Long Beach Slip and Fall Lawyers

In Southern California, the city of Long Beach is second in size only to Los Angeles. With a population of more than 450,000, the city can get very crowded at times. Crowded areas, which mean that many people are moving around, can often result in accidents. Some of those accidents are known as slips and falls.

A slip and fall accident may occur when a store or hotel or even a mall fails to maintain its property in a safe manner. If someone is injured because of that failure, it is known as a slip and fall accident, and the person who is injured has rights and options as part of what is known as a premises liability personal injury action. Our experienced Long Beach slip and fall lawyers can help secure your rights and win you compensation for your injuries.

Who is Liable For My Slip and Fall Injury?

Thousands of people are injured each year in the United States as a result of slip and fall accidents. Who is responsible when these accidents occur? Many times, the fault lies with the property or store owner; sometimes, however, it does not. A fall is not always caused by negligence.

Sometimes people are just careless about where they are walking and what they are walking into. For instance, a person may be injured by falling over a storm drain. However, storm drains are put there for a purpose and people are expected to be careful about walking around them.

On the other hand, property owners have a responsibility to make their property reasonably safe and accessible. That is the important consideration that our Long Beach slip and fall attorneys use to decide fault in many slip and fall accidents. Did the property owner act in a reasonable manner to ensure safety for customers, or was the customer the one at fault for being careless and not paying attention to where he or she was walking?

Proving Property Owner Negligence

To hold a property owner liable for paying damages for the injuries you sustained during a slip and fall, you must prove they were negligent. The four elements you must prove when establishing negligence are as follows:

• The defendant owned, controlled, leased, or occupied the premises,
• The defendant was negligent in the maintenance of use of the premises,
• You suffered injuries or other losses during a slip and fall accident on the premises, and 
• There was a direct link between the defendant’s negligence and the hazardous condition that caused harm

Proving a property owner, tenant, or another person who controlled the property was negligent is not easy. A hazardous condition is not enough to show that the property owner was negligent. You must also establish that the property owner knew, or should have known, about the dangerous condition. You must then show that the defendant did not take the necessary steps to correct the dangerous condition, or that they did not attempt to warn about the hazard.

Important Evidence in Slip and Fall Claims

When proving negligence, it is critical that you have strong evidence to back up your claims so you can recover the full compensation you deserve. Some of the most important evidence in these cases includes:

• Any medical documentation, such as diagnoses and treatment notes that show the nature and severity of your injuries
• Photos and video footage from the accident scene
• Statements from eyewitnesses
• Expert witness statements, such as those from accident reconstruction experts
• Pay stubs that can prove lost income, benefits, bonuses, sick pay, and vacation pay

It is important to work with a Long Beach slip and fall lawyer who has the necessary resources to support the evidence in your case. For example, a Long Beach slip and fall lawyer should have a network of resources, such as connections to expert witnesses, as well as investigators and former investigators who know what evidence to find, and how to find them, so you can claim the full and fair settlement you are entitled to.

Conditions That Caused Your Slip and Fall Accident

There are many conditions where a property owner may be judged guilty of causing a slip and fall injury, such as:

• holes in the road or parking lot that have not been fixed
• spills in a store or mall that have not been properly cleaned
• products that may have fallen off a shelf and have not been picked up
• defective stairs

If you have been injured as a result of any of these or other conditions on private or public property, exercise your right to compensation by calling our slip and fall lawyers in Long Beach. We are dedicated to protecting accident victims, and we will schedule a free initial consultation to begin the process of making sure your rights are protected.

Time Limit on Slip and Fall Claims

Of all the many requirements placed on personal injury claims, the statute of limitations is one of the most important. The statute of limitations is the time limit to file your claim. In Long Beach, as throughout the rest of California, you have only two years from the date of the accident. If you do not file your claim within this time, you will likely lose your right to claim any damages at all. There are some exceptions to the statute of limitations, but they are limited. The exceptions are as follows:

• The accident victim was under the age of 18 years old and therefore did not have the legal capacity to file a claim on their own. The statute of limitations in these cases is two years from the accident victim’s 18th birthday.
• The injuries sustained were not discovered on the date of the accident. In these cases, the statute of limitations starts on the day the injuries were discovered, or the day they should have been discovered.
• The defendant left the state for a significant period of time.

It is important to speak to a Long Beach slip and fall lawyer who can advise on the specific facts of your case and inform you of how long you have to file a claim.

We Are Here to Help

If a slip and fall accident happens to you, make the call to us as soon as possible. It is important to inspect the area of your accident before the evidence has been destroyed or erased. We want to make sure that your health care needs are well covered and that you receive compensation for injuries including pain and suffering and possible lost wages.

After a slip and fall accident, you may need rehabilitation or aid in getting work or other assistance that can help to get your daily life back to normal. We are dedicated to getting the compensation that is needed to cover your expenses as a result of the slip and fall accident.

Our slip and fall accident and injury attorneys in Long Beach have experience with the slip and fall injuries that occur in the area. We will review your case to make sure there is reason to believe that the property owner was negligent in some way. We will discuss any claims that might be asserted as to your own carelessness, with the aim of bringing you justice and victory in your slip and fall accident case.

Don’t let such an accident bring you further harm.  Contact El Dabe Ritter Trial Lawyers now for help with your slip and fall injury claim!

Call us today!