Colorado Slip and Fall Attorney

This video features Samantha L. Pryor, Esq., a Business Law attorney based in Colorado.

Denver Premises Liability Attorney 

Video Transcript:

Samantha Pryor: 

The injuries can be very serious. For sure, from a slip and fall.

Rob Rosenthal: 

If you slip and fall on someone else's property, could you have a case to sue and where do you turn for help? We're gonna find out right now on this episode of Ask the Lawyer, my guest is Denver attorney, Samantha Pryor. And I remind you, if you'd like to ask Samantha questions about your situation, it's easy. Go to askthelawyers.com, click the button up at the top of the page, it says, "Ask a lawyer," walk you right through the process there. Or you can always call the phone number you see on the screen during our conversation. Samantha, good to see you again. Thank you for helping us out one more time.

Samantha Pryor: 

It's great to see you as well. Thank you for having me. It's always great to be here.

Rob Rosenthal: 

So, and in your practice, how common are slip and fall injuries? I'm guessing sometimes a year maybe they're more common than others, but is this something you've seen quite a few of in your experience?

Samantha Pryor: 

Yes, actually. Slip and falls happen all the time in all kinds of different places. And so, yeah, slip and falls, are something that The Halliburton Law Firm, we handle a lot of slip and fall cases.

Rob Rosenthal: 

And I'm guessing in winter time with ice and snow and slush and water, are they more common that time of year?

Samantha Pryor: 

Actually, yes. Slip and falls tend to happen a lot during the snowy weather, I mean, snowy season, and so we do see an uptick in those kind of cases during the winter seasons.

Rob Rosenthal: 

Wonder what circumstances might somebody be able to tell maybe on their own, if they might have a case. Can you give us like a couple of examples, maybe a rule of thumb to know whether or not you may even have a case to pursue?

Samantha Pryor: 

Sure, absolutely. So for slip and fall cases it's important to know that the regular negligence rules don't necessarily apply, usually it's the Colorado Premises Liability Act that controls. And the Colorado Premises Liability Act requires a plaintiff to show and meet certain elements in order for that victim to establish liability and also recover for any damages or injuries they sustained sustain. And so for under that Act, an injured victim just needs to show that there was a dangerous condition upon the property of another of which the owner knew or should have known about, and they didn't do anything to prevent it from... The dangerous condition from occurring, and they didn't take any sort of action to warn the public. And so if the injured victim is able to show, for example, that the land owner knew that there was a dangerous condition. For example, we just picked up a case where an older lady slipped and fell at her apartment complex on the sidewalk, unfortunately, and she sustained some very serious injuries. And we were able to establish that there were a number of different tenants who were complaining to the landowner about the landowner's failure to shovel and keep the side walk free from snow and ice. And so it's really helpful to show that the landowner had prior knowledge of a dangerous condition, including ice or snow on the walkway.

Rob Rosenthal: 

You mentioned that this particular client had serious injuries, can sometimes... I guess these could be, some people may think, "Oh, you fall down, you get a bump, you go... " But these could have some very serious injuries that are caused by them, right?

Samantha Pryor: 

Yes. Unfortunately, when people fall, sometimes they don't have a way to break their fall and they can hit their heads and sustain a traumatic brain injury. We see a lot of cases with broken bones, and those type of cases obviously are very serious, especially when we have victims who are in their older ages because...

Rob Rosenthal: 

Right.

Samantha Pryor: 

It's really difficult for them to bounce back. And so the injuries can be very serious, for sure, from a slip and fall.

Rob Rosenthal: 

Where are some of the more common places where these slip and falls may happen? Is it grocery stores, retail shops, hotels, public sidewalks, or all of the above?

Samantha Pryor: 

All of the above, actually. And depending on where someone slips and falls will depend on what kind of process they need to go through. So for example, if someone falls on public property or on the property of a governmental entity... On a government site, then they have to file what's called a notice of claim, with the appropriate entity or individual in order for them to meet the requirements under the Colorado Governmental Immunities Act. Because government entities are usually immune from tort actions like negligence suits for car accidents or for... Excuse me, slip and fall accidents. So yes, the slip and falls, they occur a lot of different places.

Rob Rosenthal: 

Some people, and I... May think you... Some of in the public may have a misunderstanding and think, "Oh, these kinda cases are frivolous lawsuits." What do you think about that, Samantha? What would be your answer be to that?

Samantha Pryor: 

I would strongly disagree. Slip and fall accidents happen all the time, and people are injured in those incidents. Now, there are people, of course, who file claims that don't have merit because they either there is not real liability or there is no real injury. But there are plenty of people who have sustained some very serious injuries as a result of a slip and fall incident. So definitely not a frivolous type of claim.

Rob Rosenthal: 

It would seem to me too that maybe this can change some behavior too these kinda cases. Like the one you were mentioning, maybe that apartment complex from now on is gonna make sure those sidewalks are clear and dry and safe for people after that too. So it can change behaviors.

Samantha Pryor: 

That's right, actually. And in the incident that we just took on a case for, the landlord actually started putting a the salt down on the icy place where the victim fell. And so oftentimes, the at-fault party will try to argue that that sort of evidence is not admissible in court as a subsequent remedial measure. But all an injured victim needs to really do is to just establish that that sort of remedy could have been in place before the incident in order to prevent the incident.

Rob Rosenthal: 

Really helpful information, Samantha. Thank you as always for taking some time to answer our questions, I appreciate it.

Samantha Pryor: 

You're welcome, thank you for having me.

Rob Rosenthal: 

And that's gonna do it for this episode of Ask the lawyer. My guest has been Denver, attorney Samantha Pryor. If you wanna ask Samantha questions about your situation, it's easy, go to askthelawyers.com, click the button up at the top that says, "Ask a Lawyer," it'll walk you through the process and it's free to ask your questions. Thanks for watching, everybody. I'm Rob Rosenthal with Ask the Lawyers.

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