Newport Beach Slip and Fall Accident Attorneys

Newport Beach has many eateries, dance clubs, hotels, and other activities in the area. The owners and operators of these establishments must maintain their premises carefully and safely at all times. When they fail to do so, a slip and fall accident might occur.

When a property visitor strikes the ground in a slip and fall, the chances are good that they will suffer a severe and possibly permanent injury. Unlike motor vehicle occupants, slip and fall victims do not have an outer barrier or shell protecting them from their surroundings.

If they fall to the ground because a property owner negligently failed to maintain their premises, they can file a lawsuit against the responsible property owner’s insurance company. Alternatively, they can file a lawsuit against the property owner directly.

If you suffered injuries in a slip and fall accident on someone else’s premises, you need a lawyer who can recover the compensation you deserve.

The experienced Newport Beach slip and fall accident attorneys at Bentley & More LLP can meet with you to discuss your accident and how it occurred. If you can file a claim with the property owner’s insurer, we can help you do that. Moreover, we can negotiate with the insurance company adjuster and, if necessary, file a prompt lawsuit in the California Court System seeking compensation for your injuries.

So many lawyers with strong but difficult cases call us for help because our legal team has a strong track record of success in settling and litigating slips and falls and other premises accident cases, particularly catastrophic injury cases.

For a free case evaluation and legal consultation with our Newport Beach slip and fall accident lawyers, please call us or contact us online for more information.

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What Are The Common Locations for Slip and Falls in Newport Beach?

Slip and fall accidents can occur anywhere, but they are widespread at local grocery stores, nightclubs, and restaurants. Accidents are common in these locations because there is a good chance that food or liquid will spill onto the floor.

Slip and fall accidents may also occur outdoors, especially when property owners fail to maintain their sidewalks, driveways, parking lots, and parking garages safely. Concrete cracks, spalling, or potholes may cause a visitor to the property to lose their balance, suffering a severe slip and fall injury.

If you or someone you love suffered personal injuries while visiting someone else’s property, you should immediately take legal action. Our legal team can help you file the appropriate claim with the right insurance company and help you pursue the monetary damages you need for your injuries.

Legal Duty of Care Owed to a Property Visitor

The legal duty of care that a property owner owes to a property visitor depends upon the visitor’s status on the property at a given time. A property owner owes a business invitee the highest legal duty of care. A business invitee visits another person’s property for the owner’s benefit. Patrons to a Newport Beach restaurant, grocery store, shopping mall, shopping center, parking lot, or parking garage are likely business invitees.

A property owner has a duty to promptly warn about or correct hazards and other dangerous conditions on their premises. For example, if they are aware of a spill on the floor, they must promptly clean up the spill—or place warning placards around it promptly.

Moreover, premises owners have a duty to regularly inspect their promises for latent, unknown defects that might exist. Again, if they discover a hidden defect upon inspection, they have to quickly warn about or correct it for the benefit of their visitors.

Property owners also owe licensees a high duty of care. A licensee is an individual who visits someone else’s property for their own benefit. A typical example of a licensee is a social guest who visits someone’s home for a non-business purpose. As with business invitees, property owners have a duty to promptly warn about or correct known dangers and defects on their premises.

Finally, trespassers are present on someone else’s property without the owner’s permission. Unless the trespasser is a known trespasser, it is unlikely that the property owner owes them a duty of care.

A person’s status on someone else’s land may change over a period of time. For example, if a property visitor enters the premises during business hours, they are likely a business invitee. However, if they remain on the property after hours and without the owner’s permission, they probably become a trespasser. Therefore, the duty of care that the property owner owes to the visitor changes.

In most situations, people who visit a business’s premises are business invitees present on the property to benefit the business owner. If you suffered injuries while on another individual or entity’s property, you should seek legal help right away.

The knowledgeable Newport Beach slip and fall accident attorneys at Bentley & More LLP can review your situation with you, determine your eligibility for filing a personal injury claim, and help you take the appropriate legal action to pursue the compensation you deserve.

Proving the Elements of a Slip and Fall Case

To recover monetary damages in a Newport Beach slip and fall case, the accident victim must satisfy several legal elements. First, they must demonstrate that the property owner owed them a duty of care when they were visiting the premises. In most instances, this element is relatively easy to establish—especially if the visitor was clearly on the owner’s property for a business purpose.

Next, the slip and fall victim must establish that the property owner violated their legal duty of care. For example, the property owner, manager, or supervisor might have failed to clean up a spill within a reasonable amount of time, causing the visitor to slip and fall while on the premises.

Next, the visitor must establish that as a direct and foreseeable result of the property owner’s negligence, the slip and fall accident happened. Finally, the injured visitor must show that because of the accident, they suffered one or more physical injuries.

In some instances, property owners and their insurance companies dispute fault in slip and fall accident cases. For example, they may argue that the apparent danger was open and obvious and that the property visitor should have noticed the defect before falling to the ground. Alternatively, the property owner may argue that they corrected or warned about the hazard within a reasonable amount of time.

