slip and fall - Walton Law Firm

What Should I Do About a Slip and Fall in an Oceanside Supermarket?

North County Injury Lawyers — Thu, 23 Sep 2021 15:59:47 GMT

While grocery stores or supermarkets in Oceanside, California are a required weekly stop for most individuals and families, these are also retail establishments where serious accidents and injuries can occur. Although many injuries that happen at supermarkets result from slips and falls, grocery stores can also be places where struck-by injuries occur when products fall off a shelf unexpectedly, or where other types of premises liability accidents and motor vehicle collisions can occur. In many instances, the retail establishment is liable for injuries that occur on the property. Our experienced Oceanside personal injury lawyers want to tell you more about different types of slip, trip, and fall accidents that occur frequently in supermarkets in Southern California.

Liquid Spills and Oceanside Slips and Falls

Liquid spills are a common cause of slips and falls in grocery stores throughout Southern California. It is often easy for liquid spills to occur when a customer accidentally knocks a jar off a shelf, and a liquid ends up spilling in the grocery aisle. If these kinds of liquid spills—of sodas, cooking oils, sauces, dressings—are not quickly cleaned up, a shopper might not even realize the floor is slick and can slip and fall.

Slips, Trips, and Falls From Aisle Obstacles

Obstacles in supermarket aisles or other customer pathways can also lead to trip and fall accidents. For instance, boxes of products that are yet to be stocked may result in tripping hazards, as can products that other customers remove from shelves and do not return.

Falls in Outdoor Areas Due to Poor Lighting

Slips and falls can also occur in the entry and exit areas around a supermarket when lighting is poor, or when broken lights are not repaired, to illuminate potential slipping or tripping hazards. Whether a slip and fall resulted from a liquid spill, a tripping hazard in an indoor aisle, poor lighting, or another hazard, the injured party may be able to file a claim for financial compensation.

Filing Your Slip and Fall Claim on Time

If you were injured in a slip, trip, or fall accident at a grocery store or other type of retail establishment in Southern California, it is essential to pay attention to the statute of limitations. This is the time window in which an injured person is allowed to file a lawsuit under California law. The California statute of limitations for most personal injury lawsuits, including slips and falls, is two years. As such, most slip and fall claims will need to be filed within two years from the date of the slip and fall accident, but you should always discuss the specifics of your case with an Oceanside injury lawyer who can help.

Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer in Oceanside

If you or someone you love recently slipped and fell inside a supermarket or another retail store in Oceanside, you should get in touch with our Oceanside personal injury attorneys to find out more about filing a slip and fall claim. Contact the Walton Law Firm today for more information about filing a premises liability lawsuit in Southern California.

What Should I do if I am Partially at Fault for a Slip and Fall Injury in Encinitas?

North County Injury Lawyers — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 13:02:44 GMT

Slips and falls can happen in many different ways and for many different reasons in and around Encinitas. Whether you got hurt in a slip and fall accident due to a liquid spill at a restaurant, or your child suffered a concussion in a slip and fall injury on a pool deck at a Southern California hotel, it is important to speak with an experienced Encinitas personal injury lawyer to learn more about your options for filing a claim for financial compensation. Yet you may be concerned that your own fault could prevent you from obtaining compensation after a slip and fall. For example, you might be thinking, “Even though that restaurant or grocery store did not clean up the liquid spill on the floor that caused my injuries, I was distracted because I was walking while texting on my smartphone.” Or, for instance, you might be wondering, “If my child slipped on a slick area of a hotel walkway, is the hotel still liable even if my child was running at the time?”

Here is what you need to keep in mind: California uses a “pure comparative fault” rule when it comes to determining damages in a personal injury claim, which is beneficial for plaintiffs who may be partially at fault. However, you should also know that, even if the possibility of your own fault is raised, you may be able to show that you are not responsible for your injuries. The following are steps you should take if you are concerned you are partially at fault for a slip and fall injury in Encinitas or elsewhere in Southern California.

