her suite at the ABC Hotel. Now, she seeks to blame the Hotel for her injuries that allegedly resulted from that fall.

Plaintiff and her husband flew into town with another couple, via private jet, during Labor Day weekend, 2005, to celebrate plaintiff’s 40th birthday. The two couples planned to share a suite for one night at the ABC Hotel. While waiting for their suite, they had food and drinks at a Hotel bar and swam in the pool.

After arriving at their room later that day, plaintiff was speaking with her friend in the bedroom. Plaintiff stood closest to the doorway separating the bedroom from the common area, with her back to the common area as she was facing toward her friend. At some point, she began to leave the conversation and blindly stepped backward toward the common area. It was then that she allegedly tripped over seven to eight pieces of luggage in the common area of the suite.

ABC Hotel is not responsible for plaintiff’s fall or her injuries. Seven or eight pieces of black luggage on the floor of the hotel suite does not constitute a dangerous condition.

Continue Reading ›

Many people every year suffer major injuries from slip and fall accidents. Wet floors, faulty floors and, walkways have made many people victims of slip and fall cases. Even though there are many who are victims of slip and fall accidents, there are some who could of easily prevented the accident themselves. I have accumulated a number of facts, statistics, and tips to prevent from being a victim in a slip and fall case.

Slip and Fall Injury Statistics according to www.safetytoday.com

– An estimated 300,000 disabling injuries occur each year in the American work force, resulting in 1,400 worker deaths. Slips, trips and falls account for 15 to 20 percent of all workers’ compensation costs.

I read the craziest story in the news today. It is about a personal injury lawsuit in Southern California in which a woman was injured from a trip-and-fall and then assaulted. The woman, Star Harris, states that she was in 7-11 when she fell over some crates that were in her way. Badly injured, Star made her way to the counter to call 911. Star suffered another blow, literally, once she reached the counter. While asking a cashier for a phone to call 911, a man punched Star in the face and knocked her down! Hard to believe that someone would do such a thing to a injured woman. A store security camera depicted this second incident, and after the punch, showed the man paying for a beer and leaving.

It is a crazy world.

Star ended up in the hospital, suffering from three broken ribs, and an injured back and head. In response, Star is suing 7-11 for $1 million. 7-11 has offered Star $15,000.

As a Personal Injury Attorney in Sacramento, I know that someone can easily slip and fall in a store when there has been a spill that has not been taken care of. Currently, there is a lawsuit against the superstore, Wal-Mart, claiming that Wal-Mart employees failed to clean up water on the store’s floor and allowed a customer to walk in the puddle and subsequently fall.

The puddle of water was left near the main exit of the store and two employees were nearby when the injured person fell, supposedly leaving her “permanently injured”.

If employees leave a spill, such as water, on the floor of a store, a dangerous situation is present. For this case, there will have to be many questions answered, beginning with if the employees knew about the water spill, how long it had been there, and if it was open and obvious to the injured person, and what the injured person was doing at the time.

There is an ongoing slip and fall lawsuit south of our Sacramento home in Orange County, California. The lawsuit was brought by Brenda Richardson after she slipped and fell on a patch of mud at an elderly apartment complex called Heritage Center. Brenda is seeking reimbursement from a construction company called Michael Moore Renovation and Restoration, and claims that they were negligent in failing to “provide adequate signs” to warn pedestrians that they could slip in the mud.

In addition to Brenda’s fall, another resident, Celestine Morris, also claims that she fell because of the mud in the same year. The fall left her with a broken arm and the consequent medical expenses. She is not yet sure if she will also advance with a legal action.

The Moore construction company states that it is “not in any way guilty” and places the blame back onto Brenda and the apartment complex. Moore believes that Brenda was not cautious enough when walking on the sidewalk and Heritage Center did not keep the apartment complex in a safe condition. They decline any responsibility on the matter.

When a client of my Sacramento Law Firm is injured in a slip and fall accident, one of the first questions they have is, “Who is a fault?”. There are three possible answers to this question, the first of which I generally addressed in my last blog, being the owner of the property. The other two options are both parties or the injured party itself.

Both parties responsible…

When both parties are responsible it is called “comparative negligence” and means that the carelessness of the injured person and the carelessness of the owner resulted in the accident. There are varying degrees of comparative negligence and liability is distributive by percentage of responsibility owed to the accident (i.e. 30% caused from plaintiff and 70% caused by defendant).

Slip, trip and… fall. As a lawyer in Sacramento, I have seen many slip and fall accidents that have resulted in serious injury. I am sure that you also have heard the term “slip and fall” before or know someone that has been injured in an accident such as this. But what does a slip and fall case entail? What does it mean, according to the law? And how can you prepare yourself if it ever happens to you or one of yours?

First of all, let’s start with defining a “slip and fall” case. A slip and fall case usually falls into a category called premise liability. This means that someone is injured on another person’s property and because that person owns or maintains such property, that person may be held liable or accountable for damages. So, there are circumstances that must be in place for it to classify as material for legal action.

Slip and fall cases come in many different forms. It can be a bit tricky. The cause could be an open pothole in the ground, a slippery floor, a broken sidewalk, and so on. In all these situations, there poses a dangerous situation that has the potential to cause injury or damages. When someone is actually injured on a slippery floor, for example, there remains the necessity of proving fault to the person/company responsible for the floor. In my next blog post, I will continue to discuss slip and fall injury cases and what is needed to prove fault.

As a Sacramento Personal Injury Lawyer, I know that there are numerous conditions that must be met in proving fault in a slip and fall case. Many people are injured each year when they slip or trip and fall. But how many of these accidents are valid slip and fall cases?

One of the first requirements that must be met is that the injured person fell on someone else property because of a dangerous situation and were injured because of the owner’s lack of action to amend the situation. There are three ways to show this:

1. The owner of the property caused the dangerous condition.