A Philadelphia slip and fall lawyer can fight for just compensation if you are injured by someone else’s negligence. Slip and fall incidents are seldom truly “accidents.” Instead, they are often caused by dangerous property conditions, such as wet floors, broken sidewalks, and icy parking lots. If you or a loved one was injured in a slip and fall accident caused by defective property in Pennsylvania, compensation may be available for your medical bills, pain and suffering, and other damages.
You should speak with a Philadelphia slip and fall lawyer as soon as possible to preserve your right to bring an injury claim or wrongful death lawsuit. To speak with an experienced slip and fall lawyer in Philadelphia call the Wieand Law Firm LLC at (215) 666-7777 today.
The Wieand Law Firm handles a wide array of personal injury cases arising from slip and fall accidents. Speak with a Philadelphia slip and fall lawyer at our law firm if you were injured as a result of:
Most private, commercial and public properties are insured for safety hazards. Usually, the property owner’s homeowners insurance or commercial liability insurance will cover losses for personal injury. Premises liability cases frequently occur at:
We represent clients who have suffered a serious harm or permanent injuries. Speak with a Philadelphia slip and fall lawyer if you suffered an injury such as:
5 FAQ’s on Slip and Fall AccidentsPremises liability claims focus on injuries that occur to a person because of a property owner’s negligence. Property owners are legally responsible to keep their properties safe for both themselves and for visitors. Examples of slip and fall accidents that fall under the premises liability umbrella include tripping over debris, slipping on spills, falling down a poorly lit staircase, or falling into a pothole. A Philadelphia slip and fall lawyer can help determine a victim’s rights in these situations and fight to get you compensation for your injuries.
In some situations, a landlord may be held liable for a tenant’s slip and fall injuries. In general, a tenant is responsible for maintaining safety within their own home. However, a landlord may be liable for injuries within your apartment if they were aware of a safety issue and failed to warn you or correct the problem.
Defects and property issues in common areas are locations where a landlord also may have liability for slip and fall injuries. Loose handrails, poor lighting, uneven staircases, and poorly marked construction areas may result in tenant injuries.
A Philadelphia slip and fall lawyer recommends seeking immediate medical attention if you are injured in a slip and fall accident. The initial adrenaline following your accident may mask the extent of your injuries; in fact, some injury victims don’t realize they are significantly injured until symptoms progress within the days following the accident. Seeking out immediate medical care can help your legal claim if your injury was caused as the result of someone else’s negligence. A Philadelphia slip and fall lawyer can help connect you with medical resources to make sure that your injuries get the attention that they deserve.
Homeowners, business owners, and property owners are required to carry liability insurance for their properties. When a personal injury claim is filed, the liability insurance can be used to compensate victims for medical bills associated with the accident. Insurance companies use tactics to minimize their payout to victims, including delay tactics and claim denials. Experienced Philadelphia slip and fall lawyers will fight to demonstrate the extent of your injuries to help you obtain the settlement that you deserve.
The Philadelphia slip and fall lawyers at the Wieand Law Firm, LLC provide a free consultation and case evaluation for injury victims. Our lawyers can help you understand your legal rights in regard to your claim and your option to pursue a claim. We can also help with your claim if you were injured at work. Our firm serves clients throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Because we work under a contingency fee agreement, our slip and fall clients don’t have out-of-pocket lawyer fees for our representation. In fact, we never earn a fee unless we win money for your claim. Call 215-666-7777 or send us a message via the online form to speak directly with an attorney.
A Philadelphia slip and fall lawyer understands the problems caused by a serious injury, including unexpected medical expenses and limitations on your work or daily activities. Although these cases are frequently trivialized, we know that the pain and suffering endured by victims is real. When you are represented by our slip and fall lawyers in Philadelphia, you can rest assured that we will work diligently and strategically to pursue the compensation to which you are entitled.
Personal injury slip and fall settlement amounts vary greatly from case to case. The amount of a slip and fall settlement will depend on the negligence of the defendant, as well as the degree of harms and losses you incurred as a result of your fall.
Injuries incurred in an accident can simultaneously reduce your quality of life, burden you with heavy medical expenses, and make it difficult or impossible for you to continue earning income at the level you were accustomed to before the incident occurred. However, if your injury occurred because of another party’s negligence, that party may be liable for your damages, including:
A Philadelphia slip and fall lawyer will fight aggressively on your behalf in an effort to see that you are fully and fairly compensated for the harm caused. Our law firm will protect you from unknowingly accepting a low-ball settlement offer that fails to appropriately address your long-term care expenses. If an acceptable settlement offer is not made, we will not hesitate to try your case in front of a jury.
