Bad Call on a Slip and Fall Injury

The article “Trip-and-Fall Causes Serious Injury”, posted October 23 which tells an interesting and unusual story about a woman who had a slip-and fall accident inside a 7-11 store in Orange County, in southern California.

According to the woman’s account, she was in a 7-11 store trying to buy something when some crates fell over her way causing a blow and an injury to her. However, on her to the counter to call for a medical rescue, a man suddenly approached her and punched her in the face.

It was an unbelievable incident. In the store’s hidden camera, the whole incident was recorded where the man punched the injured lady and later walked away after paying for the beer he bought. It was a truly disgusting scene.

The woman ended up in the hospital with broken ribs and head injuries. As a result, the woman suffered from injuries in two separate incidents and sued for $1 million while the store offered $15,000.

It was a case of a slip and fall injury but investigations revealed that the incident was not an accident at all. As further investigations revealed, the crates are left open and any person in his reasonable mind would try to avoid the potential danger of the open crates.

In this case, the determination of negligence is dim and doubtful. Whether the court will favor the issue, being raised by the injured woman is now left for legal debate.

Stairs Scare

If you are a property owner, do you know that you can get in trouble for defects in the construction in your property? I know what you are thinking? You are thinking that you should not be made liable for things that you do not know about. You may say that you are not an architect or an engineer and that you only contracted the building of your house or property and, hence, you should not be held responsible for the end product.

Unfortunately, my friend, you can never be more wrong. As a property owner, especially in California, you owe a duty to everybody who is allowed inside your property to keep them safe from all bodily harm that may result from dangerous conditions on your property.

If you invited a friend and he slips and falls while going down the flights of your stairs, you are liable for his damages. The Los Angeles Department Building and Safety or LADBS provides strict standards that must be followed in order for your stairs to be code compliant. It discusses the existence of handrails, the granules of the steps, the angle, rise and even the width of each step.

In case your friend slips on a wet or slippery surface on the stairs and falls down hard because your stairs do not have handrails, you are liable for his injuries on the ground of premise liability.

It could be true that you may have a claim against the contractor who built the house together with the stairs. However, it is a suit you have to file on your own to get back what you need to pay your friend for the injury. Remember, you can never ask the injured person to claim against your contractor. Your house is your responsibility and nobody else’s.