Columbus Slip and Fall Accident Lawyer

Getting Legal Recovery After a Columbus Slip and Fall Accident

Slipping and falling is one of the most common injuries seen in the Columbus area. It can happen at Publix if a floor is recently mopped but not properly left to dry, or it could happen in a store’s parking lot if there is frost and ice but no salt. All of this means that a slip and fall can happen anywhere and at any time. And while the accident may seem simple or even embarrassing, the injuries received can be life-changing in the blink of an eye.

At Merritt & Merritt Law Firm, our team has many years of experience helping Columbus’s residents get the legal recovery and justice that they deserve for their injuries. Our team can analyze the unique facts surrounding your case to help you explore your legal options and understand your rights. If you or your family has suffered an injury in Columbus or anywhere else in Georgia, call us today at 706-955-1559 to speak immediately with a Columbus slip and fall accident lawyer.

Evidence of Unsafe Wet Floors and Cleaning Logs

Perhaps the most common cause of slips and falls is when a store has wet floors that are not properly marked. The exact cause of the wet floor can range from mopping to spilled soda, or even from rain leaking in from holes in the roof. Regardless of the exact cause, a slick floor is a dangerous floor.

Places of business can be held liable for injuries resulting from wet floors because businesses owe customers what the law calls a “duty of care.” Part of this duty means that the shopping premises are safe. When they fail to uphold this duty, then the law says they are acting “negligently.” Our legal team goes over the business’s documents and policies to see what factors led to the wet floor and if we can prove their negligence. Some of the ways we do this include:

• Reviewing daily sweep sheets. Store policies usually require workers to walk the aisles every hour and sign a logbook, so we check if those signatures are missing or forged.
• Analyzing employee schedules. A severely understaffed store often means managers pull workers away from safety sweeps to run the cash registers instead.
• Examining security camera footage. Video evidence can definitively show exactly when a spill occurred and how many employees walked right past it without doing anything.

Footwear, Traction, and Defense Tactics

If a property owner cannot deny that their floor was dangerously slick, their next strategy is to point the finger directly at you. A very common defense tactic in slip and fall cases is to blame the victim’s shoes. The insurance company’s lawyers will argue that your footwear lacked proper traction, that your soles were too worn down, or that you were wearing inappropriate shoes for the environment. They want the jury to believe that if you had just been wearing sensible rubber-soled boots, the accident never would have happened.

In Georgia, the law allows the court to assign a percentage of fault to everyone involved. This is known as comparative negligence. If the defense can convince the judge that your slippery shoes made you 50% or more responsible for the fall, you will not receive a single dime in compensation. To protect your rights, we actively fight back against these aggressive victim-blaming strategies.

• Preserving the actual shoes. We secure the footwear you were wearing at the time of the accident to prevent the defense from making false claims about its condition.
• Consulting safety engineers. Experts can test the friction coefficient of the floor to prove that it was so dangerously slick that absolutely no shoe could have prevented a fall.
• Highlighting building code violations. If the flooring material itself was illegal for a commercial entryway, the type of shoes you chose to wear becomes entirely irrelevant.
• Gathering prior incident reports. Showing that other people fell in the same spot while wearing different types of shoes proves that the floor is the real problem.
• Focusing on the hidden danger. Customers have a right to assume a store aisle is safe, and we emphasize that they are not required to wear heavy-duty hiking boots just to buy groceries.

Do not let an insurance adjuster intimidate you by criticizing your clothing choices. We know how to dismantle these arguments and keep the spotlight firmly on the property owner’s negligence where it belongs.

Weather-Related Slip Claims and Mat Policies

Rain and bad weather create a major hazard for any business with a lot of foot traffic. When customers walk in from a storm, they track water, mud, and leaves directly onto the hard commercial floors. While a store owner obviously cannot control the weather outside, they are absolutely responsible for managing the conditions inside their building. Failing to adapt to rainy weather is a leading cause of severe slip and fall injuries in Columbus.

The law requires business owners to take reasonable, proactive steps when they know it is raining. They cannot just sit back and watch the lobby turn into a slippery ice rink. They must have clear policies in place to manage the tracked-in water and protect the people entering their establishment. When a store fails to implement these basic safety measures, it is acting negligently.

• Evaluating entryway mat placement. Stores must use heavy, water-absorbent rugs that lie completely flat, rather than thin mats that bunch up and become trip hazards themselves.
• Checking for proper warning signs. Bright yellow caution cones should be placed immediately at the doors to alert incoming customers that the transition from the sidewalk to the tile is slick.
• Reviewing rainy day procedures. We demand to see the store’s training manuals to find out if managers actually instruct their staff to mop the entrance more frequently during a storm.
• Investigating canopy and awning maintenance. A broken gutter or a leaking overhang that dumps a continuous stream of water directly in front of the main door creates an unavoidable danger.
• Assessing the choice of flooring. Some polished tiles become as slick as glass the moment a single drop of water hits them, making them completely inappropriate for a commercial lobby.

If a store manager tells you that your fall was just an unavoidable “act of God” because of the rain, they are not telling you the truth. They had a duty to prepare for the weather and keep their entrance safe. We hold them to that standard.

Evidence Merritt & Merritt Law Firm Uses to Help Clients Recover From Hip and Knee Injuries

Perhaps the most common injuries in a slip and fall accident are to your hips and knees. This is because there is little, if any, time to react to the fall. As a result, your lower body directly absorbs a lot of the impact in the fall. To make matters worse, your hips and knees are incredibly complex joints that carry your body weight. Injuries that would be minor if they happened elsewhere on your body might be devastating and require long-term treatment and care if they happen to your hip and knees.

In order to demonstrate hip and knee injuries, our team examines the entire accident and medical record from beginning to end. We build a picture that shows that the injuries were painful and can potentially require immediate and expensive medical treatment to regain full function. Some of the ways the Merritt & Merritt Law Firm team does things are by:

• Utilizing advanced imaging scans. High-resolution MRIs and CT scans are used to definitively prove the presence of fresh fractures, torn meniscus cartilage, or newly ruptured ligaments.
• Obtaining surgical reports. Detailed notes from your orthopedic surgeon provide objective proof of the damage they had to repair inside your joint.
• Working with life care planners. For severe hip replacements or permanent knee damage, experts calculate the exact cost of the future medical care and mobility aids you will need for the rest of your life.
• Gathering testimony from treating doctors. Your physicians can firmly state that your injuries were caused by acute trauma, shutting down the insurance company’s arguments about arthritis or old age.

You should never have to drain your savings or go into medical debt because a negligent business owner failed to mop their floor. We aggressively pursue the compensation required to cover your surgeries, your physical therapy, and your lost wages.

Let the Dedicated Merritt & Merritt Law Firm Team Fight for You

You deserve to have a strong, experienced advocate in your corner. At Merritt & Merritt Law Firm, our Columbus slip and fall accident lawyer team treats our clients like family. We will handle the entire investigation, preserve the crucial evidence, and fight the insurance company so you can concentrate on getting your health back. We work on a contingency fee basis, which means you pay us absolutely nothing upfront, and we only get paid if we win your case. If a careless property owner caused your slip and fall injury, please do not wait. Call our Columbus office today at 706-955-1559 for a completely free and confidential consultation about your legal rights.