When you suffer a slip and fall on someone else’s property, the repercussions can ripple through every aspect of your life. You may face mounting medical bills for emergency care, surgeries, and ongoing physical therapy. You may have to miss work or worse, your ability to do your job duties could be permanently compromised. Moreover, prolonged pain and suffering can have a serious impact on your quality of life.
At Zobel Legal Group, we are determined to hold negligent property owners or business managers liable for your slip and fall injuries and losses. Our Denver slip and fall attorneys will find the evidence to prove liability and fight for maximum compensation on your behalf. Call our law office in Denver to schedule your free case evaluation, or set up a meeting over Zoom or FaceTime with us.
What is Considered a Slip and Fall Accident in Denver?
Property owners, operators, and managers in Denver are legally required to keep their premises reasonably safe for those who visit or are invited onto their property. This legal duty encompasses cleaning up spills, removing tripping hazards, inspecting walkways for potential dangers, and providing clear warnings for hazards that cannot be immediately resolved. The law acknowledges that there are several safety measures one can take to prevent most slip and fall accidents on their premises.
To hold them liable, the injured victim must prove that:
- The property owner created the hazardous condition or knew about it before the fall and failed to correct it or adequately warn others.
- The condition directly caused the fall and the injuries that resulted.
Slip and fall cases are among the toughest legal battles to win because businesses and their insurers take swift action to protect themselves, sometimes going as far as destroying evidence, repairing dangerous conditions before they can be examined, or cleaning up the substance that caused the fall before it can be captured on camera as evidence.
On top of this, your Denver slip and fall claim will be likely entangled in complex liability issues, including establishing whether the property owner had constructive notice of the hazard, if local building codes were followed, and addressing complicated questions of insurance coverage. Our experienced Denver personal injury lawyer is well-versed in these legal challenges and will leave no stone unturned to prove the liability of the negligent parties and recover maximum compensation for you.
Common Slip and Fall Cases
Our firm has a track record of success in slip and fall claims arising from a wide range of issues:
- Spills, leaks, or recently mopped floors (without proper warning signs)
- Damaged/cracked sidewalks, potholes, or unlevel flooring
- Loose or torn carpeting
- Poor/broken lighting in stairwells, hallways, or parking lots
- Ice or snow build-up
- Broken or missing handrails
- Loose floorboards or tiles
- Cluttered stairs or paths
- Unmarked step-downs (steps or sudden changes in elevation)
- Improperly constructed stairs (that violate building codes)
- Uncovered manholes or pits
- Slippery outdoor surfaces due to wet grass, moss-covered stone, or algae
- Defective escalators or elevators
- Lack of proper signage for known hazards
- Poor architectural designs (e.g., low-hanging objects, awkwardly placed steps)
Injuries You Could Sustain in Slip and Fall Accidents
In the experience of our slip and fall accident lawyers in Denver, the following injuries commonly occur in these cases:
- Fractured wrist
- Ankle sprain
- Torn ligaments
- Concussion
- Dislocated shoulder
- Hip fracture
- Knee injury
- Lower back strain
- Spinal cord injury
- Contusions/bruising
- Skull fracture
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
- Facial fractures
- Rib fractures
- Tailbone injury
- Soft tissue damage
What to Do After a Slip and Fall Accident in Denver, CO
Seek Immediate Medical Attention
If you think the injury is severe, call 911 or ask someone nearby to do so. Remember, the insurance companies (your own as well as the property owner’s) will scrutinize any gaps in treatment to shift the blame to you.
Report the Fall Immediately
Notify the person-in-charge right away. This could be your landlord, a homeowner, a construction site supervisor, or a store manager. Make sure they create a written report of your fall and ask for a copy.
Gather Evidence
To strengthen your Denver premises liability claim, you should try to obtain the following information:
- Photographs or a video of the area where the accident occurred.
- Pictures of your visible injuries from different angles and distances.
- Ask witnesses to write down or record their statement on your phone (have them jot down their names, phone numbers, and the date)
- Put the clothing and shoes you were wearing at the time in a clean, dry bag and avoid washing them.
- Collect pay stubs, a letter from your employer verifying lost wages, and documentation of any paid time off (PTO) used due to the injury
Notify Your Insurance Company
Inform your health insurance or MedPay (Medical Payments) coverage but limit your communication strictly to the facts of your fall injury – do not discuss anything about anyone’s fault or liability. If you suffered traumatic brain injuries in a fall from height or a less severe injury, chances are that your insurer may attempt to reduce their liability if you make any statements they can use against you.
