According to the Occupational Safety and Health Association, slips, trips, and falls are the cause of 15% of all accidental deaths in most general industrial incidents and are second to traffic accidents as a cause of death. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), more than 1 million people in the United States suffer an injury from a slip, trip, or fall incident every year.
Slip and Fall FAQs
There are many questions that people ask about slips, trips and falls. Here is a look at some of those frequently asked questions and their answers:
Q1: If someone injures themselves after falling on a broken piece of a sidewalk, can they sue the city?
Ans: In such a situation, an injured person may be able to sue the city because municipalities have a duty to ensure that sidewalks and streets are well maintained and kept in repair. They might have a successful case if they can show that there was failure to properly maintain the sidewalk on the part of the city. However, there are important requirements and deadlines for giving municipalities notice of such claims, about which an attorney should provide advice.
Q2: What if someone suffers an injury at a neighbor’s home where the injured person was invited for a party?
Ans: In some cases, depending on how they sustained their injury, social guests are able to recover damages from their hosts. Homeowners have a responsibility to tell their guests about any dangerous conditions that their guests are not likely to see or recognize, or they should correct such conditions. For example, if a guest got injured by tripping on a throw rug, they may be able to recover damages if they can prove that the host knew that the rug had caused other people to trip and it was unlikely that the guest realized its danger. The host probably should have issued a warning to guests, or secured it to the floor with tacks or tape, or removed it during the party.
Q3: When will the law say the owner of a property “should have known” about a hazardous or dangerous condition on their property?
Ans: In a majority of cases, the law will say that the owner of a property should have known about a safety hazard or dangerous condition on their property when it existed for such a duration of time that a reasonably careful person would have discovered it, under similar circumstances.
RMFW Law is the Best Law Firm in the Big Apple
If you or a loved one has sustained an injury on someone else’s property due to a slip, trip or fall incident, you should immediately seek the help of a skilled and experienced personal injury lawyer at RMFW Law at 212-344-1000. The first meeting is free. We charge you nothing up front if we accept your case. What do you have to say? What is your side of the story?
