If you have been hurt in a slip and fall, trip and fall, or other premises-liability incident in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, or Maryland, the Siddons Law Firm, PLLC represents injured people. Attorney Michael Alan Siddons is admitted to the bars of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and New York, and the firm whose accidents were caused by negligent property maintenance. We handle these matters on a contingency-fee basis — there is no cost to you to evaluate your claim, and there is no fee unless we recover compensation.
What Counts as a Slip and Fall Case?
A slip and fall case is a category of premises-liability claim in which a property owner, manager, or occupier failed to maintain the property in a reasonably safe condition, and that failure caused an invitee or licensee to fall and suffer injury. Common triggering hazards include:
- Wet, freshly mopped, or unmarked spilled-liquid floors
- Snow and ice accumulation on walkways, parking lots, or stairs that were not reasonably cleared or treated
- Uneven flooring, lifted carpet, broken tiles, or loose floor mats
- Defective or missing handrails on stairs
- Inadequate lighting in stairwells, parking garages, or hallways
- Cracked or uneven sidewalks, parking-lot pavement, and curb cuts
- Loose or missing stair treads or risers
- Cords, cables, or unmarked equipment in walkways
- Failure to mark or guard a known hazard while repairs are pending
Who Is Liable?
The legal duty of care depends on the relationship between you and the property owner:
- Invitee — a customer in a store, a guest at a hotel, or a patient at a medical office. The property owner owes the highest duty of care, including a duty to inspect the property for hidden hazards and either fix them or warn invitees about them.
- Licensee — a social guest in a private home. The property owner owes a duty to warn about known hazards but generally has no duty to inspect.
- Trespasser — someone present without permission. The property owner generally owes no duty of care, with limited exceptions (e.g. attractive nuisance for child trespassers).
Liability can rest with multiple parties: the building owner, the tenant operating the business, the property-management company, the snow-removal contractor, the cleaning service, or any combination of them. Identifying every potentially-liable party is one of the first things our investigation does.
What You Have to Prove
To win a slip-and-fall case in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, or Maryland, you have to prove four elements:
- Duty of care. The property owner owed you a duty to maintain the property reasonably given your status (invitee, licensee, or trespasser).
- Breach. A dangerous condition existed that the property owner created, knew about, or should have known about with reasonable inspection.
- Causation. The dangerous condition was the actual cause of your fall and your injury.
- Damages. You suffered actual injury — medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, or other compensable harm.
The most contested element in most slip-and-fall cases is breach. Defendants argue that the hazard was open and obvious, that you should have seen it, that they had no notice it existed, or that the time between the hazard appearing and your fall was too short for any reasonable inspection to find it. Surveillance video, incident reports, weather records, and prior incident history are key evidence in proving notice.
Common Injuries
The injuries we see in slip and fall cases tend to fall into a few categories:
- Hip fractures (especially in older adults — often life-altering)
- Wrist and forearm fractures (FOOSH — falling on outstretched hand)
- Traumatic brain injuries from striking the head on the floor or a hard surface
- Spinal injuries, including herniated discs and compression fractures
- Knee injuries (meniscus tears, ACL/MCL/PCL tears, patellar dislocations)
- Shoulder dislocations and rotator-cuff tears
- Soft-tissue injuries that become chronic pain conditions
Statute of Limitations
Time limits are short. If you wait too long to file, even an obviously meritorious claim can be dismissed.
- Pennsylvania: 2 years from the date of injury
- New Jersey: 2 years from the date of injury
- New York: 3 years from the date of injury (1 year and 90 days for claims against most municipal defendants)
- Maryland: 3 years from the date of injury (one year for claims against state government)
Notice-of-claim deadlines for cases against municipal defendants are much shorter (often 60-90 days). If you fell on a public sidewalk or at a public building, call us promptly so we can preserve your right to file a notice of claim.
What to Do After a Slip and Fall
- Get medical attention. Even if you feel fine, get evaluated — soft-tissue and head injuries can present hours or days later.
- Report the incident in writing to the property owner or manager and ask for a copy of the incident report.
- Photograph the hazard, the surrounding area, your injuries, your shoes, and anything that documents the conditions at the time.
- Get the names and contact information of any witnesses.
- Preserve your shoes and the clothing you were wearing.
- Do not give a recorded statement to the property owner’s insurer until you have spoken with a lawyer.
- Call our office for a free, confidential evaluation.
How We Evaluate and Pursue These Cases
When you contact our firm about a slip-and-fall claim, the first thing we do is gather the basic facts: where it happened, when it happened, what you were doing, what hazard caused the fall, what your injuries are, and what medical care you have received. We then investigate:
- Surveillance video preservation requests sent to the property owner before the typical 30- to 90-day overwrite cycle
- Incident report and prior-incident history requests
- Property maintenance records, snow-removal logs, and inspection records
- Identification of every potentially-liable party (owner, tenant, contractor, manager)
- Local weather records (especially in winter slip-and-fall cases)
- Building-code and ADA compliance records
If the case has merit, we file suit, conduct discovery, and either negotiate a settlement or take the case to trial. There is no cost to you for the investigation, and there is no fee unless we recover compensation.
Free Case Evaluation
If you or a loved one has been injured in a slip and fall in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, or Maryland, contact our office for a free, confidential evaluation. We respond promptly and are available to meet at our Media, PA office or at your hospital, home, or rehabilitation facility if you cannot travel.