Consult Our Denver Personal Injury Attorney
Get in touch with our experienced Denver slip and fall attorney to protect your rights. To bolster your personal injury case, our attorneys will move fast to preserve evidence, and hold all the negligent parties liable for maximum damages.
Avoid Direct Negotiations with the Insurer
Direct all communication from the insurance company to our Denver slip and fall accident lawyer. As your Denver slip and fall accident attorneys, we will:
- Take over all correspondence to ensure that nothing you say can be used against you.
- Examine all relevant insurance policies to determine the available coverage and limits.
- Collaborate with medical specialists, accident reconstructionists, architects or structural engineers, biomechanical engineers, safety and OSHA compliance experts, human factors experts, vocational rehabilitation experts, ADA compliance experts, and more to prove liability and the full extent of your damages.
- Prepare your case for trial even while negotiations are ongoing to put pressure on the defendants to agree to a fair settlement.
Choose Zobel Legal Group for Your Denver Slip and Fall Claim
At Zobel Legal Group, our highly rated slip and fall attorney, Wade Zobel along with our legal team, will take the following steps to maximize damages for your slip and fall injury claim:
Comprehensive Liability Assessment
In a slip and fall case, our first step is to conduct an investigation to identify all liable parties. We check whether the tenant or property owner maintained the premises according to legal standards; if there are any prior complaints, the property’s maintenance logs, and safety protocols that were or should have been followed. We will find out if a third party, like a cleaning company or service contractor, shares any blame.
Colorado follows the “modified comparative negligence” law or “50% bar rule”, which means if you are found to be 50% or more at fault for your fall, you cannot recover any damages. However, if you are less than 50% at fault, you may still get compensation but it will be reduced by your percentage of fault. We will minimize this risk for you and maximize your chances of a full recovery.
Review the Local Ordinances in Denver
Denver has specific building ordinances that all home and business owners must follow. To give you an idea, we will check if the following regulations were broken by the defendant(s):
- They must remove snow and ice within 24 hours after a snowfall.
- Stairways must have slip-resistant surfaces, proper handrail heights (34 to 38 inches), consistent riser heights, and adequate lighting.
- Floors, ramps, and stair treads must have stable, level, and non-slip surfaces.
Aggressive Negotiations with Insurers
While you can collect preliminary evidence from the scene of the accident, that may not be enough to counter the strategies used by insurance providers to undervalue or deny personal injury claims. At Zobel Legal Group, our slip and fall lawyers in Denver will investigate and obtain the following evidence to establish liability and build a compelling case:
- Video recordings from nearby security cameras
- Records of cleaning, inspections, and maintenance activities performed in the area
- Official accident reports filed by the property owner or staff immediately after the accident
- Your ER or urgent care visit records, diagnostic tests (e.g., x-rays, MRIs), and ongoing treatment plans
- Any repairs or modifications made after your fall
- Photos or videos of your accident taken by bystanders
- EMS and police reports related to the fall
- Correspondence with the defendant’s insurance company and any attempts to downplay or deny the claim
- Time-stamped metadata from cell phones and digital security systems to confirm the exact time of the fall
- Testimony from biomechanical engineers to explain how the safety issue caused you to fall
- Social media posts made by the landowner or employees mentioning your fall or showing a lack of concern for safety protocols
- Internal memos or emails within the property management or ownership revealing prior knowledge of the hazard or attempts to cover it up
- Previous claims or lawsuits to establish a pattern of negligence
- Employees’ training records to prove their lack of qualifications
- Analysis of the flooring or surface to scientifically establish that it was unsafe
- Online customer reviews or complaints about similar issues on the property that caused your fall
- 3D reconstructions or diagrams of the fall site to visually demonstrate your accident
Our evidence-based negotiations allow us to push back against the unreasonable offers made by the insurance and obtain an amount that reflects your economic damages (medical bills, lost wages) and non-economic damages (pain and suffering, emotional distress).
Robust Trial Representation
While most cases settle out of court, Zobel Legal Group is fully prepared to take your case to trial if necessary. Since we build your case from day one as if it will go before a judge and jury, we are not afraid to go to court if a fair settlement is not offered. Denver slip and fall accident attorney Wade Zobel’s experience in litigation gives him a deep understanding of how to develop a persuasive narrative that ties every piece of evidence together in a way that resonates with a jury.
Maximize Your Compensation with Our Slip and Fall Lawyer in Denver
At Zobel Legal Group, we believe legal help for slip and fall victims in Denver is vital. To make sure everyone in Denver and surrounding areas has access to the best personal injury help in slip and fall accident injury cases, we work on a contingency fee basis. This means you don’t owe us anything unless we recover financial compensation for you. Give us a call at 720-434-6674 or fill out this online contact form to schedule your free case review.