After motor vehicle accidents, the most common causes of accidental deaths in the United States are slip, trip, and fall accidents. These accidents typically occur when property owners fail to warn guests or visitors about wet, icy, slick, snow-covered or otherwise dangerous conditions on their property. When these potentially dangerous conditions become unsafe because of the property owner’s negligence in failing to correct the condition or adequately warn visitors that the condition exists, the owner may be financially liable for any accidents or injuries that occur. Slip and fall accidents can occur almost anywhere – in the workplace, at home, at another person’s home, or at a place of business – and each of these situations raises the question of legal liability, which is why it is so important to hire a personal injury attorney with experience handling Phoenix slip and fall accidents. Contact Personal Injury Attorneys PLLC today to discuss your slip and fall situation with our team of experienced personal injury lawyers.
Affordable Slip and Fall Attorneys in Phoenix
If you or someone you know has been injured in a slip and fall accident in Phoenix or the surrounding area, you know how serious the consequences of this type of accident can be. Back injuries, neck injuries and broken bones are just some of the injuries that slip and fall accidents can cause, and if the negligence of another person is to blame for your injuries, you may have grounds to file a personal injury lawsuit against the negligent person or party in order to improve your chances of recovering the compensation you deserve. Before settling your slip and fall accident claim for less than it’s worth, contact our knowledgeable and affordable personal injury attorneys to find out the amount of compensation you may actually be entitled to. Our slip and fall accident lawyers have years of experience fighting for the rights of clients who have suffered serious injuries through no fault of their own, and we will ensure that you understand the full scope of your legal options so you can make an informed decision about how best to proceed with your claim.
Common Types of Slip and Fall Accidents
When negligent property owners fail to keep their property free of hazardous conditions, guests and customers who visit the property under the expectation that the property is reasonably safe can suffer serious or possibly even life-threatening injuries. This can include slip, trip, and fall accidents that occur because of a spill that wasn’t properly cleaned up in a grocery store, because of uneven flooring in a retail store, or because of an icy sidewalk in an apartment complex. Slip and fall accidents can also occur in the workplace, on another person’s private property, or at any other location where another person is responsible for maintaining the property and making sure it is free of unsafe conditions. The following are the most common places where individuals may be at risk for slip and fall situations in Phoenix:
- In a crowded public place
- In a retail store
- At a concert
- At an amusement park or water park
- At a sporting event
- In the workplace
- In a grocery store
- At another person’s home
- On an icy sidewalk
- At a public swimming pool
- At a hotel or resort
- In an apartment complex parking lot
- At a shopping mall
- In a restaurant or bar
Slip and Fall Accident Injuries
Slip, trip and fall accidents often occur because of preventable hazards like slippery floors, exposed cords, poor lighting, broken steps or handrails, uneven flooring or cluttered walkways, and because of costly medical bills, lost wages and other damages, these injuries can cost injured victims and their loved ones tens of thousands of dollars. Some common types of injuries resulting from Phoenix slip and fall accidents include the following:
- Concussion
- Head injury
- Back injury
- Broken bones
- Spinal cord injury
- Traumatic brain injury
- Twisted ankle
- Torn ligaments
- Fractures
- Wrongful death
Compensation for Slip and Fall Accidents
Under Arizona law, all property owners and property managers in Phoenix have a legal duty to ensure that their property is free of hazardous conditions that could potentially cause injury or death to individuals visiting the property lawfully as guests or customers. Additionally, if any hazardous condition exists on the property, the owner must provide adequate warnings to visitors, in order to ensure the visitors’ safety and prevent premises liability accidents and injuries from occurring. Employers in Phoenix also have a legal duty to provide employees with a workplace that is reasonably free of health or safety hazards, and any time an employee is injured in a slip and fall accident at work, the employer is usually required to reimburse the employee for his or her medical bills and lost wages through workers’ compensation. Some workers injured in slip and fall accidents in Phoenix may also have grounds to file a personal injury or product liability lawsuit against a negligent third party, if the worker’s injuries were directly caused by that party’s reckless or careless behavior.
Whatever the circumstances of your Phoenix slip and fall accident, contacting a knowledgeable personal injury attorney can help you learn how much your slip and fall claim may be worth. By filing a personal injury claim against the person or party whose negligence caused your injuries, you can pursue the compensation you deserve for the following:
- Medical expenses
- Property damage
- Lost wages
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of future earning capacity
- Funeral and burial costs
- Emotional distress
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium
Proving Negligence in a Slip and Fall Accident
When it comes to establishing negligence in a Phoenix slip and fall accident and pursuing compensation for your injuries from the appropriate person or party, your first step should be to determine the nature of your presence on the property where the accident occurred. For instance, if you are injured in a slip and fall accident on public property or while you are lawfully on another person’s private property, you may have grounds to file a premises liability lawsuit against the property owner or manager. In any Phoenix premises liability claim, proving negligence and holding the property owner accountable for your injuries and losses requires establishing the following elements:
- The property owner owed you a duty of care,
- The owner breached that duty of care by failing to maintain a safe property,
- The owner’s breach of duty directly caused your injuries, and
- As a result of your injuries, you suffered compensable damages.
