Slip and fall accidents can result in severe and sometimes permanent physical injuries. This is because accident victims who unexpectedly slip and fall usually do not have the benefit of a protective shell or barrier surrounding them. If their body strikes the ground directly, they may suffer broken bones, severe head injuries, and even paralysis, depending on the circumstances.
Property owners have a duty to maintain their premises in a reasonably safe condition for the benefit of property visitors. If you slipped and fell on property belonging to someone else, you may recover monetary compensation from the property owner's insurance company for your injuries and damages.
After seeking prompt medical treatment for your injuries, speak with an experienced California slip and fall attorney who can pursue the full monetary recovery you deserve for your slip and fall injuries.
At Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos, we can help you pursue the full monetary recovery for your slip and fall injuries and other losses. In addition to seeking monetary damages for your medical expenses and lost earnings, we can recover additional compensation for all your pain, suffering, and inconvenience.
Let our experienced legal team help you recover the favorable settlement or litigation compensation you need and deserve for your injuries.
For a free case evaluation and legal consultation with our experienced California slip and fall lawyers, please contact our legal team directly to learn more.
- Why Hire Us to Help with Your Slip and Fall Case?
- How Much Is My California Slip and Fall Case Worth?
- Where Do Slips and Falls Frequently Happen in California?
- Common Causes of Slip and Fall Accidents in California
- Slip and Fall Accident Injuries
- Fighting the Insurance Company After a California Slip and Fall
- What to Do After a California Slip and Fall Accident
- Contact Our Experienced California Slip and Fall Accident Attorneys Right Away
Why Hire Us to Help with Your Slip and Fall Case?
When obtaining a favorable settlement offer or litigation result in your slip and fall accident case, you need the right legal team representing you and advocating for your legal interests.
At Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos, our experienced and aggressive team of attorneys has a strong track record of obtaining favorable settlement results for our clients. Unlike many personal injury firms, though, we are not afraid to litigate cases in the court system and take them to a civil jury trial or binding arbitration proceeding.
Let us help you secure the monetary recovery you deserve for your slip and fall accident injuries so that you become whole again to the greatest extent possible.
How Much Is My California Slip and Fall Case Worth?
The ultimate settlement or verdict value of a California slip and fall case depends primarily upon the case itself and the surrounding circumstances.
Factors that may influence the types and amounts of monetary damages that a slip and fall accident victim may recover include
- The accident location
- The accident circumstances
- The specific injury or injuries the accident victim suffered
- The medical treatment that the accident victim underwent
- The cost of their medical treatment
- Whether the accident victim suffered a permanent injury or injuries
- Whether the accident victim had to miss time from work or accept a lower paying job because of their injuries
First, accident victims can recover monetary damages for medical expenses related to their slip and fall injuries. In addition, if a medical provider determines, based upon a reasonable degree of medical probability, that the accident victim suffered a permanent injury, they may be eligible to recover anticipated medical costs.
Those costs may include the related expense of surgery or physical therapy treatments at some point in the future.
In addition, if the accident victim had to miss time from work, they may be eligible to recover their lost income. If they had to switch to a lower-paying job, they can bring a successful claim for loss of earning capacity.
Besides these out-of-pocket losses, slip and fall accident victims can recover monetary compensation for mental distress, emotional anguish, inconvenience, pain and suffering, loss of the ability to use a body part, loss of feeling or sensation, loss of life enjoyment, loss of spousal consortium, permanent disability or disfigurement, and lifetime care costs.
Our skilled legal team can use our past case experiences to estimate the total value of your slip and fall accident case.
We can also use that information to help you decide whether you should accept a pending settlement offer from the property owner's insurance company or reject that offer and consider litigating your case in court. Our team will stand by your side every step of the way and can help you make intelligent, informed decisions about your case.
Where Do Slips and Falls Frequently Happen in California?
In California, slip and fall accidents can occur just about anywhere, both indoors and outdoors. Indoor slip and fall accidents are common at local grocery stores, shopping malls, and restaurants, where food and liquid tend to spill onto the floor. When that happens, property visitors may encounter a significant fall hazard.
Outdoor slip and fall accidents are common on driveways, sidewalks, and in parking lots and garages. These accidents typically happen when property owners fail to maintain the exterior parts of their premises, such as by failing to repair concrete cracks and spalling within a reasonable amount of time.
If you suffered injuries in a slip and fall accident in one of these locations, you have legal options available. Our legal team can contact the property owner about the incident and send them a spoliation letter.
Upon receipt of this letter, the property owner must not attempt to destroy evidence by repairing or correcting the defective condition. In addition, we can assist you during all negotiations with the property owner's insurance company and pursue the favorable settlement compensation you need for your slip and fall injuries.
Common Causes of Slip and Fall Accidents in California
Slip and fall accidents in California frequently happen when property owners fail to maintain their premises in a safe condition for the benefit of visitors. Further, most property owners have a duty to promptly warn about or correct known hazardous conditions on their premises, such as spills on the floor or concrete defects outside their premises.
