New Jersey Accident and Injury Law Blog : New Jersey Injury Lawyer & Attorney : The Grossman Law Firm : Serving Monmouth County, Bergen County

Slip and fall injuries are expected to increase in number as the baby boomer generation ages. That’s because the elderly are more at risk of being injured in slip and fall accidents. That, and other facts and solutions are contained in a new white paper by insurer CNA.

According to the report, annually fall accidents kill more than 16,000 people in the country. Besides these, more than one million people are injured every year. Most of these accidents are caused because of factors like poor walking surface, lack of visibility, poor accessibility, and weak hand rails and guard rails.

According to the National Floor Institute, the number of seniors in the country between 2005 and 2020 is expected to increase from 35 million to 77 million. Not only are these people more likely to slip and fall injuring themselves, but the cost of treating these injuries is higher for an elderly person than for someone younger.  As Bergen County premises liability attorneys frequently see, the kinds of fall injuries that elderly people face are also the number one reason they have to be hospitalized.

The insurer has a wealth of tips for owners of commercial properties to reduce their claims figures by making premises safer. Suggestions include installation of high traction flooring material that is resistant to slipping. If an existing floor increases the risk of slipping, CNA suggests using surface treatments, replacement of the floor, and carpeting to reduce the risk. The National Floor Safety Institute has a range of recommended flooring materials that can reduce slipping. Besides, premises should be well lit, and stairways should be especially safe to use. Staff must be trained in cleanup of spills as soon as they occur.

According to 2000 statistics, most of the time, premises injury lawsuits are won by plaintiffs. Besides, the average compensation awarded to plaintiffs has also risen steadily.

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A New Jersey woman, who fell while trying to scale the wall of a Mercer cemetery and successfully sued the city of Trenton, may end up not keeping her $1.6 million premises injury award after all.

In 2001, Suzanne Ogborne was strolling through the Mercer cemetery, when an employee locked the gates at 4.30 pm – the cemetery's closing hours - leaving Ogborne inside. After trying in vain to find another open route out of the cemetery, Ogborne finally scaled the wall, and jumped over and down to the other side. The fall left her with a broken tibia. She had to undergo surgery, and was forced to remain away from work for three months. She also suffered a pulmonary embolism, a disorder characterized by blockage of a lung artery and caused by a blood clot traveling from the leg, as a result of her injuries and the treatment. The condition can lead to a loss of oxygen in the blood, and carries the risk of organ damage because of this loss of oxygen. 

Ogborne sued the city of Trenton, claiming that her injuries were the result of negligence because the guard who locked the gates should have checked to make sure that nobody was in, before he shut the gates. Ogborne won the suit, and was awarded $1.6 million. Now, the New Jersey Supreme Court has ordered a retrial in the matter, saying that the case should have been held to a "palpably unreasonable" standard of liability, and not the "ordinary negligence" standard under which she had been awarded $1.6 million. The justices ruled that the dangerous condition had been brought about by a combination of two factors - Ogborne's presence in the park, and the guard's locking of the gates.   The employee's act of locking the gates in itself did not constitute a dangerous condition. The court also ruled that a new jury should consider Ogborne's negligence comparative to the negligence of the city in the incident. 

Premises Injury Lawyer

It's not always easy to pursue claims against government bodies because of governmental immunity. Private citizens are often faced with a solid block of wall when they try to come up against a government entity. Litigating claims when you have been injured on another's property, private or government, involves hiring an experienced Monmouth and Bergen  County premises injury attorney to file a claim for injuries sustained. If you have been injured on another's property – through a slip and fall accident, on an elevator or stairways etc. – contact a Monmouth and Bergen County premises injury lawyer at my firm for a free evaluation of your case.

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A New Jersey court has overturned the ruling of a Middlesex County judge throwing out the case of a man who was injured from a fall in a vacation rental. Hermes Reyes was only a few days into a holiday at a vacation home in Stone Harbor in Aug-Sep 2003 when the slip and fall accident occurred. As he opened the glass sliding doors of his bedroom to walk out onto the deck, a 7-inch gap between the bottom of the door and the wooden platform of the deck, caused him to miss a step and fall to the ground. There was no guardrail for him to grab to break his fall. The accident left Reyes with serious injuries.  

Reyes' personal injury lawyers filed a  lawsuit against the owners of the rental property Harry and Holy Egner, but Middlesex County Superior Court judge Vincent Leblon ruled that Reyes could not seek damages against the owners. Now, an appeals court has overturned the ruling, allowing Reyes's lawsuit to go ahead. In the judgment, the panel ruled that there was a difference between short term renters who rent for the purpose of a vacation, and long term renters like tenants. This distinction between short term and long term renters hadn’t been made before this ruling. The ruling however, has upheld that the real estate firm that was responsible for brokering the rental deal could not be held liable for any damages arising out of this premises injury lawsuit. Reyes is planning to appeal this point. It will be interesting see how that pans out, and if a real estate firm can also be held liable for property code violations on the property of the owner. 

New Jersey's premises liability laws make it mandatory for commercial space owners to ensure that their properties are reasonably safe. Owners can be held liable for any injuries that occur on their property.  Examples of how you can be injured on another person's property include

• A slip and fall accident on a wet and slippery floor
• Falls because of insufficient lighting
• Falls because of standing water, snow or ice
• Falls on elevators or stairways that are improperly designed or have broken steps

Damages can be claimed like with any other personal injury lawsuit, including compensation for medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages etc. If you've been injured on another's property, you may be able to claim compensation for your injuries.   Contact a New Jersey premises injury attorney to evaluate your options for compensation.

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