Generally, a property owner or possessor is responsible for keeping his or her property in reasonably safe condition. This duty includes making timely and reasonable efforts to keep the premises free of any hazardous conditions which might cause injury to guests and members of the general public who are on the property lawfully.
Further, if a property owner has notice of a dangerous condition on their premises, he/she owes a legal duty not only to cure the hazard but also to warn persons who are legally on the property of the condition. Common warnings may include:
In some cases, notice of the danger may also require business owners to barricade the hazard – for instance, constructing a fence around a hole in the ground – or take other reasonable precautions that are necessary to make the premises safe. Our Philadelphia slip and fall lawyers will fight to prove negligence on the part of the property owner.
If you were recently injured by falling on another person’s property, and you believe that the cause of your fall was a hazard, flaw, or defect on the property, it is critical that you contact a slip and fall lawyer in Philadelphia for help. The sooner your slip and fall injury lawyer begins collecting, preserving, and analyzing the evidence, the greater your likelihood of prevailing in a claim and obtaining financial compensation. Some key steps in the investigative process include:
Property owners and business operators almost always insist that when someone falls on the premises, it was because they were “not looking they were walking.” However, the truth is usually the opposite. Most slip and fall accidents are preventable and occur because the area was negligently maintained, poorly designed or defective.
In addition to claiming the victim was not paying attention, another common defense property owners often attempt to use is that the defective condition of the property was “open and obvious.” If true, the defendant may avoid liability under the theory that the victim should have seen and avoided the danger. However, despite the defendant’s claims to the contrary, the defective condition is frequently not open and obvious. People seldom notice dangers, such as wet floors or broken sidewalks, until it is too late to avoid being injured. A Philadelphia slip and fall lawyer can help you hold a negligent property owner accountable.
If you were injured due to a trip and fall accident, you may wonder if you have a legal right to be compensated for your harms and losses, and if so, what happens if you contact a Philadelphia slip and fall lawyer to represent you for a personal injury claim. The slip and fall claims process is explained in the following sections.
The first step in evaluating a claim is to discuss the circumstances of your fall with a personal injury lawyer who can help determine if you have a viable claim. For slip and fall injury claims to be actionable, the fall and injury must be caused by someone else’s negligence. To prove negligence, your attorney will need to show the following:
However, even if you were injured due to another person’s negligence, there may be a valid defense to you lawsuit.
In addition to analyzing your claim for negligence, a Philadelphia slip and fall lawyer will also need to consider what defenses will be used to argue against or minimize your claim. Some of the most common defenses to premises liability claims are provided below.
Assumption of the Risk – “Assumption of the risk” is a complete bar to recovery or something that prevents you from obtaining compensation, in a negligence claim in Pennsylvania. The assumption of the risk occurs when someone fully understands the risk of harm associated with their actions, yet chooses to continue with the action or remain in a hazardous area despite the risk.
This defense is most commonly used when someone is injured while playing a sport, such as football, or while participating in a dangerous activity, such as skydiving. However, it can also be used to defend against a slip and fall injury lawsuit. For example, if you see that a parking lot is covered with ice, and witness three people slip and fall while walking in the parking lot, but you choose to walk in the parking lot despite this knowledge, you will likely encounter an assumption of the risk defense.
Comparative Negligence – The most common defense to trip and fall lawsuits is that the victim was wholly or partially at fault for his or her own injuries. For example, if you fall and break your ankle on a broken sidewalk, the defense attorney will almost certainly claim it was your fault for not watching where you were walking. This is a “comparative negligence” defense.
Pennsylvania’s comparative negligence law is codified at 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 7102. It allows a plaintiff to recover compensation for injuries if he or she was less than 51% at fault. If the plaintiff is found to be 51% or more at fault for a negligence claim, they are prohibited from making a financial recovery.
If a plaintiff is found to be partially responsible for their slip and fall accident, but still less than 51%, an award for pain, suffering and other economic losses will be reduced by their proportionate share of comparative negligence. For example, let’s say that you slipped on ice in a parking lot and injured your back. The jury awards you damages in the amount of $100,000. The jury finds that the grocery store is 80% at fault, and finds you to be 20% at fault. Under these circumstances, the jury’s award of $100,000 would be reduced by 20% due to your comparative negligence. Thus, your total recovery would be $80,000.
De minimus – A de minimus condition is a property defect that is too small or trivial to warrant consideration. Though case law in Pennsylvania describes some conditions that have been found to be de minimus, the court has the discretion to find what does and does not constitute a de minimus defect.
