It can happen in the blink of an eye – one minute you’re upright and carrying on your everyday life and the next your feet are out from under you and you are flat on your face or your back wondering what happened. Slips and falls are relatively common everywhere from a hotel lobby in Los Angeles to a fast food restaurant in Menifee, but the injuries they can bring with them can be far from it; serious, traumatic, even life-altering effects can all accompany such an accident in many cases. In fact, the Brain Association of California cited slip and falls as the most often cause of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) each year. If you have been injured in a slip and fall accident, it’s highly advisable you speak to a Menifee personal injury attorney with slip and fall experience to find out if you may be entitled to compensation for your damages today.
Menifee Slip and Fall Injuries
Menifee is a growing town of over 93,000 with new homes and businesses springing up every day – restaurants chief among them. Restaurants are a particularly risky venue where many of the 7 million annual slip and fall accidents requiring hospitalization to occur; not only are patrons present, but staff as well. 60 percent of injuries reported in the service industry were due to slip and fall accidents. Menifee’s growing population and businesses that grow to serve it provide a myriad of opportunities for someone to slip, fall, injure themselves, and seek redress in the court system.
What Causes Slip and Fall Injuries?
Slip and fall accidents in Menifee often arise from conditions on a property that is being improperly maintained – visitors are entitled to protection. Property owners or managers have the legal duty to exercise reasonable care to keep their premises free of hazardous conditions or adequately warn visitors any such conditions known that are not so obvious a reasonable person would have recognized and avoided them.
It is common to see slip and fall claims arise from broken stairs, uneven pavement, cracked floors, slippery floors, and missing flooring or tiles. These conditions can cause injuries requiring not only emergency medical treatment but hospital stays, surgery and physical therapy, long-term care, and lifetime changes to accommodate daily life with a long-term or permanent injury. It is not uncommon for slip and fall accidents to result in:
- Fractures;
- Traumatic brain injuries;
- Neck and back injuries;
- Facial injuries; and
- Dental injuries.
These injuries are in addition to the non-physical consequences of a slip and fall like missed work, lost wages, and both mental and psychological trauma from the accident and its after-effects.
What Can I Recover?
If you can prove another party was negligent and caused your slip and fall injuries in Menifee, you may be able to recover damages you can prove before a court. In California, negligence is determined when a victim can show the other party had a legal duty to them, breached that duty through an act or omission, and that breach caused their injuries.
Compensatory damages are awarded to make a victim whole for injuries they suffered due to another’s negligent conduct. These damages may be given for concrete, quantifiable injuries such as lost wages and medical bills, but they may also be awarded for more abstract harms such as pain and suffering, loss of consortium, and disfigurement.
It can be tricky to establish negligence because proving a breach of duty and tying a party’s conduct to the victim’s injuries can be difficult. Damages can also be a contentious, hotly debated issue between parties – abstract damages for emotional and psychological trauma in particular. This makes seeking experienced slip and fall counsel a wise idea to avoid common pitfalls during a lawsuit.
What Should I Do If I Was Involved in a Slip and Fall?
If you have been involved in a slip and fall accident, it is important you take a few steps that can not only protect your health but aid you in any legal claim for compensation you may pursue. It is also important you do not delay in acting – time is not on your side. California law imposes a 2-year statute of limitations on personal injury actions that includes slip and fall injures, which means if you do not file your claim in civil court within 2 years from the date of your injury you are barred from recovering for your injuries and forfeit your legal claim forever.
See a Doctor
First and foremost, seek medical attention as soon as possible after your accident. This is especially important for slip and fall accidents, because the incidence of TBI in these cases is fairly common and these injuries may delay presenting symptoms for days or weeks after they occur. It is important to be evaluated by a medical professional to determine if a TBI is present or whether you require additional follow-ups and monitoring. You should adhere to treatment recommendations exactly, take medications as prescribed, and make sure to attend all your appointments.
Document Your Accident
If your injury occurred at work, which is common for slip and fall accidents, report it to your manager immediately so you can begin the process of filing a workers’ compensation claim. Even if you were not injured at work, there are still ways to document your accident and the site where it occurred:
- Report the accident to the property owner/manager;
- Photograph the hazard that caused your accident and the scene immediately afterwards;
- Photograph your injuries;
- Collect contact information from any witnesses; and
- Get copies of any official reports made regarding your accident or injuries.
Collect Records of Your Damages
If you are injured, you will want to retain records indicating the injuries you suffered and expenses you incurred as a result. These can be of great help when determining compensatory damages in a legal action down the road. Keep copies of medical bills, paystubs indicating lost wages, receipts showing money you spent on medicine, equipment, treatment, or accommodating your injuries, and any other document showing financial losses you sustained as a result of your slip and fall.
Speak with an Attorney
If you were injured in a slip and fall accident, contact the experienced Murrieta slip and fall attorneys at Walton Law today to protect your health and your rights. Time moves quickly and you have a deadline by which to act, so you talk with our skilled professionals soon. We have spent years representing victims like you and recovering millions of dollars for our clients through personalized, vigorous advocacy. Contact us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at (866)-338-7079 or online via our Contact Page to schedule a no-risk initial case review today. There is no obligation and the complimentary consultation is free. You will pay nothing unless we win your case. Let our knowledgeable attorneys evaluate the facts of your unique situation and help secure an optimal outcome for you so you can recover from your injuries and get your life back on track.