Slip and fall accidents involve the plaintiff slipping or tripping and falling on premises (property) owned by someone else and suffering an injury as a result. In many cases, people get into an accident due to the negligence or inadequate care of a property by the owner and/or manager. Fortunately, in such instances, you may be eligible for a premise’s liability lawsuit.
If you or a loved one were injured as a result of slipping or tripping and falling on someone else’s property, contact a qualified Los Angeles slip and fall attorney at The Ryan Law Group today.
Our highly skilled, experienced team of slip and fall lawyers can help you seek justice and win the monetary compensation you deserve for your slip and fall accident injury.
Why Hire The Ryan Law Group for Your Slip and Fall Case?
The attorneys at The Ryan Law Group have helped many injured accident victims in Los Angeles County and Southern California secure high-value settlement awards for their slip and fall accident cases.
- We are a full-service personal injury law firm. That means we handle every aspect of your case, top-to-bottom, giving you the peace of mind necessary to focus on healing and recovery.
- We retain industry experts and investigators to conduct thorough evaluations of your case and your accident. This allows us to maximize your compensation in the most efficient, fact-based way.
- We have a proven record of success, securing hundreds of millions of dollars in total verdicts on behalf of our clients.
- We represent clients on a contingency fee basis, charging no fees until the conclusion of the case. You only have to pay these legal fees if we secure a favorable settlement or verdict on your behalf; you don’t pay if we don’t win.
For a Free Legal Consultation With a Slip And Fall Accident Lawyer Serving Los Angeles, Call 310-321-4800
How Can a Los Angeles Slip and Fall Lawyer Help?
While your lawsuit will be against the property owner, in most cases, your Los Angeles personal injury attorneys will be dealing primarily with the property owner’s insurance company. Insurance adjusters are skilled at their jobs and are highly motivated to protect the interests of their client, the property owner. Knowledgeable injury lawyers like those at The Ryan Law Group are well-versed in dealing with insurance companies and their tactics. In many cases, simply hiring legal representation can prevent insurance companies from taking advantage of you.
It is also important to note that in California, the judicial system allows the defendant in a slip and fall or other personal injury cases to claim comparative negligence as an attempt to reduce their liability for the plaintiff’s injury (California Civil Code 1431.2).
The idea is that each party pays a percentage of the damages in proportion to the percentage of their fault; for example, if the plaintiff was 30% responsible for their own injury due to negligence, then the defendant only pays 70% of the damages in the case.
An experienced Los Angeles slip and fall lawyer is adept at fighting against any potential liability that is put against you to reduce your damages. In many cases, slip and fall accidents are primarily due to the negligence of the premise’s owner, and using our skills, we can help definitively prove that with our comprehensive case notes.
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Examples of Slip and Fall Accidents
Slip and fall accidents can happen under numerous circumstances. Examples of slip and fall accidents are inclusive of:
- Falling on an unexpected drop-off or ledge
- Slipping on frozen ice on a playground
- Tripping on uneven pavement in front of a building
- Slipping on a wet floor at a supermarket or grocery store
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Causes of Slip and Fall Accidents in Los Angeles
Slip and fall accidents can be caused by many different kinds of negligent practices and actions on the part of the property owner and/or their employees. They can also lead to a wide variety of injuries. Some examples of causes of slip and fall accidents include:
- Failure to clean up slippery surfaces after rainfall, cleaning, or spills
- Failure to keep walkways clear of unexpected objects or debris
- Failure to fix a potentially hazardous hole, crack, or bump in pavement
- Failure to adequately light the property
- Failure to adequately fix any unexpected drop-off, ledge, or change in flooring
- Failure to adequately fix uneven stairs and/or steps
- Failure to clean thoroughly or promptly after spills, etc.
- Failure to use appropriate cleaning supplies
- Failure to properly notify passersby of the potential hazards with warning signs and other signage
In nearly all cases of slip and fall accidents, there is something that the property owner or manager could have done to prevent that accident from occurring. If any of the above conditions led to your slip and fall injuries, speak with a Los Angeles slip and fall attorney as soon as possible to learn your legal options.
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Who Can Be Held Liable for a Slip and Fall?
If you are injured in a slip and fall accident and file a suit, the property owner is typically liable for any and all injuries on the premises. This is true regardless of whether the owner of the property is an individual, a business, a management company, or a public agency or entity.
The property owner is the defendant in slip and fall cases even when there is an individual employee or representative more directly involved in the accident.
For example, if a shopper in a grocery store was injured after tripping and falling over a stray can that was not properly stocked, the property owner is liable for the injury.
While an individual store employee may have made the mistake that directly caused her to slip and fall, it is the property owner who is responsible for keeping the premises safe, so it is the property owner who needs to be held liable and whose negligence must be proven. Holding a property owner responsible for your injuries requires help from a skilled Los Angeles premises liability lawyer.
At The Ryan Legal Group, we’ve helped victims of injury who recover from catastrophic injuries, which include spinal cord & brain injuries, especially surviving loved ones in wrongful death suits.
How Do You Prove Negligence in a Slip and Fall Accident?
