26+ Years of Experience as a Slip and Fall Attorney Serving Moreno Valley

Thousands are injured in California every year by tripping or slipping and falling on damp or otherwise hazardous floors, carpets, stairs, sidewalks, and parking lots. If you are one of the victims, arrange now to speak with a Moreno Valley slip-and-fall lawyer at The Paris Firm.

You may be surprised to learn that slip-and-fall accidents, rather than traffic collisions, are the number one reason for spinal cord injuries in the United States. If you are injured in a slip-and-fall incident on another party’s property, you may qualify to recover damages.

In California, if you trip or slip and fall on someone else’s property because the property owner was negligent, and you’re injured, you may be able, with an attorney’s help, to recover compensation for medical costs and other losses arising from the accident and injury.

How Does a Slip-and-Fall Injury Claim Work?

Prevailing with a premises liability claim against a California property owner isn’t easy, even if you have obviously been injured. Property owners are not liable for every conceivable injury that may occur on their premises. Everyone is obligated to stay alert and aware of their surroundings.

But a premises liability lawsuit arising from a slip-and-fall accident claims that the accident and injury could have been prevented if the property owner had taken responsibility for keeping the property safe.

What Does the Law Provide?

Under California law, a property owner must take reasonable steps to keep a property free from hazardous conditions. Lawmakers try to balance a property owner’s obligation to keep properties reasonably hazard-free with a visitor’s own responsibility to stay aware and alert.

Building codes in Riverside County are comprehensive and strict. If you are injured in a slip-and-fall incident, and if the property owner was not in compliance with the building codes, your injury claim against the owner is more likely to prevail due to the code violations.

How Do You Prevail With a Slip-and-Fall Injury Claim?

To recover damages from negligent California property owners, slip-and-fall victims (or “plaintiffs”) and their personal injury attorneys must show that one or more of these conditions applied when a slip-and-fall accident and injury happened:

A reasonable property owner or manager should and would have known of the hazard on the property and would have had it repaired.

The property owner or the manager knew of the hazard but ignored or refused to repair it.

The property owner or manager caused or created the hazard.

Many property owners in the Moreno Valley area may not know the specifics of the law, but they know that California laws obligate them to keep their properties in a reasonably safe, hazard-free condition.

What Causes Slip-and-Fall Incidents?

If you own a business property, a rental property, or another private property that offers public access, you must ensure that your sidewalks and pavements are even, that carpets and rugs stay flat, and that any leaks, spills, slush, or rainwater are cleaned up immediately.

The causes of slip-and-fall accidents include, but are not limited to:

wet, slick, and freshly-waxed floors
objects and clutter that obstruct aisles, hallways, and walkways
rugs, floor mats, and doormats that are curled or torn
damaged, aging, or uneven stairs
unlit or poorly-lit walkways, parking garages, and parking lots

What’s Reasonable?

You may hear the word “reasonable” used frequently in discussions about California premises liability law. Property owners are not expected to immediately repair or clean up every potential hazard, but they must take reasonable steps to keep properties safe.

A property owner is not responsible for your fall if you weren’t looking where you were going. Should you stumble into a neighbor’s barbecue pit or swimming pool because you were distracted by your smartphone (or some other distraction), the neighbor cannot be held liable.

What Should You Do After You Fall?

Seek medical attention at once if you slip, fall, and sustain an injury. Even if you feel healthy, have an exam immediately in case your injury is latent or difficult to detect. This cannot be emphasized strongly enough. You’ll need the exam results if you file a slip-and-fall injury claim.

In the Moreno Valley area, if a slip-and-fall on private property injures you, after you’ve been treated for the injury, schedule a consultation at once to discuss your case and your right to compensation with a Moreno Valley slip-and-fall attorney at The Paris Firm.

How Do Property Owners Defend Against Injury Claims?

If you file a claim against a California property owner after a slip-and-fall injury, the owner may try to transfer the blame for the injury to you by putting forth one or more of these defenses:

You were not paying attention to your surroundings.
You were in a restricted or no-trespassing area.
You were barefoot or wearing unsafe footwear.
Warning signs and yellow cones were provided to inform visitors of the hazard.
The hazard was obvious to an average, reasonable person.

How is a Slip-and-Fall Case Resolved?

A Moreno Valley slip-and-fall lawyer at The Paris Firm can negotiate for you with the property owner and with the owner’s lawyer and insurance company. Do not speak to those parties or accept a settlement offer before you’ve consulted The Paris Firm.

Most slip-and-fall cases are settled in private, out-of-court negotiations, where the attorneys for both sides meet and work out an agreement acceptable to all parties. Most slip-and-fall victims never have to make a courtroom appearance.

But if your injury claim is disputed or if no acceptable settlement amount is offered, your lawyer can take your case to trial and explain to a jury why the property owner should be ordered to compensate you for your medical bills and related losses.

What About Falls on Public Property?

