If you suffer a serious injury after getting hurt on a hazard at your apartment complex, you should talk to a Spokane personal injury lawyer. You may be eligible for benefits and your landlord could be fully liable.
The property management company over your apartment building must do more than just take your rent check each month. They must keep apartments and the surrounding grounds safe. A hazard that isn’t cleaned up or a danger left unrepaired can leave a landlord responsible after a painful fall down a set of stairs.
A Spokane slip-and-fall lawyer can help you secure what you’ll need to pay for all recovery costs and makes sure a property owner doesn’t avoid taking responsibility.
Who Is Liable After a Fall on Stairs at an Apartment Complex?
A property owner who welcomes tenants in to live in apartments or condos, or even a rental house, must show a duty of care towards residents. Any hazard that might cause harm to a renter or a visitor should be removed or repaired before someone gets hurt.
Stairwells must be free of debris and must be regularly maintained to prevent a danger that could send you or a family member into a scary fall. Property management companies are required to inspect for hazards that the staff creates or that another tenant creates.
These legal responsibilities fall under Washington’s premises liability laws. After an accident, your Spokane premises liability lawyer works to show that a landlord knew about a danger or should have known about it. Then your lawyer would demonstrate how your apartment management company didn’t take action in a reasonable amount of time to remove the threat.
After you get hurt, you are permitted to seek compensation for your current medical bills and the costs of any care expected to be needed in the future.
Stairway Hazards at Washington Apartment Communities
Stairwells can already be a bit tricky to navigate, and when additional hazards are present, the risk of dangerous falls only multiplies.
Stairways may develop wear and tear. They may break down due to aging and weather exposure. Other tenants can also unknowingly create obstacles on stair steps.
Property owners should be held responsible for monitoring for and removing these and other threats at your apartment complex:
- Spills and Debris. Movers and residents can leave debris on stairs ready to create a trip-and-fall accident that sends you down more than one flight of stairs. A child may spill a drink on a stairstep that takes your foot out from under you.
- A broken or shaky handrail can send you or a loved one tumbling down the stairs for a painful landing.
- Crumbling stairs. Wooden or cement stairs begin to wear and develop holes. You can twist an ankle and then fall several steps for additional injuries. A step could break or crumble and send you falling through a stairwell.
- Carpet hazards. A carpeted set of stairs must be inspected for rug damage and bunched-up carpet that could trip someone as they travel up or down.
Why Do I Need a Personal Injury Lawyer After a Fall Down the Stairs?
If these or other hazards leave victims with only a skinned knee or a bruise, they may not need a personal injury lawyer to help them with an injury claim. But if an accident involves something more serious, like a broken bone or a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), victims could need legal representation to secure what’s fair.
When an accident involves a long-term injury, like a broken knee or a hip injury, the costs for care immediately escalate. Patients may need additional surgeries in the months to come. They may need expensive physical therapy sessions. They could also be unable to work during this time and struggle to pay normal monthly bills, like rent and car payments.
Liability insurance adjusters for landlords will often start to look for ways to blame your accident on you so they can get out of having to help you recover. They may also try to downplay your injuries and leave you with half or more of your hospital bills to pay on your own.
Your Spokane premises liability lawyer is your safeguard against these tactics. Your lawyer fully investigates what happened to you and collects evidence to build a strong case for you. If an insurance company tries to offer you far less than what your case is worth, your lawyer knows when to reject a settlement offer and demand more.
Compensation Available After a Fall Down a Set of Stairs at an Apartment Complex
After taking a fall at an apartment complex, try to get photos of the scene. Show the obstacle that sent you down before it’s either cleaned up or fixed by the owner.
This evidence will play a helpful role in forcing the insurance company for the apartment complex to pay you what’s fair. You’ll also want to make sure every hardship you encounter, while you recover, is included in an injury claim.
Anything left off this list can end up as a bill you’d have to cover out of your own pocket. Your Spokane personal injury attorney helps you fill out this list of damages and makes sure nothing is omitted.
These and other factors should all contribute to the size of your settlement check:
- Medical bills
- Lost time from work
- Support for a permanent disability
- Travel Costs
- Rehabilitation
- Job retraining (if you can’t physically perform your old job)
- Pain and suffering (including emotional trauma)
- Loss of quality of life
Contact a Spokane Car Accident Lawyer
In Washington, slip-and-fall accident victims have up to three years to seek compensation for an injury. But victims shouldn’t wait years to determine if they have a strong case or not.
If you suffer a serious injury or if you are being unfairly blamed for your accident, talk to an experienced Spokane Premises Liability Lawyer. It’s a free meeting to go over what your case is really worth before insurance adjusters try to convince you it’s worth nothing at all.
Contact the Lawyers at CCD Law of Spokane for a consultation on the details of your case. It comes at no cost to you. This is a confidential, no-obligation meeting with a real lawyer about what you should be demanding from a car insurance company. And if you decide we can help you earn more for your injury, you won’t need to worry about having the money to hire a lawyer. CCD law doesn’t receive a fee unless we win your case for you. Then, we are paid out of the settlement money you receive.
