Orange County Slip and Fall Lawyer

Orange County Slip and Fall Attorney

Every year thousands of Americans are injured when they fall due to a dangerous condition. If you’re a Californian who has been seriously hurt due to slipping and falling on an unsafe surface, you might be eligible to seek compensation in a court of law. An Orange County slip-and-fall lawyer from Corrales Law Group can help.

At Corrales Law Group, we are dedicated to simplifying complex legal topics like premises liability for injured Californians who want to seek justice—and fair compensation—after an injurious slip and fall incident. By applying state-of-the-art legal strategies, we can hold property owners accountable for the danger of their spaces and help injured parties secure the funds they need to support themselves while they heal.

Whether your fall resulted in a sprain or fracture requiring routine medical treatment or a long-term condition pursuant to a traumatic head injury, Corrales Law Group is ready to assist you with powerful legal remedies designed to maximize compensation. We offer legal services for injured Californians, giving you access to world-class legal advice throughout every step of the process. In other words, we don’t stop working until you’ve received the compensation you need.

Understanding Orange County Slip and Fall Injuries

According to the National Floor Safety Institute, falls account for more than 8 million annual trips to the emergency room, or over 20% of all ER visits. Slip and fall accidents are also the leading cause of workers’ compensation claims.

Over half of all legally compensable fall injuries occur on the same level, which is to say, not a fall down a flight of stairs, out a window, or from an elevated platform, etc. In other words, most fall injuries that result in settlements are slip and fall injuries, such as when someone loses traction while walking across a freshly mopped shop floor that lacks cautionary signage.

Losing your footing and falling on a hard surface can cause injuries as small as a sprain or as severe as a permanent spine or brain injury, and anything in between. In many cases, the true impact of a slip and fall incident extends well beyond the initial accident.

In addition to the financial and emotional stressors on the injured and their loved ones, some slip and fall injuries have medical consequences that persist for days, weeks, or even years beyond the date of the accident. In some cases, the worst symptoms of a falling injury may not even manifest until a significant length of time has passed. Each slip and fall accident is a unique and personal experience, and so is every injury.

Types of Slip and Fall Injuries

Some of the most common types of slip and fall injuries for which we can help you seek compensation include:

• Sprains and Strains – Defined by pain that is both immediate and long-lasting, sprains and strains are fairly common injuries, but the worst of them can keep victims unable to work, or even move around properly, for substantial periods of time.
• Soft Tissue Injuries – Damage to muscles, ligaments, and tendons can occur in a variety of ways during a fall, most often leading to pain and restricted mobility.
• Fractures – Falls, especially those on hard, uneven surfaces, can also routinely lead to broken bones. Data suggests that around 5% of people who seek treatment for a falling incident suffer a broken bone. For seniors, fractures can be particularly difficult to recover from, and many are never able to live independently again.
• Traumatic Brain Injuries – Serious falls resulting in trauma to the head can result in significant brain injuries. These types of injuries can be fatal in the worst-case scenarios, and even nonfatal head injuries can impact cognitive function, often permanently. This, in turn, can have a serious negative effect on overall well-being.
  In these high-stakes cases, it can be especially important to work with a well-qualified injury lawyer and evaluate the true extent of an injury before considering any settlement package, which will likely be much larger than those in more minor cases. Compensation should cover the costs of medical bills for past, current, and future care, as well as loss of income, loss of earning capacity, and pain and suffering.
• Spinal Cord Injuries – Falls that damage the spinal cord can lead to a range of long-term disabilities and health complications, and sometimes even paralysis.

Other types of fall injuries are also possible, so if you do not see a description of your own injury in the list above, that does not in any way disqualify you from seeking compensation for your injuries. Whatever type of falling injury you’re seeking support for, please contact our Orange County offices today for help getting started.

What Causes Slip and Fall Accidents?

If you or someone you know has been injured in a fall, it is very important to contact an attorney quickly so they may evaluate whether or not a dangerous condition was present and caused the fall. Whether it be a slippery floor, lack of lighting, or a crack in the floor our attorneys can evaluate your claim. Some possible underlying causes of legally actionable slip and fall injuries include:

• Slippery Surfaces – Whether oily from lack of proper maintenance or freshly washed, wet floors can be a hazard to foot traffic. Slippery floors in publicly accessible areas combined with a lack of adequate warning can be a recipe for legal liability in a slip and fall incident.
• Inadequate Lighting – Poor lighting can greatly increase the risk of trips and other falling incidents. A threshold that is easily navigable when properly lit can become a serious tripping hazard when obscured by shadows.
• Broken or Uneven Flooring – Poorly installed and poorly maintained floors are another notable tripping hazard. High-traffic public spaces like sidewalks also see this issue.
• Lack of Warning Signs – Failure to provide warning signs for known slip and fall hazards like wet or broken floors can lead to injuries that would have otherwise been easily avoided.
• Unsafe Stairs and Steps – Stairs that are poorly designed, maintained, or constructed—such as those that are unevenly spaced or lack proper handrails—can result in extremely serious fall injuries, especially if the fall occurs at the top of a staircase.
• Defective Safety Infrastructure – Inadequate, broken, and outdated safety installations like handrails and guards are all too often implicated in serious workplace fall injuries.
• Clutter – Sometimes, a legally compensable falling injury is a simple matter of something being where it doesn’t belong, such as in a high-traffic walkway, leading a person to trip.
• Negligent Property Maintenance – The failure of a property owner to address known hazards in a prompt manner may expose them to legal liability if another party falls and is injured while on the premises.
• Weather – You may question whether or not it is possible to sue someone over a weather-related falling hazard, such as an icy parking lot or a rain-slick floor. The answer often lies in the extent of the property owner’s failure to address the weather hazard promptly and whether their response (or lack of response) constitutes negligence.
• Inadequate Training or Supervision – In workers’ comp cases related to fall injuries, it is not uncommon for the fallen party’s lack of training or supervision to be invoked as an underlying factor.