In order for a slip and fall case to result in a settlement, the plaintiff must establish that their injury occurred at least in part due to the property owner’s negligence, or lack of reasonable care (California Civil Code 1714).
California law generally requires the plaintiff to prove three factors in order to establish negligence on the part of the property owner. These three factors are:
- Duty of care. Was the defendant legally required to take reasonable steps to protect the plaintiff from harm?
- Breach of duty of care. Did the defendant fail to take reasonable steps to uphold their legal responsibility to the plaintiff?
- Breach directly contributed to your injury. Did the injury happen due to the defendant’s failure to take reasonable steps to uphold their legal responsibility to the plaintiff?
In California, there are some cases in which the plaintiff may need to prove a greater extent of negligence on the part of the property owner in order to recover damages. This is the case in slip and fall accidents which allege gross negligence or egregious carelessness on the part of the property owner.
How Much Is a Slip and Fall Case Worth?
There are 2 broad categories of damages in personal injury lawsuits such as slip and fall accident cases. These categories are punitive damages and compensatory damages.
Compensatory damages are the primary type of damages awarded and typically make up most of a plaintiff’s recovery from a slip and fall case. This category of damages involves compensation for all the losses the plaintiff suffered or will suffer as a result of the accident.
In California, there are two types of compensatory damages: economic and non-economic damages.
Economic damages are those which can easily be quantified by a dollar amount. They may include:
- Past, present, and future medical expenses
- Past, present, and future lost wages/earnings (due to inability to work or need for a change in a profession as a result of your injury)
- Property damage
Non-economic damages are those that don’t have an intrinsic monetary designation. They may include:
- Loss of consortium (negative effects on the plaintiff’s marriage)
- Mental anguish/emotional distress
- Pain and suffering
Punitive damages are less commonly awarded than compensatory damages. If a property owner’s negligence is unusually egregious, then a judge or jury may choose to award punitive damages. These are intended specifically to punish the property owner for their wrongdoing and serve as a deterrent from future grossly negligent behavior.
What To Do After a Slip and Fall Accident in Los Angeles
If you’ve been injured in a slip and fall accident, it can be incredibly difficult to handle all that is necessary to build your case. However, it is important to do all you can to gather and preserve evidence immediately following the accident. This will help your slip and fall lawyer in Los Angeles evaluate your claim, work on your case, and get you the high-value settlement you deserve as efficiently as possible.
For the best chance at your case, it is highly recommended to follow these actions.
Document the conditions that caused your accident.
As soon as you are able, photograph the circumstances that caused you to slip or trip and fall. If this is not possible, then write down the details, or explain them to your slip and fall attorneys, while they are still fresh in your mind.
Retrieve any relevant surveillance/security footage.
If your slip and fall accident may have been caught by a security/surveillance camera, then that evidence must be obtained as soon as possible. This can be difficult to do as a civilian, so it is crucial to consult an attorney on how best to retrieve this valuable evidence.
Create a record of your injuries.
Seek medical help as soon as possible for your injuries, even if they seem minor. Some serious injuries such as neck or back injuries may not surface for days or even weeks after the accident, resulting in severe pain that may last years.
Create a witness list.
If there were any witnesses to your slip and fall accident, try to obtain their names and contact information. Their testimony might make a huge difference for your case.
Even if you did not begin the process of collecting and preserving evidence immediately following your slip and fall accident, you should do so as soon as you can. Collecting and preserving as much evidence as possible related to your case will help your slip and fall lawyers to fully understand your case and to get you the highest possible settlement award.
One thing to avoid following your slip and fall accident is creating evidence that may help the defendant in your case. The Los Angeles slip and fall lawyers at The Ryan Law Group advise our clients and prospective clients to exercise extreme caution when posting on social media following their slip and fall accidents, even if they are not posting specifically about their accident, injury, or lawsuit.
Posts on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube have been used to discredit many slip and fall plaintiffs and prevent them from seeing the monetary compensation they deserve.
How The Ryan Law Group Can Help With Your Slip and Fall Case?
It can be difficult for someone who has been injured in a slip and fall accident to determine how to proceed with a potential case against the property owner. That’s why it’s important to call the experienced slip and fall attorneys at The Ryan Law Group.
Our skilled team will handle all the difficult logistical and legal matters related to your case, so you can focus on recovering from your injury and getting your life back.
We can also help you get medical treatment, even if you’re uninsured. Even if you’re not sure you have a strong case, give us a call and allow our experienced staff to evaluate the matter. We may be able to obtain additional evidence and further investigate your potential case.
No matter what, there’s no financial risk to you because our law firm works on a contingency basis. This means that our fee is a percentage of your settlement award, so if you don’t get paid, we don’t get paid, and you would never have to repay our attorneys or staff for their time or for any expenses accrued in working on the case. It’s always in our best interest as well as yours to get you the high-value settlement you deserve in the most efficient way possible.
Contact a Slip and Fall Attorney in Los Angeles if You Were Injured
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured because of a slip and fall accident, please contact us as soon as possible. We have helped many clients in Los Angeles win the compensation they deserve, and we can help you, too. Schedule a free consultation with us today and see how we can help.
Call or Text 310-321-4800, or Complete a Free Case Evaluation Form
