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Slip and Fall FAQs

What to do after an accident

If you believe you may have suffered a spinal injury, wait until help arrives before moving. If necessary, call 911 for assistance.

As soon as possible, and ideally, before you leave the premises, notify the owner or an employee of the premises of the accident. Make sure to find out the name of the person or persons that you talk to.

Ask that an incident report be filled out, and ask for a copy of the report after it has been completed. In some cases, businesses and their insurance companies have been known to deny claims simply because they had no record of an accident having occurred.

Survey the accident scene to understand exactly how the accident occurred. Pay particular attention to the factors which caused the accident. If you slipped and fell, try to determine what the substance was that caused you to slip. If you slipped in a liquid of some sort or other substance on the floor, look to see whether there are any other footprints or tracks from the wheels of a shopping cart in or around the liquid or other substance. These details will become important later.

If anyone else saw the accident, ask them what they saw, and make sure to write down their name and telephone number. Witnesses like this can be very helpful later in the process, particularly if a disagreement arises, for example, about the cause of the accident.

Before contacting the insurance or talking with an insurance company adjuster, talk to an attorney. When I represent a client in an accident claim, I handle the communication with the insurance company so that they client doesn't have to worry about saying something that may come back to hurt them later in the process.

Who will pay for my medical expenses and other damages?

Just as with motor vehicle accidents, the damage caused by a slip and fall or other premises-related accident can easily run into tens of thousands of dollars.

In cases where the accident happens in or around a home, homeowner's insurance may cover the loss. For example, several years ago, I represented a young girl who had suffered several shattered bones in her arm after falling off a trampoline in someone's back yard. Due to the age of the girl and the fact that the people who owned the house failed to supervise the children's activities on the trampoline, I was able to make a claim on the owner's homeowner's insurance policy and obtain a substantial recovery for the girl and her family.

In cases where the accident occurs on business property, commercial liability insurance may apply. The determination of whether the claim should be made against the liability policy of the business which occupies the premises, which is usually a tenant, or against the liability of the policy of the property owner or property management company, or all three, can often be a complicated problem. I recently represented a woman who had fallen down icy stairs while walking up to her second floor apartment. The property management company had failed to put salt on the steps, or take any action to reduce the danger posed by the ice on the stairway. I was able to recover on behalf of the client by proceeding against the apartment's property management company, which had a contractual responsibility, and legal liability under the circumstances to maintain the safety of the apartment complex.

What are other kinds of business or premises-related accidents have you handled?

Over the years, I have handled a wide range of slip and fall accidents caused by liquids or other substances being spilled on the floor of the business premises, but also accidents involving things like: a poorly designed and constructed apartment stairway, negligently installed flooring in a swimming pool area, an oil slick left in the parking lot in front of the front door of a day care, precariously shelved store merchandise, which then fell on a store customer, and hotel exercise room equipment with inadequate safety devices and warnings.

There are any number of ways that customers can be endangered when at a residence, or at a store, restaurant, or other business premises. If you have been involved in an accident at a location like this, whether or not it is one of the types listed above, please feel free to give me a call to discuss it. I will be happy to talk with you about your situation.

Call or Email Stephen Johnson for a free initial consultation about your personal injury case.