Slip And Fall Premise Liability Injuries

Many people are shocked to discover how often people are seriously injured in slip and fall accidents as well as how expensive these injuries can be. Slip and falls are one of the biggest aspects of premise liability lawsuits.

Slips and fall premise liability cases can happen out on the street, at work, in a store, at a construction site, or even on private property.

Slip and Fall Statistics
Here are statistics about slip and falls:

• Over one million people in the United States experience a significant slip, trip, or fall each year.
• An average of 17,000 Americans die from their slip and fall accidents
• A death from an on-the-job slip and fall is estimated to cost an average of $940,000 - on top of the victim's family's loss and trauma.
• Slips and falls are the single most common reason for visits to the emergency room.
• The average cost of a slip and fall injury is $28,000, including medical bills, physical therapy, and missed wages.
• Slips and falls are the number two cause of accident death and disability, following behind automobile accidents.
• Seventy percent of slips and falls occur on level ground.
• Trip and fall injuries cost the US $36 billion each year.
• Slip and fall accidents kill more workers than all other on-the-job fatalities combined.
• 55 percent of those over 40 have suffered a debilitating slip and fall accident during their lifetimes..

Determining Liability for Slip and Fall
To prove someone is liable for your injury from a slip and fall, a premise liability lawyer must prove one of the following:

• The owner of the premises or an employee must have caused the spill, worn or torn spot, or other slippery or dangerous surface you fell on.
• The owner of the premises or an employee must have known of the dangerous surface but done nothing about it before you fell on it.
• The owner of the premises or an employee should have known of the dangerous surface because a "reasonable" person taking care of the property would have discovered and removed or repaired it.

The third situation is the most common. Liability in these cases is often decided by common sense. Judges and juries determine whether the owner or occupier of property was careful to keep the property safe. Thus with common sense in play, it is vital to contact a premise liability lawyer for premise liability law.

Potential Recovery
A man that fell in a restaurant was awarded $1 million by a jury after finding the restaurant liable. The slip and fall lawsuit hinged on the fact that the floor in the restaurant was wet and there was no caution sign in place.

The man broke his arm in several places and says he might require additional surgeries. He has osteogenesis imperfecta, a disease that makes him more susceptible to fractures or easy cracking of the bone. He walked with the help of crutches at the time of the fall, but has since been in a wheelchair since his fractured arm can no longer support a crutch, he said.