Slip and Fall

San Diego slip and fall accidents are commonplace and can result in minor injuries, but a bad fall could cause spinal injuries, broken bones or permanent medical conditions that require expensive and long-term medical care.

In San Diego, slip and fall hazards can include:

• Badly repaired or broken steps, railings balconies, or sidewalks
• Doors without safety glass that could shatter
• Stairs and safety railings that are not up to code because they aren’t level, are too high,   too low, too steep, or are otherwise dangerous
• Foreign objects in a dangerous place, like a stairway landing or entryway
• Mold or slippery plant growth
• Standing water, mud, or spills
• Trip hazards due to poor or inadequate lighting

It is the duty of the property owner to make sure the property is safe and to warn of known safety hazards. In law, the term for this is “premises liability”, and it means that you have the legal right to compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and other losses if they result from the negligence of a property owner regarding reasonable standards of safety.

In every personal injury case, there are certain elements that the plaintiff must prove.  The plaintiff must prove that the accident was the defendant’s fault; specifically, the plaintiff in a slip and fall case must show that a dangerous condition on the property caused the injury; and that the dangerous condition was the defendant’s fault.  The law says a dangerous condition is the defendant’s fault if he had notice of the condition and failed to take steps to remove it or provide adequate warning to the plaintiff.In order to build a case, evidence may include video camera footage of the accident, interviews of past and present employees of the business or establishment, and documents proving the dangerous condition at the time of the accident. The proper gathering, coordination and presentation of evidence is crucial in proving a slip and fall or other premises liability case.

If the courts find that the owner and/or operator of a property is legally responsible for injury to the victim, the victim could recover medical expenses, lost wages and other costs related to the accident.

Slip and fall cases can be difficult cases in which to prove liability or fault. Your lawyer must be able to prove that the store, or person/business which controlled the premises knew of the problem or, should have known about the problem – in other words that they had “notice” of the defect which caused the slip and fall.   Proving negligence is a difficult task because the business or person who controlled the premises will claim you should have seen the problem and avoided it.