Who Is Liable In A Sidewalk Slip And Fall Accident?

Were You Hurt After Tripping and Falling on a Defective Sidewalk? Call Us Today

If you are walking around Los Angeles and slip and fall on a public sidewalk, you almost certainly sustained injuries that may be more serious than you think. Because of this, you should examine the possibility of filing a personal injury lawsuit to gain compensation following the accident. However, along the way you’ll have to find out if negligence caused your accident and who may be guilty of that negligence. Should you be injured on someone else’s property in Los Angeles and need answers to your questions, discuss your accident with a Los Angeles personal injury attorney from Grey Law.

No Negligence, No Liability

To win your slip and fall case that took place on a public sidewalk, you will need to have evidence proving the property owner or municipality did something wrong that caused you to slip and fall. While this initially sounds easy, it can be more difficult than you think. To begin with, you and your premises liability attorney will need to show the sidewalk in question was in an unsafe condition as would be determined by a reasonable person. Along with this, your property injury lawyer Los Angeles victims trust from Grey Law must also show that the property owner knew the sidewalk was unsafe and failed to correct the problem. Since the property owner, be it a municipality or otherwise, will do everything possible to show the accident was your fault, let attorneys for premises liability claims from Grey Law use their experience to get you maximum compensation after your accident.

Who is Liable for Public Sidewalk Slip and Fall Accidents?

When trying to prove liability after slipping and falling on a public sidewalk, state laws and even a homeowner’s deed may hold the information needed as to who would be considered accountable for slip and fall injuries liability. For example, some laws will place the burden of upkeep on the municipality, while others may consider the homeowner primarily responsible for the sidewalk’s condition. In some instances, both a homeowner and municipality may share responsibility for the sidewalk. Yet no matter the situation and how confusing it may be to you, never allow those who were negligent, careless, and responsible for your accident walk away without being held accountable for what transpired. Instead, when you are injured on someone else’s property in Los Angeles, let Grey Law and its attorneys for premises liability claims go to work for you and win your case.

Special Rules for Municipalities

If the sidewalk where you slipped and fell is found to be the responsibility of a municipality, special rules may apply regarding the municipality in these situations. To begin with, almost all states have extremely strict time frames and notification deadlines for those victims who may be planning to sue a municipality after a slip and fall accident. Also, should you pursue a lawsuit and emerge victorious, the state will likely have a limit capping the amount of compensation you can receive for your injuries. Therefore, since time may be of the essence in these cases, don’t take an extraordinarily long amount of time deciding what to do next. Instead, make immediate plans to contact Grey Law, a property injury lawyer Los Angeles victims trust to know the law in these complex accident situations.

What are the Deadlines and Financial Limitations?

As for the deadlines you may face when filing your personal injury lawsuit after a sidewalk slip and fall accident, you may have as little as 30 days to notify the city department responsible for sidewalk upkeep that you are preparing to file a claim against the city. When making this notification, it is vital you be very specific as to what happened, where your accident took place, when it occurred, and other pertinent facts that could determine the success or failure of your case. Also, you will need to be sure you are aware of the statute of limitations that exists regarding how long you have to file a claim against the municipality. As for financial limitations in these cases, some laws cap the damages victims can gain at less than $100,000. To ensure you don’t allow a lack of information result in you missing a deadline and the chance to be compensated for your injuries, schedule a meeting as quickly as possible after your accident with a premises liability attorney from Grey Law.

How to Prove Liability

Once you have filed a lawsuit against a property owner or municipality for your slip and fall accident, you and your Los Angeles injury lawyer from Grey Law must then set out to prove liability on the part of the property owner that will allow you to win your case. To begin with, you should always document the scene immediately after your accident. If you can, use your cellphone to take photos or videos of the scene, since a picture is often worth a thousand words in these cases. This is critical, since a city may send workers out to repair the sidewalk soon after your accident. If this happens and you have no documentation of how the sidewalk was prior to your accident, you will have a much harder time winning your case. In some instances when you are injured on someone else’s property in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles injury lawyer you hire from Grey Law may uncover additional complaints about that sidewalk from years past. Should this occur, this can show a pattern of negligence on the part of the city, which could significantly strengthen your case.

No matter whether it is a homeowner or city that is responsible for a sidewalk’s upkeep, you as an accident victim deserve to be compensated for injuries that occurred only due to the negligence of others. If you are now dealing with serious injuries from your accident and are in need of compensation to pay your medical bills and give you money to replace lost wages, contact Grey Law today and meet with a premises liability attorney.