Slip and Fall

Businesses and landowners have a duty of care to those who visit their property. They are required to take reasonable steps to keep the property safe for visitors. This is especially true when the visitor is invited for the purpose of doing business. Because businesses regularly invite customers to their property, they have a duty to exercise reasonable care to provide a safe environment for those visitors. When dangerous conditions arise, especially those that are foreseeable or easily identified, the business likely has a duty to identify and resolve the dangerous condition or to warn visitors so they can avoid the danger if it cannot otherwise be resolved. Sometimes a warning or sign may not be enough, depending on the nature of the dangerous condition and whether visitors are able to avoid it.

Some common examples of this duty include removal of ice after a snowstorm, the cleanup of spilled food in a grocery store, and warning signs around a hole in a walkway or an area that is dangerously slippery.

Slip & Fall Injuries

Spinal injuries, as well as hip, leg, and ankle fractures are common in slip and fall cases. The degree of those injuries, and how a particular injury impacts an injured person’s life, can be drastically different from case to case. Slip and fall cases seem to be widely thought of as less serious than other types of injury cases. This is a reality your lawyer will need to be aware of as your case moves forward toward a jury trial. The idea that these cases are less serious is a misconception that must be dealt with directly and often. In fact, hundreds of thousands of people die each year as a result of fall-related injuries. Even where liability for a serious injury due to a dangerous condition is clear and straightforward, the choice of attorney matters. An attorney can make a significant difference to the outcome of a case by taking the time to learn about each client and how a slip and fall impacted their specific lifestyle.

Contact my office for a free consultation. You can call my office at any time 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

Do I Need a Denver Slip and Fall Lawyer For This?

In Colorado, these cases can be very complex and it usually helps to have a good Colorado slip-and-fall lawyer in your corner. The more serious an injury is, the more likely it becomes the at-fault parties will fight hard to avoid paying full and fair compensation to the person they harmed.

In many cases, people are injured when someone fails to meet established industry or construction standards. Those rules and standards are in place to keep people safe. A good Denver premises liability lawyer will research all applicable rules, codes, and laws, and fully prepare arguments regarding each failure to meet established requirements. In some cases this can mean an expert witness will be required to explain to a jury how some structure or device failed to meet requirements, and why that failure created a dangerous situation.

One of the most important tasks for a Denver slip and fall lawyer when evaluating a premises liability case is to determine which legal standard applies to the at-fault party. In Colorado premises liability cases, there are at least three potential standards that could apply based upon why the injured person was present on the premises at the time of the injury. We could generalize by saying that the duty to a trespasser requires less than the duty to a visiting friend, and the duty to a visiting friend is generally less demanding than the duty to a business customer. Often the duty differs based on whether the at-fault party knew or should have known about a particular dangerous condition. The difference between visitor and customer may determine whether “knew” or “should have known” applies.

Slip and fall cases can easily become very complicated because of the various applicable legal standards, the reasonableness arguments associated with those different standards, and the fact that these cases often involve more than one at-fault party. Colorado slip and fall or trip and fall cases may overlap with general negligence claims, defective product claims, special rules for claims against government agencies, and worker’s compensation claims.

Slip and fall cases are further complicated by the possibility of multiple or overlapping insurance coverages.

If you have been injured on someone else’s property, and you believe that person or business was negligent, you should reach out to a Denver slip and fall lawyer without delay. There are clear benefits to getting a lawyer early on in your case.

Preservation of Evidence

Denver slip and fall cases sometimes require specific efforts to obtain and preserve evidence right at the beginning of the case. At-fault parties often resolve the dangerous condition after they become aware of an injury. That is a good thing because resolving a dangerous situation benefits the community and prevents others from being injured. However, failure to document the condition or failure to send notices of a claim may result in loss of evidence that harms the injured party’s ability to recover compensation for the damage already done.

If a hole in a walkway causes an injury, the owner may fill the hole as soon as possible afterward. If photos of the hole are lost, destroyed, or never taken, it may be harder for a jury to determine whether the owner should have known about the hole, or why the injured party was unable to avoid it. Photos, surveillance videos, witness statements, defective equipment, written communications and published policies, work logs, and all manner of other evidence can easily be lost or destroyed if those in control of the evidence are not notified early on of their obligation to preserve it. Get a Denver slip-and-fall lawyer working for you as quickly as possible to ensure any evidence that can be preserved is preserved.

More than Slip & Falls

There is much more to premises liability than the slip and fall. Dangerous conditions could take any form, and it is not possible to list all the different injury claims that may fall under premises liability generally. A range of cases from alarm monitoring to dangerous machinery could have elements of a premises liability claim. Injuries can occur for something as simple as a lack of appropriate warning signs, leading to exposure to a toxic substance or other dangerous condition.

Get Ready for Help with Your Denver Slip and Fall Case

As with any injury case, I accept these cases on a contingency fee basis. That means I ask for no up-front fees, and I do not get paid unless I am able to recover money for you. My injured clients are able to focus on recovering from their injuries while I identify all the potential at-fault parties, provide appropriate notices, send notifications regarding preservation of evidence, investigate the dangerous condition itself, find applicable insurance coverages, and begin negotiations with the at-fault parties.

If you are seeking help with a Colorado slip and fall or office injury case, call a Denver slip and fall lawyer who won’t just treat your case like one file among hundreds. If you think you would benefit from personalized and energetic representation, call now to find out how I can help with your case. Consultations are free, and meeting with me does not obligate you to pursue a case or file a lawsuit.