Silver Spring Slip and Fall Lawyers Who Know How To Get Results

Our Maryland attorneys can help with your trip and fall case

Commercial and residential property owners are often careless with keeping their properties safe. This often results in slip and fall incidents.

If you were injured in a trip and fall accident in Montgomery County, contact a Silver Spring slip and fall attorney from Goldberg Finnegan to set up your free initial consultation. You may be eligible for compensation for your medical expenses, pain and suffering, and other damages. Our attorneys work on contingency—which means you pay us nothing unless we win your case.

Having a licensed attorney review your claim can be an important step. For over 20 years, the attorneys at Goldberg Finnegan have been securing compensation for injury victims—more than $150 million recovered.

Contact Goldberg Finnegan today. Free consultation available to injury victims.

Do I have a case against the property owner?

To answer this question, your attorney needs to consider whether the hazard/obstacle that led to your accident was a result of the property owner’s negligence. If you do have a case against the property owner, such cases often fall under Maryland’s premises liability laws.

A property owner could potentially be held liable if your attorney can prove one of the following:

The property owner caused the hazardous situation.
The property owner was aware of the dangerous condition and failed to resolve the issue.
Another reasonable property owner would have been aware of the unsafe situation and taken steps to fix it.

There are various factors to review to determine if the property owner acted reasonably to keep visitors/guests safe:

Whether warning signs would have made things safer
Whether the property owner did routine checks of the property
If the dangerous situation existed long enough that the property owner should have been able to address it

What was your legal status while on the property?

Another factor your Silver Spring trip and fall lawyer needs to consider is your legal status while you were on the property.

Courts in Maryland have defined four types of visitors to a property:

Invitee — These are people invited onto the property for business purposes, such as a landscape worker who has been hired to maintain the property, or a customer in a retail store. Under Maryland law, these visitors are owed the highest duty of care.
Licensee by invitation — The most common example of a licensee by invitation is a social guest at a residential property. Property owners are required to exercise reasonable care and provide clear warnings of any hazardous situations the guest is unlikely to discover.
Bare licensee — This is a visitor who is legally allowed to be on the property for his or her own purposes. The property owner only needs to avoid purposely trying to harm or injure this type of visitor. An example of a bare licensee would be a door-to-door salesperson.
Trespasser — This is a person who does not have permission to be on the property. The property owner is not legally obligated to provide a duty of care for trespassers. However, he or she must not purposely try to entrap or injure these types of visitors.

Advantages to hiring a lawyer for a slip and fall case

Trip and fall injury victims who hire a lawyer to represent their case tend to recover more compensation. This is just one of the many benefits of securing legal representation after an accident.

If you hire an attorney from Goldberg Finnegan—we charge no upfront fees—we are prepared to take various steps to build a case and pursue compensation:

Investigate the accident — This may include revisiting the scene to take pictures, obtaining video footage, reviewing accident reports and medical documents, and working with expert witnesses as needed.
Interview witnesses — If there were witnesses, make sure to ask for their contact information, so your lawyer can interview them.
Communicate with insurers — We know how to protect an injury claim when communicating with insurance companies. Doing this on your own could be a bad idea because you could unknowingly say things that hurt your chances of securing compensation.
Negotiate a fair settlement — After the investigation is complete and your injuries have reached maximum medical improvement, your lawyer can calculate the value of your claim. He or she can draft a demand letter and negotiate with the insurance company if they reject the demand letter or make a counteroffer. At Goldberg Finnegan, our slip and fall attorneys are also prepared to go to court if the insurance company does not offer reasonable compensation.

Visit our client testimonials page to see what our clients have to say about the representation we provide.

How much time do I have to file a slip and fall claim?

Maryland Code § 5-101 says that the statute of limitations for a personal injury claim is three years. This means the state allows up to three years from the date of the accident to file a claim. If you do not file your claim within those three years, you may be unable to file a lawsuit or pursue compensation for your damages.

While this is the standard deadline, there are exceptions that shorten or extend the deadline. No matter the situation, the sooner you contact a lawyer, the more time he or she has to build a strong case.

Common ways slip and fall injuries can occur

Slip and fall injuries often happen because of:

Poor lighting — Bad lighting makes it hard to see steps, obstacles, or dips or inclines on walking surfaces. Going from a properly lit space to a darkened area can be particularly dangerous as your eyes need time to adjust.
Cluttered floors — Tripping hazards often include merchandise stacked in aisles, trash, or debris.
Holes – This may include potholes, trenches, or other kinds of openings in the ground. Even if holes like these cannot be eliminated, they should be roped off or fenced in.
Damaged sidewalks — Uneven sidewalks, gaps between sidewalk segments, or cracks in paving stones may cause tripping and falling.
Icy areas — Snow and ice that build up on walkways, stairs, sidewalks, and parking lots could cause dangerous falls.
Slippery floors — Whether from tracked-in snow or a spill, floors should be quickly cleaned up. After floors are cleaned, signs should be placed in visible spots to warn people about wet floors.
Damaged stairs and floors — Loose floor tiles, torn carpet, and broken stair treads or handrails should not be neglected by property owners.
Loose wiring — Sometimes loose wiring such as extension cords may cause a trip and fall when work is being done on the property.

Where slip and fall injuries occur

Slip, trip and fall accidents can occur anywhere, including:

Parks — Holes in athletic fields, poorly maintained playground equipment, and nearby construction could all cause an accident.
Nursing homes — Older people living in assisted-living facilities or nursing homes may trip and fall due to obstacles in hallways or because they try to stand up without help because the facility is understaffed.
Department stores — Managers are responsible for making sure spills are promptly cleaned up, signs are put up to warn visitors when floors are wet, and aisles can be easily navigated.
Performance arenas — Stadiums, theaters, and arenas have many potential trouble spots. If elevators, escalators, ramps, and stairways are not free of debris and clutter, trips and falls may occur.
Workplaces — Slip and fall accidents can happen at construction sites, factories, offices, and many other workplace settings. Employers need to follow state and federal regulations to reduce the risk of a slip and fall.
Restaurants — Falls may happen because of spills, trash, or clutter.

Common injuries from slip and fall accidents

Individuals can suffer serious injuries in slip and fall accidents, including:

Whiplash
Broken bones
Bruising
Concussions
Spinal cord damage
Traumatic brain injury
Dental injuries
Pinched nerves
Shoulder dislocation
Hand and wrist injuries
Sprains and strains

Speak to a Silver Spring slip and fall attorney about your claim

If you are an injured victim of a trip and fall accident, Goldberg Finnegan may be able to help. Give us a call or fill out the free case review form and a representative will contact you shortly.

At Goldberg Finnegan, we have a proven track record of successful verdicts and settlements. We have recovered over $150 million in compensation. Our goal is to hold negligent parties accountable and recover the maximum compensation to help secure your future.

We offer 100 percent FREE case reviews and only get paid when we win. There are no upfront fees for our services, so there is no risk to you.

Contact us today to schedule your free consultation. Our office at 8401 Colesville Road is just a block from the District Court for Montgomery County.