Penn & Seaborn regularly seeks justice for clients injured from “slip and fall” or “trip and fall” injuries. These accidents are very common and the resulting injuries range from broken knees, ankles, and hips to fractured discs.
Because slips and falls normally occur on a landowner’s property or premises, these cases are often referred to by lawyers as “premises liability cases.”
Our personal injury attorney has handled these cases related to clients injured in grocery stores, apartment complexes, hospitals, work places, walking paths, restaurants, gas stations, and department stores.
When a company opens its property to the public to gain customers and do business, the customers on the property are “invitees” of the company. The company owes a duty to invitees to keep its premises in a reasonably safe condition and to warn of any hidden dangers. Through our experience, Penn & Seaborn has learned how to handle issues that commonly arise in premises liability cases.
Preservation of the evidence
At most retail and public businesses, camera footage will capture the fall and the area surrounding the fall. Often times, our client is the only witness to the fall and the video footage is the best evidence to prove our client’s case. The video often captures how long the hazardous substance was on the floor, whether the business should have known about the hazard, and whether the business was following its cleaning and inspection schedule. Most businesses retain their video footage for only a few days.
Therefore it is important to contact a lawyer as soon as possible to make sure this critical evidence is preserved, ensuring that it can be made available for trial.
Warnings
According to a slip and fall accident attorney as a common defense to slip and fall cases, businesses often claim that signage and warnings were present to warn of a wet floor or other hazardous area. Again, this is often refuted by video evidence.
When signage or warnings are in place, Penn & Seaborn’s lawyers can evaluate whether the warning was visible, conspicuous, and placed close enough to where the fall occurred to provide proper notice to a business’s customers.
Releases
Recreational businesses often require the customers to sign waivers and releases to limit the business’s responsibility for injuries caused by its negligence and wantonness. Our personal injury attorney has successfully fought such waivers and releases and held the business accountable for its actions and our clients’ injuries.
Expert Testimony
Penn & Seaborn regularly employs leading experts in the field to help prove our clients’ case. In many cases, the condition that caused a client’s fall did not conform to construction codes, local building codes, and industry standards for the safety of the public. Our experts provide valuable insight and testimony regarding sidewalk standards, hand rail height, steps, curbing, and other issues.
Open and Obvious, Contributory Negligence
According to the slip and fall attorney, in most premises liability cases, the business will try to blame the customer for not observing a slippery substance on the floor, a cracked sidewalk, a broken step, or a faulty hand rail. The business may further argue that the customer was not being careful and was responsible for his or her own injury. The attorneys at Penn & Seaborn are familiar with such arguments and are well prepared to defeat these defenses.
Personal injury lawyers
If you or a loved one has been injured in a premises liability case, contact us today for a free, no-obligation legal consultation.