Document the Scene Where the Slip and Fall Happened

You should do everything you can to document the scene where the slip and fall happened, particularly the dangerous condition on the premises that led to the slip and fall accident. You will want to gather clear evidence of the dangerous condition, such as a liquid spill or a damaged floor, and you will want to document it from multiple angles and distances to help prove that the property owner was at fault for the slip and fall accident.

Seek Advice from a Personal Injury Lawyer About Your Case

Whether the property owner has alleged that you are partially to blame or you are worried that your own fault will reduce your damages award, you should seek advice from a premises liability lawyer before you go any further with your case.

Recognize that California’s Comparative Fault Law Likely Will Not Bar You from Recovery

Even if a court ultimately determines that you were partially at fault for the slip and fall accident, California law says that you can recover damages regardless of your percentage of fault (as long as you are not fully at fault). However, your total damages award will be diminished by your own percentage of fault, so it is critical to seek help from a lawyer who can help you to prove that you deserve the full amount of damages you are seeking.

Contact an Encinitas Slip and Fall Attorney

Do you have questions about filing a slip and fall claim, or do you need assistance handling allegations of comparative fault in your slip and fall case? One of the experienced Encinitas slip and fall attorneys at our firm can assist you. Contact the Walton Law Firm for more information about your premises liability lawsuit.

Is Your Home Safe for Seniors?

North County Injury Lawyers — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 18:03:21 GMT

Injuries to older adults can happen in many places and they can have numerous causes. In some cases, intentional bad acts from elder abuse can result in serious personal injuries to California seniors. At the same time, as the body ages it becomes more fragile and prone to slip and fall injuries. Given the frailty of many elderly persons, another party’s negligence can quickly become deadly. In some cases, it is in the very homes of older adults in California that injuries occur. How can you ensure that your home is safe? If an elderly loved one lives at home, how can you be certain that your loved one is not at risk of preventable injuries? These are questions that were posed recently in an article in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Identifying Potential Hazards in Your House

About 90% of older adults in America say that they want to remain in their own homes—they do not want to have to move to an assisted-living facility or nursing home. However, hidden dangers may be lurking in their houses that would not pose a threat to a younger resident but could lead to a serious accident for someone of retirement age.

Many common features of Southern California homes could lead to a serious fall that results in broken bones—or worse. Some of the typical features of a house to which the article points include:

Upstairs bedrooms;
Bathtub that requires you to climb into it;
Cabinets up high; and
Appliances in low cupboards.

As one retired San Diego architect explained, “most San Diego homes are an injury minefield” for seniors who cannot get around as easily. He went on to emphasize, “We’re dealing with an enormous segment of our society and what concerns me is that people are not safe on their own.” The irony is that San Diego prides itself on being a welcoming community with many opportunities for outdoor activities, regardless of age, year-round. Yet for many San Diego residents who enjoy the outdoors, the indoor parts of their lives could end up being the most hazardous.

How to Prevent Accidents

As the San Diego population continues to age, we need to think more carefully about the safety of our homes and social spaces. Slip and fall accidents can happen anywhere, to be sure, but they do not have to happen in domestic spaces. Although simply asking an older adult to climb the stairs or to step into a bathtub may not be considered negligence under the law, it is important to remember that we do have a duty to keep our properties free of hazards to those we invite inside.

In other words, if an entryway is wet from a rainstorm, it is the responsibility of the property owner to clean it up before someone gets hurt in a slip and fall accident. In terms of the structure and design of homes, elder advocates in the San Diego area have proposed a number of new living developments that would cater to elderly residents by providing some of the following:

Single-story models;
Lower cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom; and
Carpeted, rather than slick tiled, floors.

Falls are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries in older adults, according to a fact sheet from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). If you or an elderly loved one recently suffered an injury in a slip and fall accident, you may be able to file a claim for financial compensation. An experienced San Diego slip and fall lawyer can discuss your case with you today. Contact the Walton Law Firm to learn more about our services.