San Francisco Personal Injury Lawsuits
Slip and fall accidents can cause serious injuries and even death. These types of accidents fall under an area of law called premises liability which holds property owners, business owners, and others in control of a property responsible for providing a reasonably safe environment to those who enter the property. Customers, employees, and other visitors and guests injured in slip and fall or trip and fall accidents may be able to recover financial compensation under California’s premises liability laws.
Read below to learn more about California slip and fall claims and lawsuits.
Causes of Slip and Fall
Property and business owners have a duty to correct hazardous conditions that they know about or should know about in a timely fashion, or to provide warning of hazardous conditions to those who may be harmed unless the hazard is so obvious that any reasonable person would avoid it. Examples of hazardous conditions which lead to slip and fall/trip and fall accidents and injuries include:
- Wet floors lacking warning signs
- Damaged or defective flooring
- Slick flooring materials
- Spills which are not cleaned up in a timely fashion
- Debris and other messes
- Cleaning products and other slippery residues left on floors
- Unmarked step up or step down
- Inadequate lighting causing hazard to be obscured
- Uneven floors or walkways
- Uneven stairs
- Damaged stairs
- Missing or damaged railings
- Carpeting, rugs, or floor mats which are wrinkled, or unsecured
- Cords or cables in walkway
- Low obstacles
- Open drawers or file cabinets
- Failure to remove hail, ice, and other weather-related hazards from walkways
- Failure to maintain a clean environment leading to overgrowth of slick mold
- Potholes and otherwise damaged parking lots surfaces
- Cracked sidewalks
- Loose gravel
- Elevator, escalator, and moving walkway malfunction
Serious and Fatal Slip and Fall Injuries
Slip and fall/trip and fall accidents can cause injuries ranging in severity from a mild annoyance to deadly. Injuries can include:
- Brain injury
- Spinal cord injury
- Back injury
- Broken bones and fractures
- Soft tissue injuries
- Eye injuries
- Chemical burns
- Serious and life-threatening infections
Slip and Fall Damages
You may be able to recover compensation for both economic and noneconomic damages including:
- Medical expenses and future medical expenses
- Rehabilitation and therapy
- Home health care
- Long term care
- End of life care
- Lost wages
- Loss of future earning capacity
- Special equipment and home modifications to accommodate disability
- Disability
- Disfigurement
- Physical pain and suffering
- Mental pain and suffering
- Loss of the capacity to enjoy life
- Loss of consortium