What is needed to prove a case regarding a personal injury?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
What is needed to prove a case regarding a personal injury?
My 85 year-old mother was injured while eating at a restaurant. She tripped over a dark molding that was elevated 1 or 2 inches above a decorative rock area that it surrounded. It was dark in the restaurant and the molding was painted black. She was attempting to move my dad’s walker against the wall as her right foot caught on the molding and she fell on her left side. She was badly bruised and her ribs still ache. She was having an early dinner with our family. The restaurant is taking no responsibility on their part and feel that they’ve done nothing wrong. Does she have a case? Should we speak to a personal injury attorney? In Whittier, CA.
Asked on August 9, 2010 under Personal Injury, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
You should speak to an attorney who can evaluate this specific case in detail. As general information:
1) The fact that someone is injured at a business or on someone's property does not, by itself, make that business or person liable. Instead, there generally must be some negligence, or unreasonable carelessness. So whether or not the restaurant may have been liable will likelyh depend on whether the position and location of the molding was unreasonable and therefore negligent.
2) Depending on the exent of your mother's injuries, it may or may not be worthwhile suing. In a case like this, someone can generally recover out-of-pocket medical expenses; lost wages (if any): and pain and suffrering for serious injuries. Probably, if you mother has not lost more than $1,000 or so total out of pocket or suffered some serious and relatively long-lasting disability or reduction in quality of life, it's not worth suing.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.