In Phoenix, a property owner can be held financially liable for a slip and fall accident that occurs on his or her property if the owner knew or should have known that a dangerous condition existed and failed to correct the condition, willfully or maliciously caused the dangerous condition, or failed to provide adequate warnings about the dangerous condition to guests or visitors. Alternatively, if you are injured in a slip and fall accident in the workplace or on a job site in Phoenix, you have the option of pursuing compensation through a workers’ compensation claim or through a personal injury claim for negligence.
Levels of Care for Visitors in Phoenix
In order to determine whether you are eligible for compensation through a Phoenix premises liability claim, you must first determine what level of care the property owner owed you based on your legal status as a visitor. The following are the three most common types of visitors in Phoenix:
- Invitee – If you are invited to another person’s property, either expressly or with the implied permission of the property owner, you are entitled to the highest degree of protection from the owner. As an invitee, you have the right to be protected from any dangerous conditions existing on the property, or if the conditions cannot be reasonably repaired, to be adequately warned that the conditions exist.
- Licensee – As a licensee, or someone invited onto another person’s property for social occasions or other non-business purposes, you are entitled to be reasonably protected from dangerous conditions, or to be warned about any dangerous conditions if the conditions exist and cannot be reasonably discovered by you.
- Trespasser – A trespasser is someone who enters another person’s property without permission, and this is the only type of visitor to whom property owners do not owe a duty of protection from hazardous conditions. There are some exceptions to this law, including if the property owner can reasonably foresee that someone would trespass on the property, or if the property contains an attractive nuisance that is likely to entice trespassers.
Comparative Negligence in Premises Liability
The state of Arizona does not put a cap on the amount of damages you can receive in a personal injury case. However, when you try to hold a Phoenix property owner or manager responsible for a slip and fall accident, it is likely they will try to argue that your actions were partially or totally to blame for the injuries you sustained. And because Arizona follows the law of comparative negligence, if you are found to be partially at fault for the slip and fall accident, the amount of damages you are entitled to can be reduced by the percentage of your fault. For instance, if you slip on a wet surface in a grocery store in Phoenix and suffer injuries, you may have grounds to file a premises liability lawsuit against the owner of the grocery store. However, if the store owner argues that you weren’t paying attention to where you were going or you failed to notice signs warning about the slippery surface, and you are therefore found to be 25% at fault for the slip and fall accident, Arizona’s comparative negligence law will reduce the total amount of your reward by 25%.
How Our Personal Injury Attorneys Can Help
Some slip and fall accidents occur because the injured person wasn’t paying attention or watching where he or she was going, but in many cases, serious slip and falls occur because of hazardous conditions that could have been prevented had the owner or manager of the property where the accident occurred taken reasonable care to keep the property safe. If this is the case, you may have a valid claim against the property owner for any injuries you sustained as a result of the slip and fall accident. If you were injured in a Phoenix slip and fall accident and you are considering filing a personal injury, product liability or premises liability claim, you will need an attorney on your side who understands the intricacies of Arizona law and the best course of action for obtaining the maximum recovery for Phoenix slip and falls. In order to prove that another person or party was responsible for your slip and fall accident and hold that party accountable for your injuries and losses, you will need to establish certain facts and provide evidence of the accident and the injuries you sustained as a result. Our personal injury attorneys understand how devastating slip and fall accidents can be for injured victims and their loved ones, and if a negligent or wrongful act contributed to your injuries, we will find it.
Consult Our Slip and Fall Attorneys Today
Thousands of people are seriously injured or killed each year in slip and fall situations in the United States. Unfortunately, successfully pursuing a legal claim for slip and fall injuries can be complicated and confusing. In Phoenix, property owners are not automatically liable for the injuries another person sustains while on their property. In order to recover compensation for a slip and fall accident that takes place on another person’s property, the injured victim must prove that the property owner’s negligence caused the accident and subsequent injuries. When you hire our lawyers at Personal Injury Attorneys PLLC, we will handle every aspect of your slip and fall claim, including investigating the scene of the accident, interviewing witnesses, obtaining copies of your medical records and ensuring any evidence pertaining to your case is preserved, in order to determine who is at fault for your injuries. With our slip and fall accident attorneys on your side, you can feel confident that your legal rights and your best interests are protected throughout the course of your case.
