Masjedian Law Firm · Accidents
Slip & Fall / Premises
Property owners profit from your visit; the law requires them to keep the premises reasonably safe. When they don’t, we hold them to it.
Property owners profit from your visit; the law requires them to keep the premises reasonably safe. When they don’t, we hold them to it.
Falls are dismissed as clumsy accidents until you see the injuries: hip and wrist fractures, torn shoulders, head strikes, and back injuries that reorder a life. When a fall happens because a business or property owner let a hazard sit, California premises liability law puts the loss where it belongs.
What must be proven. A property owner is liable when a dangerous condition existed, the owner knew or reasonably should have known of it, and it caused injury. The fight is usually over notice — how long the spill sat, when the area was last inspected, whether prior incidents flagged the hazard. Sweep logs, inspection records, and surveillance footage decide these cases.
Evidence disappears fastest in fall cases. The spill is mopped within minutes; video systems overwrite in days. We send preservation demands immediately, obtain incident reports, identify employees on duty, and photograph the mechanism of the fall — floor transitions, lighting, mats, warning-sign placement — before the scene changes.
Common defendant playbook. “Open and obvious,” “she was on her phone,” “no prior complaints.” Comparative fault arguments reduce but do not bar recovery, and each is contestable with human-factors analysis and the owner’s own inspection failures.
Why this firm. Premises defendants and their insurers settle for full value when the notice evidence is nailed down and the plaintiff’s counsel will file. We build for that from the first call.
Report it to management and insist an incident report be created, photograph the hazard and your footwear, get names of witnesses and employees, and seek medical care promptly. Then contact counsel quickly — surveillance footage is often overwritten within days unless a preservation demand goes out.
No. “Open and obvious” is a comparative-fault argument, not a complete defense, and owners still owe a duty when it is foreseeable people will encounter the condition. Your recovery may be adjusted by a fault percentage, which we contest.
California’s general statute of limitations for personal injury is two years from the date of injury (CCP § 335.1). Shorter deadlines can apply — notably a six-month government claim requirement when a public entity is involved — so it is best to speak with an attorney promptly.
Claims against public entities in California require a government claim within six months of the injury — a much shorter deadline than the general statute of limitations. Act quickly if a city, county, or state property is involved.
These cases are handled on a contingency-fee basis. You pay nothing up front and owe no attorney’s fee unless the firm recovers money for you.
Submissions are reviewed directly by the attorney. Confidential.