Were you or a loved one injured in a trip and fall in Boise? Check out these 5 common slip and fall questions, then call our attorneys today!
1) How do I select the best slip and fall attorney in Idaho?
How do you choose the right slip and fall attorney in Idaho? It’s an important issue for any of you who have been in a situation where you’ve fell and you’re thinking about bringing a claim. It’s important that you have an attorney who has addressed these issues many times in the past because you’re going to want to know whether you have a case because, in a slip and fall case, that’s not a sure thing.
We talk to many slip and fall clients on calls every year. Together, we may decide that we don’t think we can prove that someone was negligent and caused the fall. For example, a person might be walking through a parking lot in Sun Valley during an icy snowstorm and they fall. The big question is are they at fault? Should they have made this walkway safer because if you’re on a sidewalk in front of a commercial building and they’re inviting customers in, that’s a little different than walking through an icy parking lot where you as the pedestrian know that it’s icy. There’s some expectation usually from a jury that you’re going to recognize that and you’re going to protect yourself.
Every slip and fall case is different. You need to hire an attorney who knows the difference and has some experience with how juries might respond to different situations because that’s also going to make a difference with how the insurance company’s going to respond to the situation. If you have any questions about slip and fall cases, please give us a call because we’re happy to talk to you.
2) How long is it going to take to resolve my slip and fall accident injury claim in Idaho?
How long does it typically take to resolve a slip and fall claim in Idaho? We can’t give you a definite answer on this question because we’ve represented lots of people in different kinds of fall cases. “It depends” is the answer. If a case is really solid, like the case we had in which a client fell on a run over a tethered line that was put across a sidewalk by a contractor and broke both wrists, then you might expect an earlier resolution.
In a case, though, where someone might have a traumatic brain injury or some injury that isn’t resolved and we need to wait and see, things can take time. We’re not going to resolve a case unless we know what their medical situation is at the end because some people do have permanent injuries. We need to know what that permanent injury is. Some people get better six months after their fall. We need to wait until that six months is up and to determine what we think the case is valued at.
The easy answer is that it depends, but it can take anywhere from say six months to say a couple of years because maybe you end up going through a trial to prove your case. The easy answer, the most obvious answer, is it can take any amount of time to resolve a slip-and-fall case. If you have any questions about slip and fall cases in Idaho, please give us a call because we want to talk to you about it.
3) What should I do if I fall due to a faulty handrail in Idaho?
What should you do in a slip and fall case due to a faulty handrail? We have recently represented someone in this exact case. He was walking down a new staircase, and the handrail fell, and he fell and needed shoulder surgery. He actually ended up needing two shoulder surgeries. The big question is did the company who put in the handrail, or did the owner of the handrail know, that it was faulty, or, in this case, did the people who had installed the handrail do it properly? In this case, it was a steel handrail, it was tack welded – tack welding is just a temporary fix – and it didn’t meet the OSHA and building code guidelines for the kind of weight a handrail needs to support.
In a handrail case, the question is did either the owner of the building know about it and not do anything about it? If so, the owner is probably at fault. Did the installer install the handrail properly, according to OSHA and building code guidelines? If they didn’t then they’re going to be responsible. If you have any questions about a handrail case or slip and fall case, please give us a call. We’re happy to talk to you about it.
4) Can I sue a city or county for my injuries from a sidewalk or curb in Idaho?
We represented someone recently, a man in Boise, who stepped on a grate on a sidewalk. It collapsed. He then injured himself pretty significantly. The big question in that case is, does the county, city or whoever is responsible for maintaining that sidewalk ( in this case, it was the Ada County Highway District), do they have notice that there’s a problem, or have their policies not been sufficient to address an issue like this?
What you need to determine is if county employees – or ACHD, or whoever you believe is at fault – were on notice that there was a problem that needed to be fixed. If they were on notice of it, and then they don’t do anything about it – put up warnings or cones, or fix the problem, preferably – then they are responsible for their own negligence. If they aren’t on notice, then that becomes a different issue and you’re going to have a hard time proving that they were negligent. These are important matters to address early in a case to figure out if they were on notice and what you can prove. Those are questions that we’d be happy to answer for you, if you want to give us a call, and these are important issues to resolve early in a case.
5) Are slip and fall cases different in Idaho depending on the facts?
The answer to this question is absolutely yes. We receive lots of slip and fall cases. We represented a woman recently who was running in Boise. She was running on the sidewalks in a neighborhood. It was early in the morning, before light, so it was dark out and she had a headlamp on. She was running on a sidewalk by a construction site where a house was being built. The contractor had put a rope across the sidewalk at about her shin level. Of course, since it’s dark, so she doesn’t see it. She goes down, breaks both of her wrists and needs surgery on one of them.
This is an excellent slip and fall case because the defendant’s conduct is not really excusable. He should have foreseen that people might fall on this. Her conduct is good because you wouldn’t expect her to see, in the dark, a rope across the road at about shin level. We’ve handled other cases like that, too. What we try to provide for you is the best advice we can give you because, in a slip and fall case, you could lose the case. A jury could determine that you’re at fault, and the person you believe is at fault is not.
For example, if you are just walking down the sidewalk and trip and fall, which we all do, and it’s not due to the negligence of someone else, then you might not have a case. That’s the big question in a slip and fall case – did the person that you think did something wrong really do something wrong?
If you have any questions about slip and fall cases in Idaho, please feel free to give us a call. These are things we deal with all the time, and we can give you the best advice that we are able to give.
Were you or a loved one severely injured in a trip and fall in Boise and have questions? After checking out these 5 common slip and fall questions, contact experienced Boise Slip and Fall Lawyers at Hepworth Holzer today for a free legal consultation and case evaluation.
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