To help you establish the legal elements of your slip and fall claim, our legal team can retain one or more experts in your case. For example, we can retain an accident reconstructionist who can draft a report in your favor after visiting the incident scene, reviewing the incident report, and speaking with any eyewitnesses to the occurrence. If your case ultimately proceeds to trial, the accident reconstructionist who prepared the report can take the witness stand and testify in support of your case.

Potential Slip and Fall Injuries

When someone unexpectedly slips and falls on the ground, they will likely suffer injuries.

The injuries that a slip and fall accident may sustain will depend on:

The degree of force with which they struck the ground
The body part or parts that hit the ground
How the accident victim falls to the ground
The surface where they fall, such as concrete or macadam
The way the accident victim lands on the ground when they fall
Whether the slip and fall takes place indoors or outdoors
The footwear that the accident victim had on at the time of their fall

Slip and falls affect different accident victims differently.

However, accident victims commonly sustain:

Broken bones
Rib fractures
Hip fractures
Traumatic head and brain damage
Internal organ damage
Internal bleeding
Spinal cord damage
Full or partial paralysis

If you sustained any of these injuries in your recent slip and fall accident, you should report the incident to a property manager or supervisor. If a store representative or someone from their insurance company contacts you, you should never agree to provide a recorded statement.

The only purpose of a recorded statement is to see if the insurance company can find damaging evidence in your case. They may eventually use this evidence to deny your slip and fall accident claim.

Instead, following a slip and fall accident, you should seek same-day medical care for your injuries. You should also speak with the skilled Newport Beach slip and fall accident attorneys at Bentley & More LLP as soon as possible.

Our legal team can handle the legal aspects of your case, allowing you the time you need to seek ongoing medical treatment and recover from your injuries. We can begin setting up a personal injury claim on your behalf and gathering the documents necessary to effectively present your claim to the appropriate insurance company.

Monetary Damages in Slip and Fall Cases

Slip and fall accidents frequently lead to severe and sometimes permanent injuries, along with mounting medical costs and other expenses. Not all slip and fall accident victims are eligible to recover the same types and amounts of monetary damages.

The total damage award that an accident victim recovers in their case will depend upon factors like the severity of their injuries, the extent of their medical treatment, the cost of their medical care, the extent of their pain and suffering, and whether or not they suffered a permanent injury in their accident.

First, slip and fall accident victims can recover compensation for their past medical costs. Moreover, if a medical provider anticipates that they will need to undergo future treatment, such as surgery, they may recover those anticipated medical expenses as part of their personal injury claim.

In addition, if the accident victim had to miss time from work, they can recover their lost income, along with compensation for loss of earning capacity, if they had to switch jobs at a reduced pay rate.

In addition to economic damages and other out-of-pocket costs, a slip and fall victim can recover monetary compensation for their intangible losses, including loss of spousal companionship due to their injuries, loss of life enjoyment, loss of use of a body part (such as from paralysis), inconvenience, past and future pain and suffering, permanent disfigurement, mental distress,

Our legal team can work to maximize the monetary recovery you receive in your case by:

Aggressively negotiating with insurance company adjusters and highlighting the strengths of your case while downplaying any case weaknesses
Threatening the insurance company with litigation and, if necessary, filing a lawsuit seeking monetary damages through the court system
Taking your case to a civil jury trial or binding arbitration proceeding, introducing experts, and presenting other evidence on your behalf

Talk With Our Newport Beach Slip and Fall Accident Attorneys Today

Greg Bentley & Keith More, Slip and Fall Accident Lawyers

Medical bills and other expenses can pile up quickly following slip and fall accidents. This problem is especially likely when accident victims cannot work following their slip and fall due to the injuries they suffered. Reach out to a Newport Beach personal injury lawyer.

Time is also of the essence in a slip and fall injury case. According to the California statute of limitations, accident victims must file most personal injury lawsuits within two years of their accident date. If they fail to file a timely lawsuit, they forever waive their right to recover monetary damages for their accident-related injuries. Therefore, the sooner you take legal action in your slip and fall case, the more likely you will recover a favorable result.

At Bentley & More LLP, our experienced legal team welcomes the opportunity to pursue settlement negotiations with the insurance company on your behalf or litigate your case in the court system. Whatever you decide, our lawyers will be on your side, aggressively advocating for you and pursuing the maximum monetary damages available for your slip and fall injuries.

For a free case evaluation and legal consultation with a Newport Beach slip and fall accident lawyer, please call us at (949) 870-3800 or contact us online for more information.

Client Testimonial

“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Bentley & More for the past 5-6 years. Their drive and compassion to earn great results for their clients is obvious to everyone who works with them.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to partner with the firm to help serve their clients.” – Nicole S. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Bentley & More LLP – Newport Beach Office

4931 Birch Street

Newport Beach, CA 92660

Phone: (949) 870-3800

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