It’s important to understand that the above is only a sampling of some common causes of slip and falls. If you do not see the cause of your case above, it does not mean that your injuries are not legally actionable. It is advisable to work with a reputable Orange County personal injury lawyer to determine the merits of your case before proceeding with a claim or filing any legal action.

In many real-world scenarios, slip and fall accidents are not the result of a single, obviously negligent act, but the culmination of various subtle and interconnecting factors. In these more complicated cases, the services of a seasoned attorney from Corrales Law Group of Orange County can help you make sense of the available evidence.

By working closely with our clients and analyzing every available detail, we can turn an overwhelming set of circumstances into a powerful and coherent legal strategy.

Slip and Fall Accident Injuries & Orange County Senior Citizens

While anyone can be injured from falling, older citizens are particularly susceptible to this type of accident. When it comes to injury-related fatalities, falls are the leading cause of death for individuals aged 85 and up, and the second leading cause of death for those in the 65 to 84 age range. In fact, around a third of all people aged 65 and up will suffer a fall this year, with about 1 in 10 of those falls resulting in some sort of injury.

Unfortunately, falling incidents combined with negligent care practices in some elder care facilities can be a disastrous combination, leading to serious disability or even wrongful death. These extreme cases call for swift intervention by a personal injury attorney.

As adults’ bodies age and they may begin to experience balance, fatigue, or chronic pain issues, it’s perfectly natural—and wise—to be more conscious of the danger of falling accidents. When the negligence of a property owner, employer, or product manufacturer contributes to this danger and leads to an injury, the team at Corrales Law Group can help you seek justice and fair compensation.

FAQs About Orange County, CA Slip and Fall Laws

What Is the Average Payout for a Slip and Fall in California?

Every case is unique, and the total amount of any settlement or judgment after a slip and fall injury will be the result of a complex and nuanced web of factors, including the extent of the injury, the medical care required, any lost wages or incomes, and intangible damages like pain and suffering. Whether you are seeking compensation through a personal injury or workers’ compensation claim may also play a factor in the total compensation level.

How Long Does a Slip and Fall Case Take to Settle in Orange County?

There is no set time frame for a personal injury case to resolve in the Orange County courts. The timeline of your slip-and-fall case will depend on a variety of factors, such as the complexity of the case, whether it is settled through negotiation or trial, the current caseload at your local court, and the efficacy of your legal counsel.

Why Are Slip and Fall Cases Hard to Win?

The most difficult aspect of winning a slip and fall case is proving that the accident and injuries resulted directly from the negligence of the defendant. While causation is more difficult to demonstrate, easier parts of such cases include proving the extent of expenses resulting from the accident, as medical bills and other financial documentation can be used to do so.

What Is the Law for Slip and Fall in California?

There is no particular law in California that deals exclusively and explicitly with slip and fall injuries, as this is merely a loose classification for a certain type of injury. Broadly speaking, the law gives injured parties the right to seek compensation from those responsible for the injury. Specifically, Section 335.1 of the California Civil Code of Procedure gives injured parties two years from the date of injury (or the date that harm was discovered) to sue for damages.

Corrales Law Group: Orange County’s Trusted Choice for Slip and Fall Representation

When a slip and fall injury disrupts your life and keeps you off your feet, swift action might be the last thing on your mind–but it can be crucial to act quickly. Contacting an attorney promptly in the aftermath of your slip and fall incident allows for a thorough evaluation of the circumstances and the available evidence to help you determine if your injuries are legally actionable and, if so, how to proceed with seeking damages.

The personal injury team at Corrales Law Group examines every detail of each case meticulously so that we can conclusively establish legal liability for injuries and then aggressively pursue compensation. Our dedicated and successful slip-and-fall attorneys are ready to fight for the justice and financial support you deserve.

While we can’t take away your pain, we can help you turn it into a powerful legal claim that holds negligent actors accountable and gives you access to the financial support you need while you heal.

Slip and fall injuries can have serious, even lifelong consequences, but you don’t have to face them alone. It would be our privilege to help guide you through this challenging time with legal strategies that are of the highest quality, yet accessible when you need them most. Contact us today for a free and 100% confidential case evaluation.