Slip & Fall Accidents.

The old saying goes that if you fall, then get up and try again. But what if you slip and fall and can’t get back up again because you suffer personal injury? If your slip and fall accident was due to someone else’s carelessness (i.e. failure to clean up a mess or failing to put up adequate signs warning you of a slippery surface), wouldn’t you want to know what the next step is and what your rights are, according to the city of San Diego?

Slip and fall related injuries are a large concern, especially to older individuals, and can happen right here in San Diego. According to the Center for Disease Control, over 1.8 million people aged 65 and older were treated in emergency rooms for fall-related injuries, and over 433,000 of these people were ultimately hospitalized. In 2005, 15,800 people age 65 and older suffered wrongful death from fall-related injuries (i.e. traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries).

If you suffer personal injury in a slip and fall accident, you can hold those accountable by filing a personal injury claim. You can help your case by hiring a personal injury lawyer in San Diego.

Types of Slip and Fall Accidents

There are three main types of slip and fall accidents that our San Diego personal injury attorneys have handled:

1. Slip-and-fall accidents

This happens when your footing slips and you fall to the ground. A good example of a slip and fall accident would be if you injured yourself on a wet floor in the grocery store.

2. Trip-and-fall accidents

These accidents occur when there is an object in your path (e.g. a banana peel) and it causes you to fall.

3. Step-and-fall accidents

This type of accidents happen when there is a hole in the walking path. Step and fall accidents can happen if you fall through a wooden deck.

What to Do After a Slip and Fall Accident

The first thing you will have to do after a slip and fall accident is to fill out an accident report. Make sure that you only fill out an accident report if you can have a copy of it. An accident report should have the following information:

Description and location of the slip and fall accident
Contact information for anyone that witnessed the accident and/or the conditions that caused the fall
Any other relevant information such as lighting, weather or hidden hazards.

If you are injured in a slip and fall accident you should seek medical help right away as only an experienced doctor will be able to diagnose your injuries and treat them accordingly. The next thing you should do is hire an experienced personal injury lawyer in San Diego.

Why Hire Our Personal Injury Lawyers?

Since 1992, the personal injury lawyers at the Law Offices of Michael Pines, APC have been helping San Diego residents just like you recover the maximum financial compensation for their slip and fall accident injuries. Since slip and fall claims are some of the most complicated cases in personal injury law, the legal process can at times be very confusing. That is why our experience can guide you through the process.

In order to recover a personal injury settlement in most slip and fall cases, you must prove three things:

1. That a dangerous condition existed.

2. The property owner knew or should have known about the condition.

3. The property owner did nothing to remedy the dangerous condition.

Our firm’s founder, Michael Pines, is a former insurance company lawyer, so he knows how the other side works. Insurance companies will attempt to prove that you caused the slip and fall accident so that they save money. We don’t want you to worry about fighting insurance companies or even recovering what you lost in the car accident. That’s what we’re here for, to help you recover the maximum personal injury settlement with the least amount of stress. If you don’t want them to take advantage of you, then you should hire an experienced personal injury lawyer from our San Diego law firm.

Why should you have to deal with all of this on your own? Leave that up to us. It’s what we do.

If you or a loved one have been involved in a slip and fall accident we urge you to contact our bilingual offices as soon as possible following the accident at 1-800-655-6585 or please click here for a free consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney working in San Diego. We handle all cases on a contingency fee basis, which means that you do not pay anything until we recover money on your behalf.

Most Recent Blog Post

[caption id="attachment_21715" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Photo Credit: The San Diego Union Tribune"][/caption] Last week, we reported on a car accident in San Diego that resulted out of alleged teen street racing. In new developments, the 18-year-old driver charged with the death of the two teenagers involved in the street racing has pleaded not guilty to vehicular manslaughter among four other charges according to reports at the San Diego Union Tribune. The news follows the earlier arrest of another 16-year-old driver that was taken into custody on similar charges. Just shortly after his arraignment, Michael Johnson, the 18-year-old driver of a Volvo S40, said, according to his attorney, that he is not the responsible party in the tragic San Diego accident fatalities that occurred April 4. Accident reports indicate that Johnson was returning from a spring break beach party in La Jolla when he was allegedly involved in a street racing contest with another teen driver – the unidentified 16-year-old driver of a Volkswagen Passat whose name has not been released since he is a minor. According to Deputy District Attorney Kristen Spieler, the two vehicles were zigzagging across lanes at speeds reaching up to a staggering 100 m.p.h. The 16-year-old driver in the Passat lost control over the vehicle, causing the car to flip over several times across multiple lanes of the road. Two passengers, Anthony Foreman, 18, and Jayli Campbell, 16, were thrown from the Passat and died at the scene of the accident. Two passengers survived the crash. Charlotte McQuillen, survived the accident although she suffered serious injury as a result of the collision including reports that say the teen will have to recover from traumatic brain injury. Anthoney Taylor, 16, also survived the crash although his injuries are unclear at this time. Johnson did not flee the scene of the accident according to police reports and cooperated with authorities once officers assessed the scene of the collision. The teen has no prior criminal record, although authorities say his vehicle was found containing a small amount of marijuana. Johnson is being charged with intoxicated driving, although his lawyer says there were no field sobriety tests to confirm the teen’s alleged intoxication. Teen driving: reminders for concerned parents Last week, we blogged on actions parents can take to prevent teen car accidents. Tips include:

Sign a parent-teen contract. Download your free contract now.
Enforcing the rules. Every teen driver needs to know that rules are there for a purpose, and when they are broken, consequences will follow.
Have a DUI backup plan. As most parents can attest, there are many instances when teen drivers run into problems that supersede their know-how and maturity. Drinking is one of those problems. In cases of emergency, your teen should have an open-door policy where they feel safe to call you when they need help – such in the case of drunk driving or driving while intoxicated.

About the Law Offices of Michael Pines, APC The Law Offices of Michael Pines, APC are specialists in car accident injury. Every personal injury attorney in our San Diego office works hard to seek maximum recovery for every injured client. Your case is handled without any out-of-pocket costs, so do not hesitate to speak to a San Diego personal injury lawyer today for a free legal evaluation. Call us at 1-800-655-6585.