California property owners owe a duty of reasonable care to people on their premises under Civil Code §1714. If a wet floor, broken stair, or unsafe walkway in Los Angeles caused your fall, you have two years from the date of injury to file a claim under Code of Civil Procedure §335.1. Damages can cover medical care, surgery, lost wages, and pain. Burg & Brock has handled slip and fall cases across LA County since 1996. Call (818) 873-9216 for a free case review.
According to the National Safety Council, in 2020, 805 workers died in falls, and 211,640 were injured badly enough to require days off of work. You may ask who is responsible for fall accidents? Well, a slip and fall lawyer can help you to figure it out!
When an individual slips & falls on someone else’s property and is injured as a result of a dangerous condition on the property, the land owner or business proprietor may find himself legally responsible and may be liable for the injuries.
Dangerous & hazardous conditions may cause slips and falls due to accumulation of water, ice or snow, liquids, as well as abrupt changes in flooring, raised or cracked sidewalks, poor lighting, or a hidden hazard, such as a hidden ground hole.
The owner or manager of property can be liable to somebody injured on their property, but not under all circumstances. The owner or the manager of the property has to be negligent in the conduct of caring for or managing their property.
In general, a property owner will be considered to have knowledge of a dangerous or hazardous condition if it is permanent in nature. When a dangerous or hazardous condition is permanent in nature, the owner would have known, or should have known, about the condition before the slip and fall accident occurs.
In the case of temporary conditions such as a liquid spill, the length of time that the condition existed before the incident occurred has legal significance. If the spill occurred just before the incident, then the property owner may not be liable for injury, since the owner could not have known about the spill (and would not have been able to do anything about it) before the slip and fall occurred.
Knowledge of dangerous or hazardous condition example:
This depends on the jurisdiction and the facts of your particular case (an attorney can help you with this). Depending on the jurisdiction and the facts of your particular case, generally, the following damages may be recoverable:
For further information see the related sections:
Slip-and-fall and trip-and-fall claims live in premises liability. Below are related pages and city-specific intake for Los Angeles County.
Talk to one of our attorneys: Cameron Yadidi Brock · Artin Fiterz, Esq. · Greg Diarian · Craig D. Rackohn · Lena G. Karaminassian · Isaac Radnia
The property owner had a dangerous condition (wet floor, broken stair, etc.), knew or should have known about it, and failed to fix or warn about it within a reasonable time. The duty owed depends on whether you were an invitee, licensee, or trespasser under California premises liability law.
Minor injuries with no surgery settle $15,000 to $40,000. Cases with surgery (knee, shoulder, spine) run $75,000 to $250,000. Cases with permanent disability or significant scarring exceed $500,000. Burg & Brock handles complex slip and fall cases with seven-figure recoveries when liability and damages are clear.
Two years from the fall under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. Claims against a government entity (city sidewalk, public building) require a tort claim notice within six months under Government Code section 911.2. Property owners destroy surveillance footage within 30 to 90 days, so act fast.
California is a pure comparative negligence state. Your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault but you can still recover. If you were 30% at fault for not watching where you walked, you recover 70% of your damages.
This is the constructive notice question. The property owner must have had enough time to discover the hazard. Liability hinges on store policies for floor inspection (typical retail standard is 15 to 30 minute walks). If the spill was less than 5 minutes old, liability is harder to prove.
Yes for common areas (hallways, parking lots, stairs) and for hazards the landlord knew or should have known about in your unit. The implied warranty of habitability under Civil Code section 1941.1 and Green v. Superior Court support tenant claims.
Photos of the hazard before it is cleaned up, the shoes you were wearing, names of witnesses, the incident report from the store manager, and your medical records. Surveillance footage is critical: send a litigation hold within 48 hours.
Medical bills, lost wages, lost earning capacity, pain and suffering, and any permanent impairment. Slip and fall hip fractures in elderly clients often trigger long-term care costs that drive case value into the high six and seven figures.
Public entities have specific defenses under the Tort Claims Act. The dangerous condition must have been more than just trivial (Government Code section 830.2). A government tort claim notice is required within six months of the fall. Burg & Brock has experience with public-entity premises cases.
No. The adjuster will use it to undermine your claim or argue comparative fault. Politely decline and refer them to your attorney. You have no legal duty to give a recorded statement to the store's insurance company.
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