Ohio Slip and Fall Lawyer

Columbus Lawyer Warns of Icy Sidewalks

Video Transcript: 

Michelle Martin: 

If you are injured as a result of a slip and fall, that you reach out to an experienced attorney to determine what are your rights, what rights do you have.

Rob Rosenthal: 

So if you slip and fall and get hurt and it's because of someone else's negligence, could you possibly have a case to sue and how do you get help? We're gonna find out right now because we're gonna ask that question and more on this episode of Ask The Lawyer. Hi again, everybody. I'm Rob Rosenthal with askthelawyers.com, and my guest is Ohio Attorney Michelle Martin. And I wanna remind you right at the outset, if you wanna ask Michelle questions about your situation, just go to askthelawyers.com, click the button at the top that says, Ask a lawyer, it will walk you right through the very simple process or you can call the phone number that's on the screen while we have our conversation with Michelle. Michelle, it's always good to see you, thank you for helping us out.

Michelle Martin: 

Thank you, Rob. It's good to see you as well.

Rob Rosenthal: 

So we're talking about slip and fall injuries, how common are they, especially in your area, and I would guess in the winter months, maybe they're more common. Tell me a little bit about that?

Michelle Martin: 

So slip and falls are very common in Ohio, and just like most things that are accidental, that are inconvenient, that are random. They happen at the most inopportune times. So in Ohio, during the winter months, you still have to go to school, you still have to go to work, you're still going to the grocery store, your family and friends are coming over to visit and you're going places to be social. And during those times, you have to be aware that in Ohio, we have lots of different types of weather, and most common during this time of the year is gonna be the snow and the ice and the sleet, the rain. And then the rain can also turn into ice accumulation as well, so slip and falls are one of the most common injuries that we do experience here in Ohio.

Rob Rosenthal: 

So what is a yardstick that somebody could use to kinda tell for themself if they may have a case or not? Can you give us some pointers there?

Michelle Martin: 

Well, yeah, I mean, I honestly say, Rob, any time that you have a slip and fall and an injury as a result, I would seek out a lawyer for a consultation. And the reason why you never know what that could produce and you never know what type of evidence might be lost by waiting. So I honestly, I encourage people, if you do have a slip and fall and it's on someone else's property, to reach out to an attorney just to get a quick consultation to make sure that you're exercising the proper rights and that you're doing the proper precautions to protect yourself as well as the property owner.

Rob Rosenthal: 

That's a great advice. Could sometimes these injuries be very serious in your experience?

Michelle Martin: 

Most definitely, Rob. And that's because when you fall, there's this thing called gravity and gravity pulls you down onto the area that caused you to fall. Here in Ohio, depending on how you fell, where you fell, the purpose for which you were at the location, where you fell, that will all determine the type of rights and obligations associated with the slip and fall. Additionally, whether or not there's some type of damage to the property along with ice accumulations, snow and rain, that also determines whether or not there's liability on the property owner.

Rob Rosenthal: 

Right. Where do you normally see these kind of things happen, or where there might be cases? Are we talking city sidewalks or private residences, shopping centers, where is a more common place?

Michelle Martin: 

Everywhere, so all the places that you named, and all the places you named, and most of the places we frequent because especially during the winter months when you have the snow, the ice, the icky weather, like I said, the rain, and you're carrying in heavy boots that have snow and ice and rain on them, and you're taking this water on to the property itself. Now, depending on the property owner's awareness of the actual fluid within the space, that can also determine how liable the property owner, who can be held... How liable the property owner is or any injuries that you've sustained. And so it's gonna be really important, especially during the winter months, to make sure that if you are injured as a result of a slip and fall, that you reach out to an experienced attorney to determine what your rights, what rights do you have.

Rob Rosenthal: 

It would seem to me, every time we talk about any sort of injury case, Michelle, we always say it's important to get somebody working on your side as quickly as possible, but it would seem to me in these kind of things that it's especially important because the weather can change, the ice can melt, the business can mop up the water, and then there's no more evidence, so I would imagine time is really of the essence in these kind of cases.

