A short fall on a wet grocery aisle, a broken handrail, an unlit parking lot, or a poorly maintained stairwell can produce a brain bleed, a hip fracture, or a spinal injury that changes the rest of a person's life. The case is built on three things: the dangerous condition, the owner's notice of it, and the trauma medicine that documents what the fall actually did. Surveillance video gets overwritten fast — we send preservation letters within hours.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that one in four adults over 65 falls each year, and falls are the leading cause of traumatic brain injury and hip fracture in that population. About 3 million older adults are treated in U.S. emergency rooms for fall-related injuries each year. Hospitalizations exceed 800,000. Many of the patients who survive a fall-related brain bleed or hip fracture never return to independent living.
Catastrophic slip and fall cases generally share the same medical fingerprint: subdural or epidural hematoma from head impact, femoral neck or intertrochanteric hip fracture from lateral impact, compression fractures of the thoracic or lumbar spine, distal radius and humerus fractures from extended-arm bracing, and severe ankle and knee injuries from torsional loading. Each injury has its own surgical and rehabilitation arc — and each one's lifetime cost reflects the patient's pre-fall functional status.
The legal case is shaped by the medicine. A 78-year-old who walked four miles a day before the fall and who now lives in skilled nursing because of a TBI and a hip fracture has a damages case that has to be supported by careful records review — not just by the radiology report from the ER, but by primary care notes documenting her pre-fall baseline.
The first 30 days after a serious fall determine whether the evidence survives.
Written demand to preserve surveillance video (often overwritten in 14 to 30 days), inspection logs, cleaning schedules, prior incident reports, and maintenance records. The condition itself gets photographed and documented before it is repaired or removed.
ER head CT, cervical and lumbar spine imaging, hip and pelvis films, operative reports, post-op imaging. Pre-fall primary care notes that establish the patient's functional baseline. The injury arc and the loss arc both depend on this records audit.
Building code review for the location. ASTM standards on slip resistance, handrail height, stair geometry, lighting levels. Engineer or human-factors expert inspection of the location, ideally before the condition is repaired. Code violations and industry-standard violations become the spine of the case.
How long had the condition existed? What does the inspection log show? Were similar conditions reported before? Did staff have sightlines to the area? Constructive-notice cases are built from the property's own records and from witness statements.
The property owner. The lessee or operator running the business. The maintenance contractor. The security contractor in inadequate-security cases. The cleaning service. The manufacturer if a fixture failed. Each defendant brings its own coverage.
Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer (NBTA). Defense lawyers know which firms will try a premises case in front of a jury and which ones will fold at the open-and-obvious motion. The credibility shapes the negotiation from day one.
Spills in aisles, produce on the floor, leaking refrigerator cases. Inspection-log analysis and the “mode of operation” rule in some states. The chains have policies; whether staff actually followed them is the case.
Wet floors near drink stations and bathrooms, food on the floor, transition steps without proper marking. Many restaurant chains have safety mat and inspection policies that frequently go unfollowed.
Pool-deck slipping conditions, bathtub falls (anti-slip surface standards), inadequate hallway lighting, defective stairs. Hotel chains know the risk profile; whether the property followed corporate standards is in the inspection records.
Broken handrails, defective stairs, untreated icy walkways, unlit common-area stairwells. Landlord-tenant duties under state premises liability law plus contractual maintenance obligations.
Wheel stops left in walkways, potholes, untreated ice, oil slicks, inadequate lighting, broken curbs. Parking facilities have specific code obligations that get overlooked in maintenance budgets.
Inconsistent riser heights, missing or non-compliant handrails, worn or non-slip-resistant treads, inadequate lighting, transition risers. Stair geometry standards are well-established and frequently violated.
Patient falls in hospitals and nursing facilities. Fall-risk protocols that should have been in place. Medication-induced fall risks not flagged. These cases overlap with medical-malpractice law in some jurisdictions.
Falls from elevation, falls into excavations, falls from defective scaffolding. OSHA standards become the standard of care. Worker's compensation and third-party claims often run in parallel.
Catastrophic injury from assault on commercial property when prior similar crimes made the assault foreseeable and security was inadequate. Hotel rooms, bars, apartment complexes, parking garages.
Damages mirror the categories available in other catastrophic injury cases. Categories typically include:
The injury, not the fall. A short fall onto a hard surface can produce a subdural hematoma, a traumatic brain injury, a hip fracture requiring surgical fixation or replacement, a compression fracture of the spine, a wrist or shoulder fracture that ends a person's working life, or a knee injury that ends mobility. CDC data shows roughly 3 million older adults are treated in emergency rooms for fall injuries each year, and about 800,000 are hospitalized. Falls are the leading cause of TBI in adults 65 and older. The injury patterns that turn a “simple” fall into a catastrophic case are well-documented and predictable.
Three elements in most states. First, a dangerous condition on the property — a wet floor, a broken handrail, a defective stair, inadequate lighting, an unmarked drop-off, an unsecured rug, an icy entrance. Second, the property owner or possessor knew or should have known about the condition. “Should have known” is the constructive notice element: how long was the condition there, how often does staff inspect, what does the inspection log show, was the condition visible from staff sightlines. Third, the dangerous condition caused the injury. In some states, an additional “mode of operation” rule applies in self-service businesses (think grocery aisles) — recurring conditions inherent in the operation create a higher duty without proof of specific notice.
Through evidence. Surveillance video from the property, which we demand by preservation letter immediately. Inspection logs, cleaning schedules, and maintenance records, all obtainable in discovery. Prior incident reports involving the same condition or area. Witness statements from staff and other patrons. Photographs of the condition and the surrounding area. Building code and ASTM standards that should have been followed. The constructive-notice case often gets built from the property's own records, which is why preservation letters go out fast.
Three reasons. First, defense lawyers will argue the condition was “open and obvious” — that the injured person should have seen and avoided it. Modern law in most states does not bar recovery for open-and-obvious conditions, but the defense uses the argument to reduce damages under comparative fault. Second, surveillance footage frequently disappears within days or weeks if not preserved by formal demand. Third, juries can be skeptical of slip and fall claims because of media portrayals — meaning the case has to be built with the same medical and engineering rigor we would bring to any other catastrophic injury matter.
A property owner has a duty to provide reasonable security against foreseeable criminal acts. When a guest, patron, or tenant is catastrophically injured in an assault on commercial property — a hotel room, a parking garage, a bar, an apartment complex — the owner can be liable if the assault was foreseeable based on prior similar crimes and security was inadequate to address that risk. These are a category of premises liability case with their own evidence pattern: prior police calls, security audits, lighting and camera coverage maps, security guard staffing levels, and so on.
Statutes of limitations vary by state — typically two to four years for premises liability. Surveillance footage and inspection records can disappear within weeks, so the practical deadline is short. Call as soon as possible after the fall so we can send preservation letters to the property owner and any security or maintenance contractors.
Surveillance footage disappears in days. The sooner we send preservation letters, the cleaner the case.
High-energy crashes with catastrophic outcomes.
FMCSA-regulated cases.
Left-turn collisions and lane-change strikes.
Tiered insurance coverage and app-status disputes.
When a catastrophic fall is fatal.
Subdural hematoma from a fall is a leading cause of catastrophic TBI in older adults.
Compression fractures with cord involvement.
Crush injuries from industrial falls.
Every catastrophic injury case type we handle nationwide.
