California Law on Slip and Fall Accidents

Slip and fall accidents are an unfortunately common occurrence and can sometimes lead to serious injuries. While determining who is at fault in a slip and fall accident can depend on several different factors and circumstances, there are a few guideposts to help you determine who may be responsible for your damages.

The Legal Standard of Negligence

In short, the person or business whose negligent behavior caused your slip and fall accident will be legally liable for any injuries or damages resulting from the accident. Negligence is a legal term describing when a person’s behavior falls below the appropriate duty of care, which is typically the standard of a “reasonably prudent person” acting in similar circumstances.

While this intentionally opaque legal standard is ultimately a question left for a jury to decide, there are several “red flags” that may indicate when a person or business has behaved in the way a “reasonably prudent person” would in similar circumstances, or not. First, if a spill has been on the floor for a long period of time, then it is more likely that the restaurant, mall, or business office is behaving negligently by not cleaning it up. On the other hand, if a spill occurred only seconds before a patron of a restaurant slipped and fell in it, then it is more unlikely that the restaurant behaved in a negligent manner since, within the span of only a few seconds, an employee could not be expected to notice the spill and clean it up.

Comparative Negligence in California

In many circumstances, there is not one single business or person responsible for a slip and fall accident. Under California law, a victim of a slip and fall accident may file a negligence lawsuit against all allegedly responsible parties. In fact, even when the injured victim is partially responsible because of his or her own negligence, California law still allows the victim to recover for part of the award. Commonly, business and property owners will assert that the victim’s negligence contributed to the slip and fall accident because he or she was not paying attention, the spill should have been obvious to the victim, or the spill happened in an area infrequently visited by non-employees.

Under California’s comparative negligence laws, the jury will assign a percentage of fault to each negligent party in the lawsuit. If the jury finds that the injured victim is at fault, then the damages awarded will be reduced by that percentage of fault. For example, if the jury decides the property owner was 70% at fault and the injured victim was 30% at fault, then for a damage award of $100,000, the injured victim will only be able to recoup $70,000 from the negligent property owner.

Statute of Limitations for Slip and Fall Accidents

Like all other states, California limits the amount of time a person may bring a negligence lawsuit. For most California residents, a slip and fall lawsuit must be filed in a California court within two years from the date of the accident. There are, however, several circumstances in which this two-year period may be “tolled” or suspended for a brief period of time – for example, if the injured person is under the age of 18, or if the injured person spent a considerable amount of time outside of California. 

Injured in a Slip and Fall?

If you were injured in a slip and fall and someone else is to blame, contact a personal injury attorney right away. If you are within the Inland Empire the Law Office of Justin H. King is available to consult about your rights. Slip and fall cases and premise liability in general is time sensitive to don’t waste any time talking to a professional. If you are outside the Inland Empire you can also find personal injury attorneys here: Los Angeles Personal Injury Attorneys, San Diego Personal Injury Attorneys

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About the Author:

Justin King