Have you ever seen the old commercials for life alert? If you were born in the ’80s then you would get the reference. If you weren’t then let us entertain you. Life alert was a necklace with a button with direct communication with a 911-system. Life Alert was targeted toward older people who lived alone or who may find themselves in need of extra help. It was an innovative idea that did help people, but the commercials were a little campy. The commercial would begin with an elderly person standing and the next scene they would be on the floor with the catchphrase “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”. It was a marketers dream. A catchphrase like that was great to inform people of the product, provide a phrase for people to say when they used the product and a way for people to associate the product with the intended use. The real humor came from the commercials because they were so campy at least to those of us who were young and vibrant. Now, as use generation Z get older, those commercials are not far off.
Injuries of Slip and Falls
As we age our bones get more brittle and we tend to take longer to recover. A slip and fall down stairs or a ramp can be really damaging. Most injuries from slip and falls effect your back, neck, and hips. Depending on the kind of fall you can suffer from broken limbs, soft tissue damage, or head injuries like concussions. These injuries can range from minor scrapes to something more major resulting in chronic pain. As funny as the Life Alert commercials were sometimes you really do fall and you can’t get back up.
Our Los Angeles Slip and Fall Attorney at Compass Law group understand that injuries sustained from this kind of accident can truly disrupt your life. They happen so frequently that we have dedicated a subject area of our firm to slip and fall injuries. If you or a loved one is dealing with an injury from a slip and fall then here are 4 elements that must be determined in a slip and fall case:
- Duty: We must prove that the property owner owed a duty of care to the person who fell on their property
- Notice: It must be proven that the owner of the property knew or should have known about the dangerous area and failed to take care of it.
- Dangerous Condition: It must be shown that the area which caused the fall was indeed dangerous. If the victim was not acting in a reasonable way while on the premise then you may lose the case.
- Damages: Sometimes pain or injury doesn’t show up until later. Keeping careful documentation is important to prove your injury was directly caused by the fall.
If you have been injured due to a slip and fall do not attempt to go through this alone.