Riverside Slip-and-Fall Attorney

Success with a slip and fall accident claim in Riverside, CA will require proving fault for your damages. Under the premises liability laws, a property owner is required to maintain their property to ensure there are no foreseeable hazards that might cause injury to lawful guests and visitors. Lawful is an important distinction; the state’s premises liability laws do not apply to trespassers or intruders. If you illegally enter someone else’s property without their permission and suffer a slip and fall injury, you have no grounds to file a claim against the property owner and will likely face criminal charges for your illegal entry.

Property owners owe a duty of care to those they invite onto their properties for their own purposes, such as family members, friends, and neighbors, as well as those with implied permission to enter for their own purposes, such as utility workers and mail carriers. If a property owner notices any element on their property that could foreseeably cause injuries to a lawful visitor, they are required to either fix the problem immediately, post a visible warning sign, or provide detailed verbal warnings to visitors if they are likely to encounter the hazard while visiting the property.

Slip and fall accidents can occur from damaged staircases or floorboards, cluttered walking paths and tripping hazards, uneven landscaping or divots, and poor visibility from broken or malfunctioning light fixtures. If you are unsure whether a recent slip and fall injury on private property constitutes grounds for a premises liability suit, you should consult a Riverside slip and fall attorney immediately.

It is important to remember that if you partially cause your slip and fall, you will face a diminished case award under the state’s pure comparative fault rule. This rule applies to any civil suit in which the plaintiff bears partial responsibility for causing the damages. If the property owner in your slip and fall accident case claims that you are partially liable for the incident, your attorney can help minimize any comparative fault you absorb. Whatever fault percentage is assigned to you will be how much of your final case award you lose under the comparative fault rule. For example, 25% fault means losing 25% of the total compensation recovered from the defendant.

A slip and fall incident can result in a host of injuries depending on how and where the incident occurred. Victims often report broken bones, facial injuries, traumatic brain damage, and even spinal cord injuries. Multiple injuries are possible from a single slip and fall, and a victim may face a very long and difficult road to recovery depending on the scope and severity of the injuries they suffered.

Once you have asserted fault for your slip and fall, your Riverside slip and fall attorney can help identify all damages you can claim from the defendant. California law allows the plaintiff in a premises liability suit to seek full compensation for any economic damages they suffered because of the defendant’s actions. These economic damages are likely to include:

• Medical treatment costs. You can hold the defendant accountable for your hospital bills and other healthcare expenses incurred immediately after the slip and fall accident.
• Long-term treatment expenses. When you have suffered a catastrophic injury that will require extensive ongoing care, the defendant is also responsible for your future medical expenses resulting from the slip and fall incident.
• Lost income. When a plaintiff is unable to work due to their personal injury, the defendant who caused the injury is liable for the income they are unable to earn during their recovery period.
• Lost earning power. Unfortunately, some slip and fall accidents result in permanent harm, leaving victims unable to return to work in the future. If you suffered any injury that diminishes your ability to work and earn income in the future, the defendant is also responsible for this loss of earning power.

The average person may be able to calculate their immediate economic damages, but assessing the total value of future economic losses is more challenging and will require the assistance of an experienced attorney. Your Riverside slip and fall attorney can be an essential asset for proving the extent of the damages you can seek from the defendant in your premises liability case. They can also help secure compensation for your pain and suffering.

California law does not place a cap or limit on how much pain and suffering compensation the plaintiff in a slip and fall accident claim can seek from the defendant. You have the right to claim as much as you deem appropriate to reflect the severity of the harm you experienced. If you are unsure how to quantify your experience in monetary terms, your Riverside slip and fall attorney can provide guidance on this aspect of your claim. Most attorneys use two methods to calculate pain and suffering compensation for their clients:

1. The multiplier method is often used when a plaintiff has suffered severe injuries and faces an uncertain recovery time or permanent disability. This method entails adding the total of the plaintiff’s claimed economic damages and then multiplying the total by a factor to reflect the severity of their injuries, usually one to five. For example, a plaintiff who has suffered a serious injury may claim $300,000 in economic damages, and their attorney may decide that three times this amount would be adequate to reflect the severity of their experience.
2. The per diem method focuses on the length of time it takes a plaintiff to fully recover, and this method is usually reserved for plaintiffs expected to make full recoveries. With this method, the attorney sets a daily rate of compensation based on the severity of their client’s injuries and then multiplies this amount by the number of days it takes for them to reach maximum medical improvement. For example, if an attorney sets a daily compensation rate of $350 and it takes 100 days for their client to fully recover, this will amount to $35,000 in pain and suffering compensation.

Many personal injury clients are surprised to discover that their claims are worth much more than they initially expected, especially when they have reliable legal counsel advising them. When you choose Easton & Easton to handle your slip and fall accident claim in Riverside, our goal is to maximize your case award and secure your compensation as swiftly as possible. We can seek to settle your case with the defendant to shorten the time required for you to receive your case award, but we are fully prepared to represent you in litigation if necessary.

Q: How Much Is a Slip and Fall Case Worth in Riverside?

A: You could be entitled to more compensation than you may expect for your recent slip and fall injury in Riverside. The state’s personal injury laws allow a plaintiff to claim full repayment of all economic losses they suffered because of a defendant’s negligence, and these economic damages are likely to include medical expenses, lost income, and lost earning capacity. Plaintiffs may also seek pain and suffering compensation, and this could be a sizeable portion of your total recovery if you suffered any severe injuries. Your Riverside slip and fall attorney is your most effective asset for maximizing your potential case award.

Q: How Long Does It Take to Finalize a Slip and Fall Accident Claim in Riverside?

A: When you have an experienced Riverside slip and fall attorney handling your case and the defendant is clearly at fault, it may not take as long as you might expect to settle the claim. Settlement offers all parties involved in a civil suit to reach a swifter conclusion than they could expect from litigation. If litigation is necessary to resolve your case, it could take much longer, potentially several months to more than a year.

Q: How Do I Prove Liability for a Slip and Fall Accident in Riverside?

A: If your slip and fall injury happened because a property owner failed to take proper care of their property, allowing a dangerous condition to persist that ultimately caused your injury, you need to prove that they knew or reasonably should have known about the hazard and failed to properly address it. It is also essential that you prove you were a lawful visitor to the property, meaning you had the property owner’s express or implied permission to enter their property. The state’s premises liability laws do not apply to trespassers or intruders on private property.

Q: Do I Really Need to Hire a Riverside Slip and Fall Attorney?

A: California law does not require you to hire legal counsel for a personal injury case. However, you would face an extremely challenging situation if you tried to handle your case alone. You would be contending with your medical needs in recovery while also addressing strict filing requirements with the court and the other procedural obligations of your case. Instead of confronting all these issues on your own without assistance, having an experienced Riverside slip and fall attorney represent you makes every aspect of your recovery efforts easier to manage and more likely to yield positive results. You are also more likely to maximize your case award with their assistance.

Q: How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Riverside Slip and Fall Attorney?

A: There is no need to worry about expensive legal fees when you choose Easton & Easton as your legal representatives. We accept all personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis. This means you will not pay anything upfront, nor are you charged ongoing attorneys’ fees as your case unfolds. If we win your case, we take a percentage of the total amount recovered from the defendant as our fee. If we are unsuccessful with your claim, you pay nothing.

The attorneys at Easton & Easton have a long professional record of successful cases due to our focus on each individual client’s needs. We know that no two cases are exactly alike, and every client will face different challenges in their recovery efforts after a slip and fall accident. If you believe you have grounds to file a premises liability claim in Riverside, we can help, and the sooner you reach out to our team the more likely you are to maximize your recovery. Contact Easton & Easton today to schedule your consultation with a Riverside slip and fall attorney you can trust with your case.