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I fell down the stairs of my apartment building or I slipped on ice outside the grocery store, do I have a claim? The law holds that if you have been injured while on someone else’s property you may have a claim. However, the law does not automatically guarantee that you will recover, rather you as the injured party through your attorneys have to prove that what caused your injury was an unsafe condition of the property.

For example, the law in Illinois does not hold property owners responsible for injuries caused due to the natural accumulations of snow and ice. However, if a property owner has a sidewalk that has become damaged and as a result water pools there in the winter and freezes that could be considered an unnatural accumulation of ice, which could allow a claim for injuries to be made. Similarly, if you fall down your apartment stairs, it is not necessarily your landlord’s fault. 

But, if the stairs fail to meet the architectural and safety codes, such as having uneven or inappropriate heights and widths, poor or no lighting, or damaged or missing handrails, then you may have a claim. Slips, trips, and falls most commonly happen in parking lots, shopping malls, grocery stores, restaurants, sidewalks, and apartment buildings. There are many factors that determine whether you have a claim for your injuries due to an unsafe condition.

Immediate investigations by the Law Offices of Jacobson and Tchernev and our experts have yielded great results in the past because often the unsafe condition may change, the ice may melt, or the grocery store or restaurant may “misplace” the surveillance tape. Contact us right away if you have been injured for a free consultation and claim evaluation.

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