In addition, if the property is open to the public for business, the premises owner likely has a duty to inspect the property for unknown dangerous conditions. If the property owner comes across a defect during this inspection, they are responsible for promptly warning about or correcting that defect.
Property owners violating this legal duty of care may cause a slip and fall accident on their promises. For an accident victim to recover monetary compensation in a slip and fall accident case, they must satisfy several legal elements of proof.
First, they must demonstrate that the property owner owed them a legal duty of care they subsequently violated. The accident victim must also show that as a direct result of the property owner's negligence, the slip and fall accident occurred, in turn leading to their physical injuries and damages.
To establish these legal elements of proof, our experienced team can retain one or more experts who can testify in your case. For example, an accident reconstructionist can visit the scene of your slip and fall accident, review incident reports, speak with witnesses, and draft a statement about their own findings and conclusions.
An expert accident reconstructionist can also testify at a civil jury trial in your case.
In addition, we can retain a medical provider who can establish the causal relationship between your slip and fall accident and the subsequent injuries you suffered. They can also opine that you suffered one or more permanent injuries in your slip and fall accident.
Slip and Fall Accident Injuries
Victims of slip and fall accidents often stand to suffer severe injuries. This is especially true if they fall on the ground with significant force and land on their head, neck, or back.
The injuries that a slip and fall accident victim suffers will likely depend upon various circumstances, including how they fall to the ground, the body part(s) that they strike on the ground, and the type of surface they fall on.
Slip and fall injuries typically include:
- Traumatic head and brain injuries
- Spinal cord injuries
- Full or partial paralysis
- Broken bones
- Open cuts and lacerations
- Bruises
Accident victims who don’t suffer a broken bone may suffer one or more soft tissue injuries.
If you suffered any of these injuries in your accident, you must follow through with any recommended medical treatment. While you finish your medical treatment regimen, our legal team can begin assembling essential documents in your case, including incident reports, medical records, medical bills, and photographs of the incident scene.
After you complete your medical treatment, we can submit these documents to the property owner's insurance company on your behalf and begin pursuing the settlement compensation you need.
Fighting the Insurance Company After a California Slip and Fall
Dealing with the insurance company on your own following a slip and fall occurrence can be an uphill battle. This is because insurance companies are your direct adversary, and despite what they say in their advertisements, they are not in the business of helping accident victims or providing them with favorable monetary compensation after their accidents.
Instead, insurance companies want to try and save themselves as much money as possible by offering very little financial compensation to accident victims.
Some insurance companies may go so far as to deny the slip and fall accident victim's claim or allege that the accident victim somehow contributed to the fall, such as by wearing inappropriate footwear or not watching where they were going.
The experienced California slip and fall attorneys at Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos can help you fight against the insurance company. Our experienced legal team members can aggressively fight for your legal rights by highlighting the strength of your case, including pertinent evidence, medical records, and other documents.
Furthermore, if the insurance company still does not make you a favorable settlement offer in your case, we can threaten the insurance company with litigation in the California court system.
Given our significant experience, we can let you know whether a particular settlement offer is reasonable, given the facts and circumstances of your slip and fall case, and whether you should consider accepting that offer.
What to Do After a California Slip and Fall Accident
Following a slip and fall accident in California, there are specific steps that you should always take.
First, you should make sure that you follow through on all recommended medical care and treatment. Depending on your injuries, you may need to consult a primary care physician or a medical specialist (such as an orthopedic doctor) or attend ongoing physical therapy sessions following a medical procedure.
Completing this medical treatment helps to show the insurance company that you took your injury seriously and that you did, in fact, suffer severe injuries in your slip and fall accident. That way, the insurance company is more likely to offer you the actual compensation you deserve.
You should also gather and retain all critical documents in your case. Those documents may include witness statements, witness contact information, incident reports, medical records, medical bills, photographs of your injuries, and photographs of the incident scene.
Once you retain our legal team, we can assemble those documents into a settlement demand package and forward it to the property owner's insurance company on your behalf. We can then pursue the settlement or litigation compensation you deserve for your injuries.
Contact Our Experienced California Slip and Fall Accident Attorneys Right Away
If you sustained injuries in a recent California slip and fall accident, time is of the essence. Not only does the law provide deadlines for lawsuits, but evidence can quickly disappear if you wait too long to begin the legal process. Get medical attention and then never wait to seek a legal consultation.
At Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos, we can begin representing you right away by investigating your slip and fall accident circumstances, handling all communications with insurance company representatives, and pursuing the monetary recovery you deserve.
For a free case evaluation and consultation with our experienced California slip and fall lawyers, please call us at (650) 345-8484 or contact us online.
GALINE, FRYE, FITTING & FRANGOS, LLP - SAN MATEO OFFICE
Address: 411 Borel Ave #500, San Mateo, CA 94402
Phone: (650) 419-0473
Fax: (805)-617-1365