Injury Law
Slip and Fall Attorney for Los Angeles County and Orange County
The store has the video, the sweep log, and the incident report. You have a fracture and a phone. Fred Yadegar evens that out, starting with a written demand that the evidence be kept.
- Owners and occupiers must use reasonable care to keep premises safe (Civ. Code §1714)
- The case turns on notice: what the owner knew, or should have known, and when
- Ask the business in writing to preserve its video on the day of the fall
- Falls on public property: written claim within six months (Gov. Code §911.2)
A slip and fall claim in Los Angeles County or Orange County is decided by what the property owner can be shown to have known, and the proof of that sits in the owner’s own records. Fred Yadegar represents people injured by wet floors, broken stairs, poor lighting, lifted sidewalks, and unmarked hazards on commercial, residential, and public property, and his first move in every case is to make sure those records survive.
The first week decides more than the trial
Most stores, restaurants, apartment complexes, and parking structures record video, and most overwrite it on a short loop. The footage that shows a spill sitting untouched for forty minutes, or an employee stepping around it, is routinely gone before an insurer ever asks for it. The same is true of sweep sheets and inspection logs, the documents that establish when the area was last checked. Our office sends a written preservation demand to the owner and its insurer as soon as we are retained, covering the video, the incident report, the inspection records, and the maintenance history for the location. If you do nothing else on the day you fall, ask the business in writing to preserve its video.
What the law requires of an owner
California holds every person and business responsible for injuries caused by a failure to use ordinary care (Civ. Code §1714). Applied to property, that means an owner or occupier must keep the premises reasonably safe, inspect for hazards, and either repair, warn about, or block off a dangerous condition within a reasonable time. Liability does not follow automatically from a fall. The central question is notice: did the owner know about the condition, or should a reasonable inspection have found it? A cooler that had been leaking onto the floor for a week, a stairwell light that tenants had reported twice, a sidewalk slab lifted by tree roots months earlier: each is a notice case, and each is proven with records and witnesses.
Call now: A preservation demand only works before the footage is overwritten. If you have fallen on someone else’s property, contact Fred now so that the request goes out this week.
Public property runs on a shorter clock
A fall on a city sidewalk, in a county office, at a public park, or on other government property is a claim against a public entity, and the rules change. A written government claim must be presented within six months of the injury (Gov. Code §911.2), before any lawsuit can be filed. A claim against a private owner has two years (Code Civ. Proc. §335.1). Working out who controlled the location, the adjacent business, the city, or both, is one of the first things we do, because guessing wrong can mean missing the shorter deadline.
Shared responsibility reduces a claim; it does not remove it
Insurers for property owners argue that the injured person should have seen the hazard. California answers that argument with pure comparative negligence (Li v. Yellow Cab, 1975): fault is divided by percentage, and your recovery is reduced by your share. A shopper found one-fifth responsible for not noticing a spill still recovers four-fifths of their damages. The owner’s failure to inspect, clean, light, or warn remains the owner’s responsibility regardless of what you were wearing or carrying.
What the claim is worth is a question for later
The value of a claim depends on the injury, the treatment, and the effect on your work and daily life, and none of that is known in the first weeks. Economic damages cover medical bills, future care, and lost income; non-economic damages cover pain and the loss of ordinary activities. California places no cap on either in an ordinary injury case. Hip fractures, spinal injuries, and head injuries from falls are common in older adults and often require surgery and long recoveries, and our serious injuries page explains how those cases are built around future care. When the owner’s insurer delays or denies, the deadlines it must meet are set out on insurance company disputes.
Do these things before you talk to the insurer
- Get medical treatment today and tell the provider exactly where and how you fell.
- Report the fall to the manager or landlord in writing, and ask for a copy of the incident report.
- Photograph the hazard from several angles, along with the lighting, any signs, and the surrounding area, with something in the frame for scale.
- Keep the shoes you were wearing and photograph them.
- Collect names and phone numbers from witnesses, including employees.
- Ask the business, in writing, to preserve its video and inspection records.
- Decline a recorded statement to the property’s insurer, and do not accept an offer to ‘cover your bills’ without a review.
- Write a short account of the fall while the details are fresh: the time, the weather, and what you saw before and after.
Working with Fred on a fall case
Fred Yadegar has been a licensed California attorney since 2006 (State Bar #244184), and he represents fall victims throughout Los Angeles County and Orange County. Fall cases are handled on a contingency fee, with no upfront cost. If you don’t get paid, we don’t get paid. We move on the evidence first, build the notice case from the owner’s own records, and present the claim to the insurer only when the medical picture is complete. If the fall involved a vehicle, or happened while you were crossing a street, our pedestrian accidents page may be the better starting point.
Written and reviewed by Fred Yadegar, California attorney, State Bar #244184, licensed since 2006.
Questions about slip and falls
No. Report it now, in writing, with the date, the location, and what caused the fall, and ask for a copy of any incident report. A late report is less helpful than a same-day one, but medical records, witnesses, and video can still establish what happened.
Not by itself. Whether a warning was adequate depends on where the sign stood, whether it was visible from your path, and whether the hazard could have been cleaned up instead. Photographs and video usually settle the question.
A landlord must use reasonable care to keep common areas such as stairways, walkways, and parking areas safe (Civ. Code §1714). Earlier complaints from tenants about the same condition are strong evidence that the landlord knew about it.
Medical expenses, future treatment, lost wages, and reduced earning capacity, together with non-economic damages for pain and the loss of ordinary activities. California does not cap these damages in an ordinary injury case.
Two years from the fall for a claim against a private owner (Code Civ. Proc. §335.1). A fall on city, county, or state property requires a written government claim within six months (Gov. Code §911.2). The exceptions cut both ways, so call before assuming you have time.
No. Fall cases are handled on contingency, and the fee is paid from the recovery. If you don't get paid, we don't get paid.
Hurt in a fall? The video will not wait.
Fred reviews fall claims from Los Angeles and Orange County at no charge and takes them on contingency. If you don't get paid, we don't get paid.
Contingency fee applies to injury and surplus-funds matters. Costs may be advanced and repaid from any recovery; ask us how it works in your case.