Are Slip-and-Fall Cases Hard to Win?

Imagine you are at work, school, or grocery shopping, and you hit the ground suddenly. You are unsure about what is happening, but you know you are in pain. The days, weeks, months, or years following the accident are completely different from what your life was previously. Now you visit the doctor’s office more frequently, and you have physical therapy appointments. You can’t go back to work, but the bills continue to pile up. What do you do now?

Slip-and-fall accidents are common across California and the United States. Unfortunately, land and business owners often fail to keep their property safe, and that leads to serious accidents for their guests and patrons. If you have suffered an injury in a slip-and-fall case, you may have a legal right to financial recovery.

The road to recovering damages after a slip-and-fall accident can be long and difficult. You need an attorney to protect your legal rights. The attorneys at Arash Law, led by Arash Khorsandi, Esq., can help accident victims get the money they need to recover financially for decades. We want to help you, too. Contact us today at (888) 488-1391 or through our online chat function to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation today.

How Common Are Slip-and-Fall Cases?

Millions of people across the United States suffer from injuries caused by slip-and-fall accidents each year. Slip-and-fall accidents account for a significant number of emergency room visits for Americans. Anyone can be the victim of a slip-and-fall accident.

According to the National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI), of all slip-and-fall accidents that happen at workplaces, the demographics of victims are split equally between men and women. The NFSI also found that nearly 70 percent of fall injuries were among people aged 75 and older.

Retail workers are vulnerable to slip-and-fall accidents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Per the CDC, slip-and-fall accidents are the most common cause of injuries in retail stores.

What Are Common Injuries in Slip-and-Fall Cases?

People who have suffered slip-and-fall accidents may sustain injuries, including hip fractures, bruises, broken bones, head injuries, and sprains, as well as temporary or permanent disability.

Can You Win a Slip-and-Fall Case?

Slip-and-fall cases are won based on facts and evidence, just like any other negligence claim. Every negligence case must prove four elements. The success of your case depends on demonstrating each of the factors listed below.

What Does “Reasonableness” Mean?

The standard for reasonable care is sometimes difficult to understand. As stated above, each property owner must act as a reasonable property owner would in similar circumstances. But what does that actually mean?

If your case goes to trial, the facts will be presented to a judge or a jury, and they will decide whether the defendant acted reasonably. Although there are no hard and fast elements that a defendant must establish to prove they acted reasonably, fact-finders may weigh factors similar to the following to determine the reasonableness of the defendant’s actions: 

• Was there a way to make the hazardous condition safer? Judges and juries may examine the evidence and decide if the property owner should have made the condition less dangerous. Examples of how a property owner can make the condition or obstacle safer include adding safety signage, relocating the hazard, or preventing access to the dangerous condition.
• Was there a justification for the hazard, and did the justification exist at the time of the plaintiff’s injury? A dangerous condition being present may be justified if the condition cannot be changed or made safer.
• Did the dangerous condition exist long enough for the property owner or their employee to fix it? For example, if a plaintiff falls in a restaurant after slipping on spilled water, the plaintiff must prove that the water was on the floor and the property owner or their employees knew about the spill but failed to clean it up and warn customers about the slippery floor.
• Did the property owner have a policy for checking their property for potential hazards? If a policy exists, did the property owner log each time they or their employee checked for hazards? The defendant should prove they followed the policy immediately before the accident happened.

Why Is It Hard to Win a Slip-and-Fall Accident Case?

Slip-and-fall cases have unique challenges that may not be present in other negligence claims. The success of your claim will depend on your legal team’s ability to prove each element of negligence. However, slip-and-fall cases can be difficult to prove because of a lack of evidence.

In other negligence cases, like car accident claims, there is a vast source of evidence to help prove the claim. After a car accident, you may rely on traffic camera footage or a police report to determine liability. If you get hurt in a slip-and-fall accident case, it is unlikely that you can rely on such evidence.

Slip-and-fall accident victims need an attorney to help them prove their injuries. An accident attorney can help you prove your claim by assisting you in the following ways: 

• Proving that the property owner had an opportunity to remove a hazard but failed to do so
• Finding witnesses to the accident, interviewing them about what they saw, and preparing witnesses for depositions and trial
• Finding any video footage available of the accident that shows an obstruction that the property owner failed to address

What Is Premises Liability?

Premises liability is a body of law that requires property owners to remove or warn guests of dangers on the property. Under premises liability, the property owner is held legally responsible for injuries, damages, and other losses the victim may suffer. You could be entitled to financial compensation if you suffered an accident on another’s land or business.

How Can a Slip-and-Fall Accident Plaintiff Prove Liability?

Proving fault (i.e., liability) is crucial to securing a favorable judgment for slip-and-fall plaintiffs. An experienced slip-and-fall injury attorney can help you prove fault and recover the money you may be entitled to after an accident.