Hills and Ridges Doctrine – The “hills and ridges” doctrine is a defense that protects Pennsylvania landowners from liability for generally slippery conditions caused by ice and snow when the snow has not been allowed to accumulate to unreasonable ridges or elevations.
Open and Obvious – The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has found that a property owner is not liable to for injuries caused to others when the defective condition is “open and obvious,” unless the landowner should anticipate such harm despite this knowledge. This defense to premises liability claims is usually asserted when the defect is physically large and obvious to a reasonable person.
No Notice of Defect – Defendants often allege that they did not have actual or constructive notice of a defective condition, and therefore, were not negligent. The lack of notice defense is most frequently used when a customer slips or trips due to something recently spilled or dropped on the floor by another customer.
Sovereign or Governmental Immunity – Commonwealth and government entities in Pennsylvania are protected from tort claims by Pennsylvania’s Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act.
The Tort Claims Act creates eight exceptions to this immunity. In order to successfully bring a premises liability claim for an injury that occurs on property owned by a municipality, a city, or the Pennsylvania Commonwealth, you will need to prove that your slip and fall accident meets one of the exceptions to governmental immunity.
Statute of Limitations – The “statute of limitations” limits the time you have to bring a claim. With limited exceptions, Pennsylvania has a two-year statute of limitations on negligence claims. If you do not settle your claim or file a lawsuit before the statute of limitations expires, your case will be dismissed.
It is vital that you consult a trip and fall attorney in Philadelphia as soon as possible after an accident to protect your legal interests and gather the evidence needed to prove your case.
Your attorney will collect information needed to investigate your claim and protect your rights. Some documents that may be collected in pre-litigation include:
Your accident attorney will try to determine the identity of the responsible parties, such as the landowner, the property manager, or the snow and ice contractor, and notify them of your claim. It is also good practice to send a preservation of evidence letter so that key evidence is not lost or destroyed.
If your claim is against the Commonwealth or a political subdivision such as a city, borough or other municipality – for instance, to bring a slip and fall claim against Philadelphia you must give the government proper notice of your claim within six months.
A slip and fall attorney may also try to negotiate a settlement with the insurance company. If the insurance company refuses to make a fair offer, the next step is to file a lawsuit.
A slip and fall lawsuit in PA is initiated by filing a writ of summons or civil complaint. The Complaint sets forth the plaintiff’s allegations against the defendant, and the plaintiff’s demand. In Pennsylvania, the demand for personal injury claims is not a specific dollar amount. Instead, the rules of court require that a plaintiff plead whether the demand is over or under a certain threshold.
For example, in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, claims can be filed as either “arbitration” or “major jury.” A complaint that alleges damages in excess of $50,000 will be put into the major jury program. If the complaint alleges damages not in excess of $50,000, it will be submitted to the compulsory arbitration program.
Compulsory arbitration is intended to resolve smaller cases without expending the time, expense, and resources needed for a jury trial. In compulsory arbitration, a case is decided by three arbitrators in a less formal setting. Both plaintiffs and defendants each have an automatic right to appeal a compulsory arbitration award within 30 days.
After a Philadelphia slip and fall lawyer files a lawsuit, your case will be assigned scheduling deadlines, and the parties will begin the formal process of exchanging information known as “discovery.” A party can request information from the other parties, or from persons not involved in the litigation, if it is relevant and calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. This is often done through:
Following the close of discovery, a settlement conference and/or pretrial conference will be held. Here, the parties will attempt to settle the case. If it does not resolve, the case will be set for a jury trial or an “Alternative Dispute Resolution” such as mediation or binding arbitration.
Jury trials give each party the opportunity to plead their case in front of a jury of their peers. Depending on the complexity of the case, a trial may last several days, weeks, or even months.
During the trial, a judge presides over the case and acts as the courtroom referee. After the case is litigated, and each party has presented its case, the judge will instruct the jury on the law which must be followed during deliberations. The jury then performs its civic duty as the “finder of fact,” and will render a verdict for either the plaintiff or defendant.
The Philadelphia slip and fall attorneys at Wieand Law Firm, LLC aggressively represent injured people throughout Pennsylvania. If we represent you, we will immediately begin preparing your case for trial while working to negotiate a settlement to fairly compensate you. For a free consultation with Philadelphia personal injury attorney call us at (215) 666-7777.
Disclaimer: This page is for informational purposes only and does not contain legal advice. This information may not be current law or may contain errors.
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