PETRILLO & GOLDBERG
South Jersey Slip and Fall Attorney
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Slip and Fall Lawyer
In Pennsauken & Cherry Hill, South Jersey
Slip and fall accidents can happen anywhere and at any time. Often, slip and fall accidents lead to serious injuries. You may be severely injured and left with long-term pain or disability. You may be unable to work while costly medical bills add up and you face significant financial trouble. A slip and fall accident can be a real-life nightmare.
Slips and Falls Happen Often
- The National Safety Council lists falls as one of the leading causes of unintentional injuries.
- Falls account for around 8.9 million emergency room visits every year.
- Over the past decade, fall deaths among people younger than age 65 have increased by 22 percent.
- About 28 percent of adults over 65 suffer falls each year, resulting in 36 million falls annually.
- Of those, 37 percent sustain an injury that requires medical attention or limits their movement. Over 2.8 million older adults were treated in emergency rooms for falls in 2020.
- More than 25 percent of older adults in New Jersey suffered a fall in 2020.
- The most common injuries sustained in slip and fall accidents are bone fractures, affecting up to five percent of all fall victims every year.
- Falls are the most common cause of traumatic brain injuries.
Common Slip and Fall Injuries
Often, slip and fall accidents result in various injuries. Depending on the nature of your accident, different types of injuries can result. These injuries can range from mild to severe. Here are some of the most common types of injuries:
Cuts and abrasions
Soft tissue injuries
Broken bones
Head Injuries
Spinal cord injuries
How can I be affected by a slip and fall injury?
The above list of injuries can be further broken down. Here are areas that are commonly affected by slip and fall injuries:
Head Injuries
Head injuries: An injury to the brain as the result of a slip and fall may be a bump, bruise or minor concussion. A severe TBI can impact your brain function or cause seizures.
Back Injuries
Back injuries: A person can land on his or her back or twist the back to avoid falling. The result can be a disc injury or even paralysis.
Broken Bones
Broken bones: Slips and falls can result in broken hips, especially in older individuals. Other fractures may include the pelvis, arm, leg, ankle or hand.
Shoulder or neck injuries
Shoulder or neck injuries: A person can fall on his or her neck, resulting in a strain or even paralysis. A person landing on his or her shoulder can break his or her collarbone, tear nerves or dislocate his or her shoulder.
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Compensation For Slip and Fall Injuries
Usually, in New Jersey, you have two years to file a lawsuit against a property owner to receive compensation for injuries you suffer in a slip and fall, but if the owner is a government, you must file a claim within 90 days.
If you fall on business property, such as a store, you can recover compensation for your medical expenses, your lost wages and your pain and suffering.
If you fall at work, you cannot sue your employer. You file a workers' compensation claim. Your recovery is a percentage of your average weekly wage (70 percent in New Jersey). Your employer must pay your medical expenses. You cannot recover for your pain and suffering.
Special rules apply when the government owns the property where the slip and fall occurs. Examples include slips and falls at a public school or at a public park. An experienced slip and fall lawyer can walk you through the process of recovering against a governmental entity, like a school district or a city.
What to do after a fall
The typical medical expense of a slip and fall accident is $30,000 to $40,000! These cost Americans a combined total of around $34 billion per year. Those bills can be devastating for anyone, especially when you are also missing work due to your injuries.
In order to establish liability in a slip and fall accident, there must be established negligence on the part of the business or property owner where the incident occurred. This can be difficult to prove in a fall. As the injured party, you must demonstrate how the property owner allowed a dangerous condition to exist which then led to your fall.
Of course, the business owner and their insurance company will not make doing this easy. They may even claim that you were the negligent one. This is why you need an experienced attorney on your side. The team at Petrillo & Goldberg can help you get the most successful outcome possible by demonstrating that you were not responsible for your injuries.
Steps to take after a slip and fall
What you do following a slip and fall may help or hurt your chances of receiving compensation for your injuries:
Get medical attention. If your injuries are serious, call 911. Make an appointment with a doctor if you experience any pain or other symptoms after the accident. You may not experience symptoms from some injuries, like TBIs, until a few days after the accident.
Report the accident to authorities. Inform the person in charge, for example, the store manager, of your injury.
Get documentation. Take pictures and collect contact information. Snap a picture of a slippery floor or whatever caused your fall. The scene will be cleared soon after your fall. If someone saw you fall, get his or her name and phone number.
Contact a lawyer. A slip and fall lawyer can investigate your case and begin to negotiate a settlement for compensation for your injuries.
Falls can be serious
Falls are the third leading cause of workers having to take days off. In 2020, slip and fall accidents accounted for around 18 percent of occupational injuries that required time away from work. The injury rate was 21.7 per 10,000 full-time workers.
That year, 127,680 workers were injured due to falls that occurred on the same level. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, around 31 percent of fall-related injuries affected the lower half of the body, mainly the knee. In 25 percent of cases, falls injured the upper body such as the arm and shoulder. About 17 percent of falls resulted in back injuries.
Falls can also be deadly in the workplace. In 2021, more than one-third of fatalities in the construction industry were due to slips, trips and falls.
Slipping and falling on someone's property
Many slips and falls happen in your own home, but when they occur on someone else's property, you may get compensation for your injuries. Where can the slip and fall occur?
- Work
- Grocery stores
- Retail stores
- Restaurants
- Hotels
- Schools
- Airports
- Parking lots
- Concert venues
- Apartment complexes
Causes of slips and falls
What are common causes of slips and falls?
- Icy surfaces
- Uneven surfaces
- Rolled-up mats
- Inadequate lighting
- Defective railings
- Holes in the grass or ground
- Water or a slippery substance on the floor
- Food or other objects on the floor
- Broken or defective steps
- Cables on the floor
Proving Fault in A Slip and Fall
To receive compensation for your injuries in a slip and fall, you must prove two things.
First, a slip and fall lawyer will show the owner created a hazard on the property or that the owner knew or should have known about the hazard. Second, the lawyer will show the owner of the property had time but failed to remove the hazard or warn you of the hazard. In New Jersey, if your own fault contributed more than 50 percent to the cause of the slip and fall, you cannot recover. If your fault was 50 percent or less, your fault reduces your recovery by the percentage of fault assigned to you.
If you suffer injuries in a slip and fall at work, you do not have to show fault on the part of your employer. You only have to show that the slip and fall arose out of and in the scope of your employment. Your fault does not affect your right to compensation or the amount you can recover.
A unique team approach
Our unique team approach to all our cases makes us a standout firm and allows us to give each of our clients the total knowledge and experience of our entire firm. That also means that here you do not just have one attorney fighting for your case, you have all four Petrillo & Goldberg Law attorneys on your side.
Our slip and fall lawyers will investigate your case. For example, we can get a video from a security camera of your fall. Our lawyers will negotiate with the property owner or operator for a reasonable settlement to compensate you for your injuries.
If you or a loved one have suffered a slip and fall accident in the South Jersey or Philadelphia area, you should contact the experienced legal team at Petrillo & Goldberg. We will always fight for you and get you just compensation for your injuries and the disruption they have caused in your life. Let us help you recover by allowing you to focus on your healing and not on your case.
TRUST
Meet our attorneys
The highly competent lawyers at Petrillo and Goldberg represent clients with personal injury claims, workers compensation claims, slip-and-fall cases and automobile accident victims. We work for you, and take our job of getting the best possible results for you seriously.
Scott M. Goldberg
Steven Petrillo
Scott D. Schulman
NEW JERSEY
6951 North Park Drive
Pennsauken, NJ 08109
70 South Broad Street
Woodbury, NJ 08096
PHILADELPHIA
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