Slip and Fall Accidents: The Most Common Type of Accidents

Slip and fall is a legal term which pertains to someone who slipped, tripped, or fell as a result of a dangerous condition of someone else’s property. This includes falling because of:

• Water

• Ice or snow

• Abrupt changes of flooring

• Poor lighting

• Hidden Hazards like a gap or a hard to see hole in the ground

According to the National Center for Injury and Protection, there were more than eight million people injured as a result of falls in 2004. The Center for Disease Control said that in 2005, 15,800 people age 65 and above died from fall-related injuries. About 1.8 million aged 65 and older were treated at the emergency rooms for fall-related injuries, and over 433,000 of these people were hospitalized.

There are actually four different types of slip and fall accidents:

• An individual may lose his balance or traction, slip on the walking surface; a typical slip and fall.

• An individual may stumble over an obstruction on the walkway or surface and then fall, which is referred to as Stump and Fall

• An individual may lose his balance because of a hole in the walkway or surface, some type of unexpected defect or hidden hazard, which is known as Step and fall.

• An individual may trip on a foreign object which is also known as Trip and fall.

Regardless of the four types of accidents stated above, once an accident happen in someone else’s property, the owner is automatically liable. It is the goal of the victim and his attorney to prove that the owner is legally responsible for the sustained injuries.

If, in case you have been involved in a slip and fall accident and has sustained injuries, call a personal injury lawyer now to know what you must do to prove that it is the owner’s fault you had your injuries, thus affected your life.