There are two significant questions that must be answered as an accident victim tries to prove liability in slip-and-fall cases. Those questions are:

• Was the property owner negligent?
• Who are the potentially responsible parties?

Theories of Liability in Slip-and-Fall Cases

To prove that a defendant is at fault for a slip-and-fall accident, a plaintiff and their legal team will likely have to prove one of the following theories.

The Property Owner Actually Caused the Dangerous Condition

To recover under this theory, a plaintiff must prove the property owner’s actions caused the dangerous condition. For example, did the property owner leave an obstacle in a walking path, and was it reasonably foreseeable that someone will slip-and-fall because of it?

The Property Owner Should Have Repaired the Condition But Did Not

The plaintiff must prove that a reasonable property owner would have identified and removed the hazardous condition. The plaintiff must also prove that the property owner also had ample time to remove or fix the danger before the accident happened.

The Property Owner’s Employee Acted Negligently

The law allows injured plaintiffs to recover their losses from an employer if their employee’s negligence caused the accident. In slip-and-fall cases, an employer may be found liable for injuries caused by an employee’s failure to put up a warning sign, clean up a spill, etc. This is known as vicarious liability.

Can I Recover If I Am Partially at Fault?

It is the defense’s job to undermine and disprove your injuries. If the opposing side cannot outright disprove your damages, they may argue that you were partially at fault for your injuries.

California Comparative Negligence Law

Under California law, an accident plaintiff can recover a financial settlement or jury award even if they partially caused an accident. California slip-and-fall accident plaintiffs can recover even if they are 99 percent to blame for the accident.

How Is Fault Found?

Jury members decide who is at fault in a slip-and-fall accident and also assign the percentage of fault to each side of the case. A jury may consider the following as they review the facts of your case, determine fault, and assign a percentage of fault.

• Did the plaintiff cause the accident through their own negligence?
• Did the plaintiff ignore adequate warning signs that were available at the scene?
• Was the plaintiff legally in the place where the accident happened?
• Did the plaintiff have a legitimate reason for being in the location of the injury, even if they did not have the lawful right to be there?
• Did the plaintiff act in a way that prevented them from noticing the danger, like texting and walking or being otherwise distracted?

What Does It Mean to Accept a Financial Settlement?

Only about five percent of slip-and-fall cases make it to trial. That means most cases will be resolved after negotiating a settlement with the insurance company. So, what does it mean to accept a financial settlement?

Accepting a financial settlement ends your case. You should only accept a settlement offer if it is satisfactory, meaning that it will cover all your losses and your anticipated losses, such as future lost income and medical bills.

If the personal injury lawyer you work with builds a persuasive case, the insurance company may offer to settle your case to avoid going to trial. Whether you accept a settlement offer or not is an important decision. Consider all the pros and cons of settling your case. Among the things to consider are the following:

• Accepting a settlement offer allows you to avoid going to trial.
• You take the decision about liability, the assigning of fault, and the value of your claim out of the hands of the judge or jury.
• If you accept a settlement offer, you give up the right to file another claim related to the accident to recover for your injuries, losses, and damages.
• You receive the money to recoup for your injuries and expenses right away.

How Long Does a Slip-and-Fall Case Take to Settle?

There is no guaranteed timeline for settling a slip-and-fall case. The length of time it takes to settle your claim depends on many different factors, not the least of which is ensuring that you do not settle your claim while you are still being treated and your medical bills are continuing to increase.

Your case may be affected by: 

Consider Hiring a Slip-and-Fall Accident Attorney

To get the best results with your slip-and-fall case, consider hiring an experienced accident attorney to help you. Slip-and-fall accidents happen suddenly. Victims are caught off guard, but they must act quickly. If you find yourself the victim of someone else’s negligence, you will have to make quick decisions that can affect your life for many years. Unrepresented slip-and-fall accident victims often find themselves leaving money on the table by not getting a settlement that will cover their losses and future damages.

Having a good legal team working on your behalf can help protect your legal rights. A slip-and-fall accident attorney can help you in the following ways:

How the Slip-and-Fall Attorneys at Arash Law Can Help

The talented slip-and-fall lawyers at Arash Law, managed by Arash Khorsandi, Esq., have the experience you need after an accident. For decades, our team has helped our clients recover millions of dollars in compensation for their financial losses after suffering injuries due to the negligence of others.

Arash Law California can help you stand up to big insurance companies. As for-profit companies, insurance providers have the single goal in mind to protect the bottom line. To do that, they employ various tactics to keep accident victims from getting the money they deserve, including: 

The personal injury attorneys at Arash Law, headed by Arash Khorsandi, Esq., can help you build your case and develop a strategy that will avoid the above tactics and put you in the best position to recover from your losses after a slip-and-fall accident.

Contact Arash Law’s California Slip & Fall Accident Attorneys Today

If you have suffered an injury in a slip-and-fall accident in California, we want to help you. You can contact us at (888) 488-1391 or use our online form to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation. We look forward to speaking to you.