Denver Slip and Fall Lawyer

As the name implies, slip and fall accidents occur when you slip, trip or fall on someone else’s property. These cases are governed by premises liability law, which requires property owners to provide safe conditions for all guests. As part of this obligation, property owners must repair hazardous conditions in a timely manner and provide proper warning of the danger until repairs can be made. Failure to fulfill these responsibilities can constitute negligence on the part of the property owner.

You can potentially have a valid slip and fall claim on just about any commercial or residential property you visit, as long as the property owner acted negligently in maintaining safe conditions. Some of the most common locations of slip and fall accidents include:

• Retail stores
• Grocery stores
• Restaurants
• Shopping malls
• Apartment complexes
• Hotels
• Private homes
• Parking lots and parking ramps
• Sidewalks
• Construction sites

Depending on the circumstances of your slip and fall accident, the following parties may be held liable for your damages in a lawsuit:

• Property owner
• Property manager
• Store manager
• Tenant
• Contractor
• Event organizer
• Any other person responsible for the condition of the property during the activity which brought you to the premises

Mr. Pushchak will carefully investigate the cause of your injury to ensure all appropriate parties are held accountable.

Slip and fall accidents can be caused by a variety of hazards on a property, including:

• Wet floor surfaces caused by cleaning, spills or puddles
• Rain, snow and ice on sidewalks, parking lots and other outdoor surfaces
• Debris and objects on walkways
• Uneven steps, floor or sidewalks
• Broken stairways and handrails
• Cracked or uneven pavement
• Inadequate lighting
• Bunched up rugs or carpets
• Poor maintenance of pools, leading to swimming pool accidents

Injuries in a slip and fall accident can be catastrophic in nature. Some of the most common injuries include:

• Broken bones
• Concussions and traumatic brain injuries
• Severe soft tissue damage
• Spinal cord injury

Often, these injuries can require extensive surgery and/or lengthy hospital stays, resulting in costly medical bills. You may be forced to miss work while you recover and if you suffer a long-term disability, you may find that you’re unable to perform your job moving forward. These issues can further compound your financial hardships.

In addition, slip and fall accident injuries can diminish your quality of life, impacting your ability to enjoy many of the activities you regularly participated in prior to getting hurt.

Depending on the circumstances surrounding your slip and fall accident, you may be entitled to recover compensation for the following damages:

• Current and future medical bills associated with your injury
• Ongoing rehab and long-term care
• Lost wages
• Diminished future earning capacity
• Pain and suffering

In the event that the accident resulted in the wrongful death of a loved one, you may also be entitled to recover compensation for funeral costs, lost future wages and benefits, and loss of companionship.

In order to achieve a successful outcome in a slip and fall case, you must be able to demonstrate that the property owner’s negligent actions resulted in your injury. Proving negligence requires you to establish that one of the following situations existed:

• The person responsible for maintaining safe conditions caused the hazard that resulted in your injury
• The person responsible for maintaining safe conditions knew about the hazard, but failed to take the necessary actions to fix the danger and warn others of its presence until it was fixed
• The person responsible for maintaining safe conditions should have known about the hazard because a “reasonable” person would have discovered the issue and taken the necessary steps to repair the hazard

The first two scenarios are more clear-cut and easier to prove. The third scenario is a little more challenging to prove since you must demonstrate that a reasonable person would have been expected to discover the dangerous condition under the same circumstances. This will involve showing that the property owner failed to take reasonable steps to monitor the conditions on the premises.

In addition, you must suffer an injury that results in financial damages to have a valid slip and fall case. If you trip on a poorly maintained surface and suffer a minor bruise that doesn’t require medical treatment, you’re unlikely to recover compensation.

In order to prove negligence, you’ll need to present evidence that demonstrates the property owner failed to fulfill their responsibility of maintaining safe conditions. Time is of the essence when gathering evidence. If you wait too long, witnesses may forget what happened and certain pieces of physical evidence may get lost. Therefore, it’s crucial that you take photos of the conditions at the time of the accident and record the names and contact information of any witnesses who can support your version of what happened.

If your injury is severe and you require immediate medical treatment, Mr. Pushchak can help you gather this evidence after the fact. However, the sooner he begins working on your case, the easier it will be for him to obtain the evidence necessary to achieve a successful outcome.

One final factor that will impact the outcome of your case is Colorado’s negligence laws. Colorado adheres to a modified comparative negligence doctrine, which states that your compensation will be decreased by the percentage of fault attributed to you. Therefore, if you are determined to be 30% at fault for the accident, you will only be able to recover 70% of the full damages you suffer. In addition, if you’re found to be over 50% at fault for the accident, you won’t be entitled to recover any compensation for your damages. For this reason, it’s crucial to work with an experienced attorney, such as Mr. Pushchak, who knows how to demonstrate the negligent party caused your injuries.