Slip and fall cases often lead to very serious injuries. I have seen slip and fall cases that have led to permanent injuries to backs, necks, arms, and feet. I've seen cases where people have incurred almost $100,000 in medical bills because of their slip and fall accident. Yet despite these serious injuries, among some in society, slip and fall cases have a comical aspect to them.
A slip and fall case is a valid type of case for an injured person to bring, and it deserves every bit of serious attention that any other type of case would get. A slip and fall case is judged by the same standard that a car accident case would be judged by- what would a reasonable person do in the same situation.
There are generally three parts of a personal injury case: fault, causation, and damages. This is true for slip and fall case as well. For a slip and fall case, part of the fault analysis is the issue of “notice.” Did the property owner have notice of the defective condition- did they know about it or should they have known about it. In thinking about this “notice” issue, attorneys will often ask “how long did the defective condition (icy walkway, for example) exist for” or “who created the defective condition” (spilled clear detergent in a grocery store). These are very fact specific situations, and a trifling fact may make or sink a case.
Slip and fall cases can sometimes be difficult cases to handle because some of the bigger retailers (Stop & Shop, Home Depot, Walmart, etc.) have a lot of cases brought against them (in part because they have tremendous amounts of customer traffic in their stores), and they fight the cases hard in order to discourage people from bringing claims against them.
A person who suffers a slip and fall type accident needs to act quick to preserve evidence that may be crucial to their case. Pictures of the defect that led them to fall (the icy sidewalk for example) need to be taken along with pictures of their bruising. Also, getting the name and contact information of witnesses is important too.
