So-called slip and fall accidents encompass a broad range of incidents in which a person suffers severe injuries in an unintentional, preventable fall. Despite their name, slip and falls include falls with any number of causes, including slips, trips, stumbles, and missteps. Slip and falls are especially dangerous for elderly adults, as they constitute a leading cause of hip fractures in that population.
Slip and fall accidents can happen anywhere; in private residences, at hotels, at restaurants, on a sidewalk or a train platform… anywhere. Unlike an ordinary fall, an incident lawyers would call a slip and fall results from someone else’s careless, reckless, or intentionally harmful actions that created a dangerous condition leading to the fall. Examples of negligent actions that may lead to a slip and fall include a property owner’s failure to clear snow and ice from a sidewalk or stoop, leaving spills on the floor instead of mopping them up, and not tending to cracked or uneven flooring.