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 Pines Salomon Injury Lawyers, LLP. 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 (858) 551-2090 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.