Michelle Martin: 

Absolutely. I'm sorry, Rob. I wanted to jump in because I love that point, that's something that I always encourage citizens to do, even if you're not going to... Reaching out to an attorney doesn't mean that you're going to file a lawsuit. It just means that you would like to know what are my rights as it relates to this incident. And so it's important to get an attorney early on because, like you said, there's evidence that starts to disappear, whether it be because the weather has changed or maybe if it's a specific venue, it may be changed to accommodate a different type of clientele. Additionally, if it's a audio or video, those things only have a certain life span, a certain shelf life. And so you wanna make sure that you're able to get those documents while they're still fresh, while that you're able to get them out of the hands of whomever the record keeper is if there's evidence of... I'd seen...

Michelle Martin: 

I had a slip and fall once where the young lady, she fell while visiting a friend, and during that time there was snow and ice accumulated and she fell on the snow and the ice. And also there were some deterioration of the property as well that contributed to her fall, but she didn't want to reach out to an attorney because she was visiting a friend. And so she waited, and by the time she eventually reached out to an attorney because the medical bills had began to pile up and her friend just hadn't really been able to help her as she maybe thought that she'd be able to.

Michelle Martin: 

She reached out to me and there was no more snow, there was no more ice. The property owner had some repairs. And so while all wasn't lost, I was able to learn that there had been repairs and that helped me to understand the property... The way the property was before the repairs. So knowing that was helpful, but additionally that evidence and not having that evidence, it kind of, it made the case a little bit tougher, and if you have an experienced attorney that can ask the right questions and get the right information that's dealt with these types of insurance companies and property and premises liability cases before, then they know what to look for, they know what questions to ask, and you may have a difficult issue, we can figure it out, but don't make it hard, just ask. It's a 15 minute consultation.

Michelle Martin: 

We have the ability to send quick emails, or send a Facebook post, you can literally ask a lawyer, you can post here directly under this link if you have a question. There's just so many ways you need to exercise your rights because the worst thing is to have a client who has slipped and fell and out of embarrassment decided that they didn't want to pursue anything and they have aches and pains in their backs and they have wrist fractures and shin splints, and they can't really understand where is this coming from, is it just older... I'm getting older, but really, you've fallen and you've injured yourself and you think you can hop right up like we did when we were seven, eight, nine years old, but if you fall on ice or snow or you fall while shopping on the hard linoleum floors, or you trip over the carpet or maybe the...

Michelle Martin: 

I'm sorry, the flooring isn't up to code. And you slip on something that's... That has... It's not your fault, you really should investigate that because your body is gonna let you know that it's hurting and that it needs to be treated, and that it's going to respond and you need to... You gonna have to get on top of that. That's one thing that you're also gonna have to pay attention to when you fall. You don't want those injuries to set in, you wanna be able to go see your primary care physician, make sure that if you've fallen and you've hurt your hand or your wrist, you don't ignore that. These injuries, these accidents, our bodies aren't meant to endure this. That's why they're called accidents. When that happens, you have to go take care of your body. Have your doctor look at it, get some imaging, it doesn't mean that you're trying to be a... What is the... You're not trying to have frivolous lawsuits or anything like that, you're not a vivacious litigators is what they call it, is a person who litigates all the time, you're not trying to shake up the system, you're just protecting yourself. You're just making sure you're okay.

Rob Rosenthal: 

Lots of great advice there Michelle, thank you so much. I feel your passion for helping people, and I appreciate it.

Michelle Martin: 

Absolutely, thank you so much for allowing me to talk to you guys today. I really enjoy every time we get together, I look forward to the next one.

Rob Rosenthal: 

That's gonna do it for this episode of, Ask the Lawyer, my guest has been Ohio Attorney Michelle Martin. And I remind you, if you wanna talk to Michelle, ask her questions about your situation, you can go to askthelawyers.com, click the button at the top that says, Ask a Lawyer, it'll walk you right through the process, it doesn't cost anything to ask your questions, or you can call the phone number that you saw on the screen while we were having our conversation. Thanks for watching. I'm Rob Rosenthal with, Ask the Lawyers.

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