Slip and Fall Injury Attorney in Chesterfield

A slip and fall typically occur when a commercial or residential property owner fails to exercise reasonable care in the maintenance of his or her property, and that failure results in the injury of a customer or other lawful visitor. Slip and fall accidents can result in serious injuries, including head injuries, back injuries, fractures, and soft tissue damage. When they occur, accident victims have the right to seek compensation through a premises liability action. Contact our Chesterfield slip and fall injury lawyer today.

Slip and fall claims can be challenging. They typically involve complex factual and legal issues. For this reason, it would be in your best interest to retain the help of an experienced and knowledgeable Chesterfield slip and fall attorney as early as possible if you are injured in this type of accident.

For more than 100 years, Marks & Harrison has protected the rights of injury victims and their families, including those hurt in slips and falls. As one of Virginia’s largest personal injury law firms, we have the skill, experience, and resources that these cases demand.  If you recently suffered injuries in Chesterfield, contact our slip and fall lawyer today to discuss your case in a free consultation.

What Is a Slip and Fall Accident?

Slip and fall accidents typically result from a person’s encounter with a dangerous property condition. To establish a claim for damages, a victim must prove that the property owner (or one in control of the property) was negligent in the care and/or maintenance of the property. Many of the slip-and-fall cases that our Chesterfield legal team handles stem from one or more of the following issues:

• Broken handrails
• Uneven or broken walking surfaces
• Lack of sufficient lighting
• Loose rug or frayed carpeting
• A hole in the ground
• A protruding object
• Wet, oily or slick floors
• Snow, ice or water caused by weather conditions
• Negligent nursing home staff.

To establish the property owner’s negligence, the victim must prove that the property owner knew about the dangerous condition and failed to act on it. How long the hazard existed often plays a key role. For this reason, it will be important for you to work with a law firm that has experience with investigating slips and falls. Our slip and fall injury lawyer can help.

Types of Slip and Fall Injuries

When people think of slip and fall injuries, they may think of minor harm such as bruised elbows and sprained wrists. However, accident victims, know that slip and fall injuries can be much more severe and life-changing than a bruise or fractured limb. The slip and fall lawyers at Marks & Harrison, we have helped victims in Chesterfield and throughout Virginia to recover compensation for injuries such as:

• Fractures – Broken bones can range from minor fractures to severe breaks that require numerous surgeries. It is not uncommon for the tissue surrounding broken bones to become damaged. A victim may experience chronic and lasting pain.
• Cuts and abrasions – Many slips and fall injuries can lead to deep cuts that damage muscles, tendons, ligaments, and nerves. Cuts may lead to permanent scars and raise the risk of a victim developing infections and other complications.
• An old senior man falls down and breaks his leg bone or knee joint. Soft tissue injuries – Because soft tissue injuries are not visible, they can be more difficult to prove than a broken bone or superficial wound. Still, soft tissue injuries can cause chronic pain and other symptoms, and they can make you more susceptible to subsequent injury. For this reason, it is crucial to seek medical attention as soon as possible after a slip and fall.
• Head and brain injuries – Any head injury warrants immediate medical attention – even if you believe the injury is a minor one. Impacts on the head can result in concussion or something more long-term, such as traumatic brain injury. A TBI can permanently alter your ability to function normally, with symptoms growing worse with time. For this reason, it is imperative that you seek medical attention as soon after sustaining a head injury as possible.
• Back and spine injuries – These injuries occur when the spinal cord becomes severed or suppressed. In extreme circumstances, a spinal cord injury can result in permanent disability or even death. In less extreme situations, it can result in chronic pain and the need for life-long medical care and therapy.

All of these injuries could negatively impact your life. An experienced Chesterfield slip and fall lawyer at Marks & Harrison will assess the damages you have suffered, calculate what your injury will cost you in terms of medical care and therapy, and fight for just compensation for your injuries.

How Do You Prove a Slip and Fall Claim?

It is important to work with an attorney who will know how to identify and tackle the key issues in your slip and fall claim. Those issues may include:

• Your status as a visitor – Whether the property owner owed a duty to you – and the level of duty – will depend on your status as a visitor. Under Virginia law, the highest level of care is owed to invitees or visitors who are expressly invited onto a person’s premises such as a customer at a store. Licensees, or those who visit a property for their own benefit, are owed a slightly lesser duty of care. The only duty of care you would be owed as a trespasser is that the owner is not permitted to intentionally harm you. To prove your claim, you would need to prove your status as a visitor, that the property owner failed to uphold his or her duty to you, and that you did not contribute to your own injury in some way. For instance, if you wandered into a store’s warehouse without permission, you may have forfeited your status as an invitee.
• Whether the property owner had notice of a dangerous condition – Once you prove your status, you must prove that the property owner had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition. Typically, you can do this by proving that the property owner or an employee created the dangerous condition, or that the dangerous condition was noticeable and existed for a sufficient period of time.
• Whether the dangerous condition was obvious – Finally, you must prove that the dangerous condition was not open and obvious. One of the most common defenses to premises liability claims is that the dangerous condition was an obvious one, and any person who exercised reasonable care would have noticed and avoided it.

What Damages Can You Recover in a Trip and Fall Lawsuit?

Similar to other personal injury claims, you can pursue damages in a slip and fall lawsuit that are designed to compensate you for all economic losses associated with your injury as well as for your pain and suffering, including the Janitor mopping the floor with a caution sign.

• Past and future medical expenses
• Lost wages and future lost earnings
• Physical and mental pain and suffering.

If a slip and fall resulted in the death of a loved one, you may be able to pursue compensation through a different type of legal action called a wrongful death claim. If successful in your wrongful death claim, you may recover damages such as funeral and burial expenses and the loss of your loved one’s financial support and companionship.

Get Help from an Experienced Virginia Slip and Fall Lawyer Today

You should not try to deal with an insurance company on your own after a slip and fall. Instead, work with a slip-and-fall attorney who has the skills, experience, and resources to dedicate to your claim. Contact Marks & Harrison Chesterfield slip and fall injury lawyers to meet with a lawyer and to work with a team that will be prepared to represent you with honesty, fairness, and ethics. Call our office or contact us online to schedule your free consultation today.