Slip and fall injuries can be very serious, often leaving you with lasting impairment and diminishing your quality of life.
If a fall happens to you on someone else’s property, you need to understand your legal rights. You may be entitled to receive compensation for the damages resulting from the fall, but you’ll have to navigate California’s legal system in order to do it.
JSM Injury Firm APC can help. Our Anaheim slip and fall lawyers have decades of collective experience helping accident victims to recover monetary compensation for losses after a fall injury. We treat every case with the importance it deserves and we do not charge legal fees unless we win your claim and you get the money you deserve.
To find out more about how we can put our legal experience to work for you, give us a call today at (949) 404-4826 to schedule a free consultation with a compassionate and knowledgeable member of our Anaheim personal injury team.
Your Legal Rights After an Anaheim Slip and Fall
When you suffer a slip and fall on someone else’s property, either the property owner or those occupying the property and responsible for maintaining it could potentially be held legally liable for losses.
That’s because, under California Civil Code Section 1714 everyone is responsible “not only for the result of their willful acts but also for an injury occasioned to another by their want of ordinary care or skill in the management of their property or person.” Based on this statute, if a property owner or occupier is negligent in maintaining their property, they can and should be held accountable for the consequences of this careless behavior.
A body of law called premises liability law determines whether or not the property owner’s maintenance and care of their space falls short and should lead to legal liability.
A case called Rowland v. Christian (1968) 69 Cal.2d 108 set much of the precedent for how premises liability laws work. This case established that “the proper test to be applied to the liability of the possessor of land in accordance with section 1714 of the Civil Code is whether in the management of his property, he has acted as a reasonable man in view of the probability of injury to others.”
Based on this rule, it is necessary to assess the reasonableness of the property owner’s actions in deciding if they managed the property so carelessly as to result in legal liability. One factor that impacts that is the reason why you were on the property at the time of the slip and fall.
Invitees, Licensees, and Trespassers
In California, people are divided into three different groups based on the reason why they were at a particular property at the time of their injury.
Rowland v. Christian (1968) 69 Cal.2d 108 explains what those three groups are. “Generally speaking a trespasser is a person who enters or remains upon land of another without a privilege to do so; a licensee is a person like a social guest who is not an invitee and who is privileged to enter or remain upon land by virtue of the possessor’s consent, and an invitee is a… business visitor who is invited or permitted to enter or remain on the land for a purpose directly or indirectly connected with business dealings between them.”
Property owners owe the lowest duty of care to trespassers. They can’t set traps for trespassers, for example, and if there are known trespassers and especially dangerous conditions, they may have to warn them.
If a property owner creates an “attractive nuisance,” or dangerous but enticing conditions, such as a swimming pool or an open construction site, then the property owner also must take steps to protect uninvited guests — and particularly children — from being harmed.
Licensees, on the other hand, are owed an intermediate duty of care, with property owners responsible for correcting defects when possible or warning them of known defects that make the space unsafe before they come onto the land.
Finally, invitees are owed the highest duty. Property owners who allow invitees onto their space must inspect the premises often, make sure there are no unsafe conditions, correct hazards when feasible and warn about dangers they cannot fix.
If a property owner fails to fulfill the responsibilities based on your status on the property, they can be legally liable for any resulting damages from a slip-and-fall and from other injuries that you endure due to unsafe conditions.
How Do Slip and Falls Happen
There are many potential causes of slip and fall accidents, most of which occur as a result of careless maintenance on the part of the property owners. Here are some examples of common causes of fall incidents:
Cracked or broken tiles
Wet floors
Uneven flooring surfaces
Broken stair handrails
Narrow stair treads
Debris or dirt in walkways
Wet or slippery floors
Poor lighting
When these or other unsafe conditions exist and you are hurt because of it, JSM Injury Law APC will help you to gather the necessary evidence to make a strong claim and show that the property owner or occupier should be held accountable for your fall and made to compensation you for losses including medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and emotional distress.
How an Anaheim Slip and Fall Accident Attorney Can Help You
Home insurers or property insurers generally pay out compensation to those who have been harmed by a fall incident on a policyholder’s property. Unfortunately, these insurers are often dedicated to paying out as little as possible.
You need a knowledgeable legal professional on your side to help fight for your right to get the money you need and deserve so you can move forward after a serious injury. The Anaheim slip and fall accident lawyers at JSM Injury Law APC have experience negotiating settlements and litigating premises liability claims and we can put our legal knowledge and skill to work for you.
Give us a call today at (949) 404-4826 to schedule a free consultation and learn more about how our compassionate and skilled legal team can guide you through your slip and fall case. Since there’s no legal fees charged without a successful claim, there’s nothing to lose and everything to gain from having a caring advocate on your side.
