According to the National Floor Safety Institute, women are more likely to experience a slip-and-fall accident than men, except when those falls cause a fatality. Job-related fatalities due to a slip-and-fall are about twice as common for men than for women. More than one million ER visits each year are the result of a slip and fall. Slip and fall injuries are the leading cause of workers’ comp claims as well as the leading cause of occupational injury for those 55 and older. Floors and flooring materials are a primary contributor to fall injuries, and hip fractures are one of the primary results of a slip and fall. A slip and fall can occur virtually anywhere, particularly in areas where the floor is slick or a hazard in the walkway, such as a frayed carpet, uneven floor heights, or items in the walking path.
If you or someone you know is coping with serious injuries following a slip and fall accident, you need a strong legal advocate to help you get the compensation you need and deserve. At Brad Johnson Injury Law, we can help you with your legal claim. We can serve as your representative with any involved insurance companies, help you find specialists for your injury treatment, hire expert witnesses to detail how your injuries will affect your life, and fight for compensation for you in settlement or court. Any delay in filing your slip and fall injury claim can jeopardize your right to recover from your losses.
Slip and fall injuries happen much more often than you might think. Despite the negative connotation that is often connected to this kind of legal action, many of the injuries associated with slip and fall accidents are quite severe. They can impact a victim for many years.
Thousands of individuals are severely hurt or killed every year in slip and fall accidents. If this has happened to you, you need to consult with an experienced Glendale slip and fall attorney to identify your rights as soon as possible. Learn more about some of the more common statistics associated with slip and fall accidents and the different scenarios in which a slip and fall injury can occur. Identifying the negligent parties when you have been hurt in an accident is extremely important, as is hiring a knowledgeable Glendale slip and fall attorney to assist you.
Why You Should Choose Slip and Fall Attorney Brad Johnson
At Brad Johnson Injury Law, we keep you informed every step of the way regarding your slip and fall injury claim progress. We are compassionate to your current circumstances and committed to getting you in front of an attorney within two hours. Whether you come to our office, or we come to you, our goal is to quickly get you legal help so you can concentrate on healing from your injuries. Attorney Brad Johnson ensures your phone calls are always returned promptly, making every effort to return all phone calls the same day. Brad Johnson practices transparency with all clients, taking the time necessary to explain the process and ensuring you understand what to expect. Brad Johnson has more than 30 years of personal injury experience, offering you:
- A local law firm rather than a large, impersonal regional/national firm
- An individualized approach to every case
- Every case handled personally by attorney Brad Johnson
- More than 100 positive Google Reviews
- Strong core values
- Availability 24/7—we are available when you need us
- Free comprehensive consultations
- English and Spanish speaking
- A 25% fee vs. the typical 33.3% fee that most injury law firms collect
- We Don’t Ge Paid Unless We Win
What is a Slip and Fall Accident?
When you slip or trip on another’s property due to a negligent, hazardous condition, then fall and injure yourself; this is known as a slip and fall accident. A slip and fall accident is a premises liability claim because they occur on either public or private property. You must not be a trespasser to claim damages for a slip and fall accident. Most slip and fall accidents occur on public property, but others occur on private property when the person is there as a guest.
Hazards like changes in flooring height, wet, slippery floors, narrow stairs with broken hand railings or no hand railings, poorly lit areas, or broken or cracked sidewalks can all cause a slip and fall injury. Slip and falls are common in public areas where rain, ice, or snow has caused a slippery floor or a spill on a floor that makes it slippery. To collect damages for a slip and fall accident, you must have sustained an injury from the accident.
Where Do Most Slip and Fall Accidents Occur?
Although slip and fall accidents can occur anywhere at any time, there are certain situations in which a person’s risk of a slip and fall accident is much higher, such as:
- At retail shops and stores
- In the workplace
- At sporting events
- In any crowded public location
- At musical concerts
- In restaurants and bars
- In restrooms
- At any type of business
- In another person’s home
- Around a swimming pool
- At an amusement park
- On a sidewalk, parking lot, a business, or store during icy conditions
What Are the Primary Causes of Slip and Fall Accidents?
Although some of the causes of slip and fall accidents were mentioned above, others include the following:
- Poor lighting conditions are a major cause of slip and fall injuries, particularly in stairwells, walkways, parking lots, and parking garages. Proper lighting improves vision, particularly for those walking in the evening or night. Improper lighting can make it difficult to navigate from one area to another.
