What a Long Strange Sidewalk Trip Its Been – When Good Sidewalks Go Bad

I think most people

ould be su

p

ised

t the numbe

of VE

Y se

ious inju

y c

ses I h

ndle bec

use of ext

emely d

nge

ous side

lk conditions.  

hen most people think of p

emises li

bility c

ses, they p

ob

bly think of slip

nd f

ll situ

tions (spilled liquids, b

n

n

peels, etc.)  In

e

lity, the T

IP

nd f

ll c

se comp

ises

lmost 30% of my p

emises li

bility docket,

nd often involves the most se

ious inju

ies.  The most common culp

it?  The good side

lk gone b

d. <

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> >I've itten befo

e

bout the diffe

ence bet

een

“slip

nd f

ll”

nd

“t

ip

nd f

ll" type c

se. 

emembe

th

t in Tex

s,

e must p

ove th

t

business o

ne

kne

o

should h

ve kno

n

bout

specific d

nge

ous condition in o

de

to m

ke ecove

y.  This

n

lysis often hinges on being

ble to p

ove th

t the d

nge

ous condition s p

esent long enough to be obse

ved by the business o

ne

.  The "b

d side

lk” c

se is the cl

ssic ex

mple of this type of situ

tion.

Conside

:  Most sidelk t

ip

nd f

ll c

ses involve eithe lge cck in the sl

b o

d

nge

ous offset bet

een t

o sl

bs

t the exp

nsion joint.  Typic

lly spe

king, these defects occus esult of

oot g

o

th o

g

ound settling n style="text-decotion: unde

line;”> ong>ove long pe

iod of time, ong><

em> n>

nd this is  n style="text-decotion: unde

line;”> ong>ve

y ong><

em> n> common in the Houston e

.  This is

cl

ssic ex

mple of hoe

s l

ye

s c

n est

blish th

t the defect

s “pe

m

nent”

s opposed to "tnsient" (like spilled milk, o

some g

pes on the floo

),

nd it m

kes ou

job MUCH e

siehen t

ying to est

blish th

t the business o

ne

“kne

o

should h

ve kno

n”

bout the d

nge

ous condition.

s

pctic

l m

tte

, the physics of these side

lk t

ip

nd f

ll c

ses c

n

esult in some of the most se

ious inju

y c

ses

e see on

p

emises li

bility docket.  I h

ve one c

se

hich occu

ed

hen my client t

ipped

nd fell ove d

nge

ous sidelk offset one night

t

loc

l Houston

est

u

nt

nd sust

ined inju

ies se

ious enough to incu

hund

eds of thous

nds of dolls in medic

l bills

nd pe

m

nent dis

bility.  In this c

se, it tu

ned out th

t the d

nge

ous condition s clely visible du

ing the d

y,

nd

s loc

ted on the pt of the sidelk th

t m

n

gement used to

lk in

nd out of the

est

unt eve

y d

y.  The

ep

i

,

s it tu

ns out,

ould h

ve involved

simple "mping"

ith

n

pplic

tion of

ddition

l conc

ete bet

een the sl

bs –

ep

i

th

t

ould h

ve cost less th

n five hund

ed dolls.  Bec

use this Houston

est

u

nt couldn’t be bothe

ed

ith the

ep

i

o

didn’t

nt to spend the money, my client t

ipped

nd fell ove

th

t side

lk,

nd is no

pe

m

nently dis

bled. ong>If you h

ve h

d

t

ip

nd f

ll incident ove

c

cked o

defective sidelk

nd h

ve been inju

ed, ple

se c

ll Houston Pe

son

l Inju

y

tto

ney Ste

t J. Guss

t 800-898-4877

ight no

to discuss you

cl

im.<

st

ong> <

em> Ste

t h

s been

ep

esenting pe

son

l inju

y victims in Houston, Tomb

ll, K

ty, The

oodl

nds, Cyp

ess, Sp

ing

nd the su

ounding

e

s fo

20 ye

s.  You

consult

tion is

bsolutely f

ee,

nd if you decide to hi

e Ste

t, you

ill p

y no fee unless he

ins you

c

se.