Every business owner owes a duty to the public to keep both the inside and outside of their property in a reasonably safe condition so that members of the public do not suffer harm as a result of entering onto the property, However, too often, individuals who slip and fall in a business establishment immediately pick themselves up, brush themselves off and tell any bystanders (i.e. witnesses) that they are "OK". After all, it is embarrassing. The person then walks away - happy to leave the scene of such embarrassment and hoping that no one they know saw such a humiliating event. Moreover, people often think it was their own fault that they fell. However, when that person gets home or maybe the next morning, they realize that they are in pain and have suffered an injury as a result of the fall. They may take a couple of Tylenol or Advil and hope the "soreness" goes away. They may call in sick to work, hoping a day of rest will resolve their discomfort. A couple of days later, the individual realizes that the soreness or discomfort they are feeling is not subsiding, and (in many instances) seems to be getting worse. Only then, often many days after the accident, does an injured victim seek medical attention. And yet, even then, many of these individuals seek medical care with their family doctor who is usually ill equipped to deal with such traumatically induced injuries. Oftentimes, a family doctor will prescribe analgesics, and perhaps a muscle relaxant, along with bed rest for such injuries. Unfortunately, time and again such victims discover that their injuries are far more significant, possibly permanent and will require extensive (and expensive) medical care, including possible surgical intervention. It is at this point that many such individuals seek legal advice from an attorney. Unfortunately, in the foregoing scenario, there may be little an attorney can do to help such an injured victim due to the lack of needed evidence.

What is the required evidence and where do you get it?

1. What caused you to fall?

The first thing that must be known by an injured victim is what caused them to fall. Specifically, what was it on the floor, or walkway, that caused the individual to trip or slip? Without this key piece of information, there can be no recovery. After all, if one cannot demonstrate that the owner was responsible for the condition that caused the accident, the owner cannot be held liable for any injuries that resulted from that condition. Thus, without knowing what caused the fall, there will be no legal responsibility on the part of the business owner. It is imperative that victims of such an accident take note of what caused them to fall. Without such information there will be no way for an attorney to establish the victim's right to recovery.

2. The "source" question.

The second thing that the victim must know in order to recover for his injuries could be called the "source" question. To state it simply, it must be determined what the source of the substance causing the fall was - was the source left there by (a) the business owner or the business owner's employees, or (b) any third person (i.e. another customer)? The reason it is so important to know whether or not the source of the dangerous condition on the floor was caused by the business owner or his employees is because of the legal concept of "Notice". If a business owner or his employees are responsible for the cause of the fall, the victim does not need to prove "notice" in order to recover for his injuries.

3. Proving Notice.

If a third party, such as another customer, is responsible for the cause of the accident, "notice" is required in order for a victim to recovery for his injuries. To prove "notice" means to prove that there was an awareness of the condition that caused the fall but that the business owner did nothing or not enough to correct it. There are two types of notice -- "actual" notice and "constructive" notice. Actual notice means that the victim must demonstrate (or prove) that the owner was actually informed of the hazardous condition prior to the accident yet took no steps to correct the condition. This requires direct evidence that is often extremely difficult to obtain. Constructive notice is more commonly relied upon by injured victims. It requires proof that the hazardous condition existed for a time period that was long enough that the owner should have discovered it through the exercise of reasonable inspection of his premises. Thus, the failure to correct a condition that he could be charged with knowledge of may be considered negligence. Once again, this may require difficult circumstantial proof issues depending upon the substance that caused the accident. However, given the right evidence, it is often an issue that is submitted to a jury to determine.

SIDEWALKS, STREETS AND PARKING LOTS
Many fall down accidents occur on sidewalks, streets and parking lots. These types of accidents give rise to a whole different set of issues.

1. Defective Streets or Roadway Surfaces.

If a person is caused to fall because, for example, of a crack in the sidewalk, a hole in the street or a chewed up parking lot, notice will often not be an issue. In many of these instances constructive notice will be assumed because defects such as these do not happen overnight, but generally degenerate into these conditions over a substantial length of time. In those instances the landowner is charged with notice.

It is extremely important, once again, to determine exactly what caused you to fall and now to precisely pinpoint its location. (A difference of six inches can determine which landowner may be liable!) Unlike interior falls, defects such as these are generally not repaired immediately and can be photographed. The exact location will be important when determining ownership of the property. Homeowners in Pennsylvania are charged with the duty of maintaining their sidewalks in a safe and orderly condition. In some urban areas (e.g., Philadelphia), the city government is secondarily liable for maintaining the sidewalks.

2. Governmental Entitles.

Whenever a person falls on a sidewalk or in a street, it brings into play the question of who owns and is obligated to maintain that particular street - the Commonwealth or the local governmental agency. Some Pennsylvania roadways are state highways, and therefore, you would think that responsibility for maintaining that street falls on the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or more specifically, its agency, Penn DOT. However, this is not necessarily the case because cities in Pennsylvania have contracted with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to provide the maintenance on those state highways. Depending upon the answer to that question, there are a whole set of requirements that one must meet in order to recover for injuries suffered, since the government is immune from suit except in a carefully delineated set of circumstances all of which are spelled out in the Pennsylvania statutes.