When a governmental body or agency fails to maintain a specific public property and is named as a defendant in a slip-and-fall injury claim, it can be difficult to recover compensation. A Moreno Valley slip-and-fall attorney at The Paris Firm can help you.

Local, state, and federal governments are usually protected from personal injury lawsuits by “sovereign immunity,” the legal principle that exempts governments from liability. Lawmakers in California have spelled out several exceptions to the sovereign immunity principle.

One of those exceptions gives you the right to bring a personal injury claim if a slip-and-fall accident happens on poorly maintained public property. If you’re injured tripping on a cracked public sidewalk or a curled-up carpet in a public library, you have the right to take legal action.

What Should You Know if You Sue a Government Agency?

Before you can file a slip-and-fall claim against a government agency, within six months of the injury date, you must submit to the agency a notice of your intent to sue, and that notice must meet the requirements of the California Tort Claims Act.

A slip-and-fall lawyer at The Paris Firm can ensure that your notice meets the legal requirements. By completing and submitting a notice of your intent to sue, you are giving the government an opportunity:

to settle with you before you formally file a personal injury lawsuit
to investigate your slip-and-fall claim and prepare a defense
to remedy the situation that led to your injury and claim

After filing your notice, the government has 45 days to respond. Do not accept a settlement offer before you’ve discussed it with your personal injury attorney. If the government agency disputes your injury claim, you will be notified in writing, and you may move forward with your lawsuit.

What Do You Have to Prove?

In negotiations or at a personal injury trial, prevailing with a slip-and-fall claim usually requires you and your attorney to prove these three “elements” of your claim:

The “defendant” (the property owner) owed you (the plaintiff) a “duty of care.”
The defendant’s negligence breached that duty.
The breach and negligence were the direct causes of your slip-and-fall injury.

Homeowners owe guests a simple duty of care to keep their properties reasonably safe and to inform visitors of known hazards. Businesses have a more demanding duty. You can warn visitors to your home about a cracked sidewalk, but one at a business requires immediate action.

How Do Property Owners Breach the Duty of Care?

Several of the ways a property owner may breach the duty of care include a failure to:

keep areas where the public has access reasonably free of debris and hazards
quickly mop up spills at a restaurant or supermarket
keep children from entering a swimming pool area
warn visitors about an aggressive dog

Merely proving that a property owner breached the duty of care is not enough to recover compensation. You and your attorney also must show how the breach was a direct cause of your slip-and-fall injury.

If You Fall at Work

If you suffer a fall injury on the job, you probably cannot file a personal injury lawsuit against your employer, but you likely qualify to receive workers’ compensation benefits.

In California, workers’ compensation covers the medical expenses arising from on-the-job injuries. It partially compensates injured workers for lost earnings while protecting employers from personal injury lawsuits. If you sustain a fall injury at work:

Seek or call for medical assistance immediately.
Report the injury to your employer promptly.
Seek advice from a premises liability lawyer at The Paris Firm.

Employers may only be sued for injuries if their negligence was egregious or intentional, but third parties responsible for workplace injuries (such as an equipment manufacturer) may be sued for damages. The Paris Firm can help you determine if you qualify to file a job-related injury claim.

Choosing the Right Attorney

With so many personal injury attorneys in Southern California, how can you choose an attorney with the experience and skills to win justice on your behalf? When you first meet with an attorney about a slip-and-fall injury, ask these questions:

How many slip-and-fall cases have you handled?
How many have you taken to trial?
What were the results?
Can you furnish references from former clients?
What is your fee, and how does payment work?

Your attorney needs to be someone you like and are comfortable with, because you may be working together for several months, and in some cases, even longer.

When Should You Call The Paris Firm?

California imposes a two-year statute of limitations in most personal injury cases. That deadline may be extended only if the injury victim was a minor, the injury was originally latent and undetected, or the defendant travels outside California.

But you can’t wait two years before you speak to a lawyer (or six months if your claim is against a government agency). Your lawyer should be able to review any physical evidence before it disappears or deteriorates and question witnesses while their memories of the incident are fresh.

Immediately after a medical provider examines and treats your slip-and-fall injury, call 909-325-6185 to schedule a consultation with a Moreno Valley personal injury lawyer at The Paris Firm. If you’re injured, your first legal consultation is free.

Meet The Paris Firm

For more than 26 years, Moreno Valley attorney Eric Paris has represented the injured victims of negligence in Moreno Valley and throughout Riverside County. At The Paris Firm, he leads an experienced legal team that provides outstanding client service.

The Paris Law Firm has considerable experience negotiating with insurance companies. We understand their negotiating tactics and goals. If an insurance company will not negotiate in good faith, your case may go before a jury, where attorney Eric Paris can advocate vigorously and effectively on your behalf.

Learn more about your rights as a slip-and-fall injury victim or launch the legal process now by calling The Paris Firm at 909-325-6185 to schedule a consultation. You will owe The Paris Firm no lawyer’s fee unless and until we win your compensation with a settlement or a jury verdict.