Los Angeles Slip and Fall Lawyers

Premises liability law involves the legal responsibilities of property owners and occupiers to prevent injuries to persons on their property. One of the most common causes of such injuries is a trip or slip and fall, such as on an icy sidewalk, a loose or uneven stair tread, or a piece of debris or spilled liquid on the floor. Often times, the accident occurs because of a dangerous condition on the property.

Dangerous Premises

Premises liability generally refers to injuries that occur to victims as a result of unsafe conditions on another person's property. The types of premises liability cases can be almost limitless. They include accidents involving slip and falls, swimming pools, fires, explosions, roof cave-ins, broken glass, animal attacks, faulty store displays and inadequate security. Negligent premises conditions can exist in just about every type of building or open space, including homes, apartment complexes, theaters, malls, sports facilities, amusement parks, government buildings, commercial buildings, farms, and other open land spaces.

Liability of Owners and Others

The owner of property has a legal duty to use reasonable care to keep the property safe from dangerous conditions. However, other persons, such as a tenant, the manager of a property, and contractors working on the premises may also be responsible for maintaining the premises in a safe condition and could be liable for injuries which occur on the property as well. Often the determining factor is who has the right to control the premises where the accident occurs. If a party has the right to control property, then that party must exercise control in a reasonable manner to prevent foreseeable injuries. If multiple parties have the right to control the property, there may be multiple parties who are liable for an injury. Simply identifying the proper defendants can therefore be a complex task.

Negligence

Merely owning or occupying real property does not automatically make the owner or occupier of the property liable for injuries sustained on the property. There must be actual fault or negligence on behalf of the property owner or occupier. An owner or occupier of property is negligent if he or she fails to use reasonable care to keep the property in a reasonably safe condition. It is often up to a jury to determine whether a property owner or occupier acted reasonably, considering all the circumstances which led to the injury. A jury may consider, for example, the likelihood that someone would be injured by the unsafe condition and the severity of the potential injuries. A jury might also consider whether the owner knew or should have known about the unsafe condition and how difficult it would have been to correct that condition. Because there are many different types of situations that give rise to premises liability, these cases require careful analysis.

Duty to Inspect

An owner or occupier of property must use reasonable care to inspect the property and discover any unsafe conditions. The owner or occupier has a duty to correct, repair, replace, or give adequate warning of any condition that could be reasonably expected to harm others. For example, a store owner has a duty to make reasonable inspections of the store because of the danger of merchandise falling on the floor and creating a hazard for patrons. The same store owner has a duty to inspect the walkways and display aisles to ensure that no hazards exist that could lead to a fall, such as liquids, merchandise, or produce that may fall or that has fallen on the floor. The failure to make reasonable inspections of property may subject the owner or occupier to liability for injuries caused as the result of the failure to inspect the premises.

Comparative Negligence

A visitor on someone else's property must also act reasonably. If an unsafe condition of a property is so obvious that a person could reasonably be expected to observe it, the owner or occupier of the property may not have a duty to warn others about the condition. If a reasonable person would have seen the dangerous condition and been able to avoid it, the victim may be found partially or entirely at fault for the accident. If a victim is partially at fault, the concept of "comparative negligence" may apply. The percentage of the victim's fault will be compared to the percentage of the defendant's fault and the amount of damages recoverable by the victim will be reduced proportionally. If, for example, the victim is found to be 40 percent at fault and a defendant is 60 percent at fault, a victim will only be entitled to recover 60 percent of the total damages from the defendant.

Contact a Southern California Slip and Fall Attorney Today

If you have been involved in a slip and fall or trip and fall accident in Southern California, it is important to hire an experienced and skilled personal injury law firm to protect you and help you obtain the financial compensation you deserve. At Lazar, Akiva & Yagoubzadeh, our slip and fall attorneys conduct a full investigation into the accident and work with insurance representatives to obtain high settlements for our clients.

If you are in need of a slip and fall attorney, contact us today for your free consultation at (800) 261-7001 or email us.

Slip and Fall Injuries

If you’ve been injured in a slip and fall accident, our Los Angeles slip and fall lawyers can help you receive the compensation for your medical bills, lost wages and your injuries.

The first 24 to 48 hours after being injured in a slip and fall accident are critical. No matter the situation, first and foremost, seek medical attention. Immediate medical treatment can help avoid further injury and lead to a faster, more complete recovery.

A slip and fall accident can inflict injuries to any and all parts of your body. Head, neck and back injuries are certainly the most common, but car accidents also cause injuries to internal organs as well as arms and legs.

The following are some of the most common slip and fall injuries:

Neck

"Whiplash," one of the most common types of injuries, accounts for more than one million slip and fall neck injuries each year. A significant percentage of such injuries lead to long term disability. The neck is more vulnerable to injury when a person's head is turned to the left or right.

A neck injury can cause serious injury to the joints, discs, muscles, nerves, and ligaments of the neck and is most serious when a victim's head is turned to the side when the victim hits the ground. A neck injury causes neck pain and limitation of neck and head movement, affecting rotation and peripheral vision.

Back

Slip and falls can also strain your back. Back injuries result in serious and sometimes debilitating pain in the larger muscles of the back.

The discs in your back, referred to as intervertebral discs, can also become injured in the event of a car accident. Disks in the neck and spine may bulge, slip or rupture. A disc may become herniated and require surgery. An injury of this type may not be diagnosed until months after a slip and fall accident and can require longer periods of rehabilitation, recovery time, and larger medical bills.

Wrists & Ankles

Your wrists, hands, fingers, ankles and feet are all at risk during a slip and fall accident. A natural response to a slip and fall is to shield your head or neck from impact using your arms, wrists or hands, which can cause serious injury to those body parts, including broken bones. Typical injuries include abrasions, fractures and sprains.