3. Dangerous Surfaces Caused by Snow and Ice.

In inclement weather, one cannot recover for slipping on precipitation (i.e., ice and snow) that has only recently fallen or frozen over. This again, goes back to the issue of "notice." An owner must be afforded a reasonable length of time to clear his property of the ice and snow. In Pennsylvania, this legal concept has come to be known as the "hills and rides" doctrine. In its simplest terms, the "hills and ridges" doctrine holds that the ice and snow that cause the accident must be shown to have been there for a long enough period of time that it exhibits a rough, uneven surface "hills and ridges" because that means that the precipitation had enough time to melt and refreeze. Of course, this is not a hard and fast rule, if one can demonstrate that the ice has been there for an inordinate amount of time, despite being smooth in appearance.

STEPS TO TAKE IF YOU HAVE BEEN IN A SLIP & FALL ACCIDENT.
1. Take note of what caused you to fall and its general appearance.

It is crucial for any slip and fall case that you be able to establish what made you fall. Whether it is a defect in the pavement, or ice, or extraneous man-made material, you need to be able to describe what made you fall. Any additional details you can supply will add to the possibility of a meritorious case, because you will have to establish how long the defective condition existed prior to your accident, in order to prove that someone with responsibility for the area should have repaired the situation or warned people such as yourself before your injury occurred.

2. Get the names and possibly the phone numbers of anyone who saw you fall (especially any store employees).

Witnesses are extremely important in slip and fall accidents for one reason - without witnesses, the ultimate trier of fact will have only your description of what happened, and you (no matter who you are) will have less than perfect credibility with the trier of the fact because you stand to gain personally from your testimony.

3. Notify the property or store owner of the fall and insist that a written report be filled out.

Just as witnesses are important, it is important that there be a written report contemporaneous with the incident. This is less important in terms of trier of the fact than it is for the insurance company, which will be the first line of people evaluating your case. Insurance adjusters are very unlikely to be willing to take your story seriously if it is not corroborated by some internal documentation from their insured - i.e., the property or store owner.

4. If at all possible, get pictures and a sample of the substance that caused the fall.

In many instances, it is necessary to have an expert evaluate what made you fall in order to establish the property or store owner's liability. In such cases, you want the expert to have as much information as possible about what made you fall.

5. Get medical treatment as soon as possible.

If you have been injured in a slip and fall accident, go to an emergency room to have an emergency room physician perform a physical examination. Often, a person who is in an accident is in a state of shock, and is not aware of the severity of their injuries. As a result, it is quite common for people to feel only minimal pain right after the accident, only to wake up the next morning with pain so severe they find it difficult to get out of bed.

6. Follow up with any medical treatment that is recommended for you.

Very often, the emergency room doctor will take x-rays and if they show that nothing is fractured, release you with some pain prescriptions, medical devices, and a recommendation that you seek follow up treatment within one day to one week with your family doctor. Make the appointment as soon as you get home from the hospital. If you do not have a family doctor, find a doctor who specializes in physical injuries to accident victims and make an appointment with that doctor.

7. Tell your doctors every place you are hurting.

You must be careful to tell any doctor who treats you every part of your body that is hurting you, so that the information becomes part of your medical records. Very often, if one part of the body is hurting the very most, a person will only mention that part of the body to the doctor. Only months later, after the problem with that part of the body has been addressed and they are feeling better, the person will mention that a different part of the body hurts. It is very difficult to persuade an insurance company that the injuries to the parts of the body that are not mentioned in medical records until months after the accident were caused by the accident.

8. Get a doctor's disability note for any time off from work.

If you need to take time off of work because you cannot perform the duties of your job as a result of your injuries, make sure that your doctor prepares a disability slip and notes in his records that he has placed you on disability, and bring or send the slip to your employer. Any earnings that are lost, whether through actual deductions of your pay or through the use of vacation or sick time, are recoverable, but only if they have been documented in the medical records and the employment records.

9. Ask a family member to take photos of your injuries and the scene of the accident.

Take photos of all of your injuries a few days after the accident, which is when the bruising may be more visible. Also, take photos of the scene of the accident. The photos of your injuries will prove to be extremely valuable when you try to settle your claim, because they will be the best proof possible of the damage you suffered as a result of the accident. The photos of the scene of the accident may be important for purposes of reconstructing how the accident happened some time later on, when the scene is very likely to have changed.

10. Consult with an attorney who specializes in premises liability cases as soon as possible.

Depending upon the jurisdiction, you may have one or two or even three years after you fall to bring suit for your injuries. However, when it comes to slip and fall cases, you have very little time to consult with an attorney who can give you the best chances of succeeding in any case you may wish to bring. The reason is simple - loss of crucial evidence. Any attorney who specializes in premises liability cases will agree that preservation of evidence is crucial in these cases, and that much care must be exercised early on in trying to secure whatever evidence is available to maximize the chances of proving the property or store owner's liability. This will most certainly involve one or more visits to the site by investigators and experts, as well as securing statements from witnesses.

If you believe that you have been seriously injured due to the negligence of another in maintaining their property, please call us at (610) 664-6081 or e-mail a completed General Case Inquiry form to us. Once we have had a chance to review your submission, we will contact you and will provide you with a confidential consultation at no charge.

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