- Weather is another major factor in slip and fall accidents. While no one can predict the weather, if customers are tracking in ice and mud, it falls to the property owner to ensure the floor is cleaned up as quickly as could be reasonably expected or, at the very least, that hazard signs are posted. Property owners have a legal responsibility to shovel sidewalks salt walkways and clean up ice, snow, and mud inside businesses or stores.
- Broken or damaged handrails can cause slip and falls as these handrails are meant to support people walking on staircases inside bathrooms and, in some cases, on the pavement. Owners are responsible for ensuring first that handrails exist and second that they are properly maintained.
- Cords and wires stretched across walk paths can cause a slip and fall by catching on a person’s shoe. There should never be a cord or wire across an area where people walk.
- Uneven surfaces with no warning signs can be responsible for a slip and fall accident. Even a step-up or step-down of as little as one inch can cause a serious accident when the person is not expecting it.
- A recently mopped or waxed floor needs a warning sign to let people know the area is slippery.
- Spilled liquids that have not been cleaned up as they should have been can easily cause a slip and fall accident.
- Potholes in parking lots can cause serious slip and fall accidents. The owner of the parking lot is responsible for ensuring parking lots are safe and well-lit.
- Loose floorboards, rugs, or mats—particularly on stairs—can result in a serious slip and fall accident.
- Trash or debris in walkways can result in a slip and fall accident in the same way as boxes or other items stacked in an area where people walk.
When slip and fall accidents occur in the workplace, they are most likely to occur among construction workers, kitchen workers and servers, factory workers, and housekeepers. No matter what caused your Glendale slip and fall injury, it can benefit you greatly to speak to a knowledgeable team member from Brad Johnson Injury Law.
What are Some of the Most Common Injuries from Slip and Fall Accidents?
Slip and fall accidents can lead to serious injuries. Broken bones are common injuries associated with a slip and fall accident, as are cuts, bruises, strains, and sprains. More serious injuries associated with slip and fall accidents are any head injury and back, neck, and spinal cord injuries. Whether your head injury is a mild concussion or a more serious traumatic brain injury, you may deal with the symptoms for months, years, or even a lifetime. In the same vein, a neck or back injury could be relatively minor, causing pain that subsides with time and treatment, or could be much more serious, causing a spinal cord injury that results in paraplegia or quadriplegia.
These injuries could change your life forever. A slip and fall accident could also result in internal bleeding or damage to an internal organ. If your face hits a hard object during your slip and fall accident, you could have facial disfiguration or even vision loss. You must receive medical attention as quickly as possible following your slip and fall accident. The sooner you speak to a medical professional and a legal professional, the sooner your life can start getting back on track.
When you hire a Glendale slip and fall lawyer, he or she can gather any relevant evidence such as witness contact information, photos of the scene, and anything else that could help prove your claim. Consulting with knowledgeable Glendale slip and fall lawyer Brad Johnson is crucial in protecting your legal rights and moving forward.
What is the Legal Status for a Slip and Fall Accident in Arizona?
There are three primary legal “status” types for Arizona slip and fall injuries. These include:
- Licensee: An individual who is invited on to someone else’s property for non-business purposes, such as a party or other social occasion. A licensee is entitled to protection from dangerous conditions or must be warned about these conditions if they exist.
- Invitee: An individual who is, through implied consent or expressly, invited onto another person’s property for business purposes. This individual is to be afforded a high level of protection from the possessor of the property, including the right to be protected from dangerous conditions or warned about them when they exist.
- Trespasser: An individual who enters someone else’s property without permission and is therefore not owed any degree of protection from dangerous conditions. However, there are certain exceptions, and these should be reviewed carefully with an experienced Glendale, Arizona slip and fall injury attorney.
Whether or not you were approved to be on the property at the time of the injury has a significant impact in defining negligence in a Glendale slip and fall claim. If you were at your place of work and fell because of the presence of a hazardous or dangerous condition, then you could have two legal options, including pursuing a workers’ compensation claim or a personal injury claim for negligence.
If you were injured on someone else’s property and you were not there as an employee, the first question that your Glendale slip and fall lawyer must answer is whether you were entitled to be on the property and the legal status attached to your injuries.
How Slip and Fall Lawyer Brad Johnson Can Help
Attorney Brad Johnson has three decades of experience focusing on accident injury and personal injury claims. Brad is well-versed in protecting his clients, their rights, and their futures while convincing big insurance companies to pay what the claim is worth. If you have been injured in a slip and fall accident, contact Brad Johnson Injury Law for a free consultation. We will answer your questions and ensure you know how your claim will progress.