St. Louis Slip and Fall Accident Lawyer

Being injured in a slip and fall accident can lead to significant pain and suffering, short-term or long-term disability, lost wages, and other major effects on your life. At The Floyd Law Firm, our St. Louis slip and fall accident lawyers can help you put your life back together as much as possible. We can represent you when going up against a property owner, insurance company, or another adversary.

Our St. Louis premises liability lawyers have recovered millions of dollars on behalf of our personal injury clients. Contact us today for a free case consultation.

Awards and Accolades

Meet Mark L. Floyd – Attorney and Managing Partner

Mark L. Floyd is the managing partner of The Floyd Law Firm and has over 25 years of experience in personal injury litigation. Mark started his career with a $1.96 million jury verdict and has since secured multiple 7-figure verdicts and settlements, including a $5 million workers’ compensation and third-party negligence case. 

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“When I was injured on the job, the help that my former employer and worker’s comp offered me was just an insult. A slap in the face. I spoke to another attorney and he told me to call The Floyd Law Firm. It was the best advice I’ve ever received. They helped me with every aspect of my case, from getting good doctors and moral support to preparing me for court and securing disability benefits. The Floyd Law Firm believed in me and I feel the benefits of that every day.”

-Columbus

Why Choose Our St. Louis Slip and Fall Lawyers for Your Case?

• We have a long history of success. Our past case results prove that we have the ability to secure the settlements and jury verdicts that our clients need to move forward from slip and fall accidents.
• Our lawyers care about their clients. We represent clients with compassion, respect, and integrity. Over 90 percent of our cases are referrals that come through past clients.
• We operate on a contingency fee basis. You won’t pay your St. Louis slip and fall accident lawyer unless your case leads to a financial settlement or judgment award.

Slip and Fall Accidents in St. Louis

A slip and fall accident claim in Missouri falls under the practice area of premises liability law. Premises liability laws require property owners to take reasonable steps to prevent harm from befalling lawful property visitors. This involves inspecting a property for defects or hazards, remedying any known issues, and warning visitors of potential injury risks. Failing to meet these requirements can create conditions that foster slip and fall accident risks.

Liability for a Slip and Fall in St. Louis

If a reasonably prudent property owner in St. Louis would have been able to prevent your slip and fall accident, the person or party in charge of premises care or maintenance at the time of the incident could be held liable. This means a property owner may be financially responsible for your medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, disability, and other losses connected to a slip and fall. Your St. Louis personal injury lawyer must establish using evidence that the property owner owed you a duty of care, breached this duty, and caused your slip and fall accident.

Causes of Slip and Fall Accidents

Conditions that may lead to a slip and fall accident include:

• Wet surfaces
• Ice and snow
• No caution or warning signs
• Food debris or spilled drinks
• Uneven floor surfaces
• Dangerous sidewalks and curbs
• Exposed cords
• Loose rugs
• Cluttered walkways
• Inadequate lighting
• Unsafe staircases
• Poor property maintenance

Slip or trip and fall accidents can occur in restaurants, bars, public parks, amusement parks, stadiums, cruise ships, gyms, hospitals, nursing homes, construction sites, schools, and workplaces. No matter where the incident took place, the victim may qualify for financial compensation from a negligent property owner.

Common Slip and Fall Accident Injuries

At The Floyd Law Firm, we can represent a client with any type of injury from a slip and fall accident in St. Louis, including:

• Bone fracture
• Broken hip
• Wrist sprain
• Elbow injury
• Soft-tissue injury
• Face injury or jaw fracture
• Severe laceration
• Concussion
• Traumatic brain injury
• Back or neck injury
• Spinal cord injury
• Paralysis

Many of these injuries can have long-term or irreversible damage, including complications such as nerve damage or infections. In the most severe cases, a slip and fall can be fatal, which would require the help of a St. Louis wrongful death lawyer.

What Damages Can Be Awarded in a Slip-and-Fall Case?

Fall injuries can be serious, especially if a broken bone, a back injury, or a knee injury impacts your mobility and keeps you from returning to work right away. Even worse, some serious slip-and-fall accidents cause life-altering brain injury or spinal cord damage. Successful slip-and-fall cases in St. Louis commonly result in settlements or jury awards for damages such as the following:

• Medical expenses
• Future medical expenses for further treatment or rehabilitation
• Lost wages
• Future income loss and/or diminished earning capacity due to disability
• Pain and suffering compensation
• Compensation for other applicable non-economic damages like disfigurement from facial injuries, PTSD, or loss of enjoyment of life compensation

Your slip and fall attorney from The Floyd Law Firm will carefully calculate your economic and non-economic damages so you can claim all of the compensation available in your case.

What Happens If I’m Being Blamed?

Unfortunately, insurance companies often attempt to assign an unfair portion of the blame for a slip-and-fall injury to the victim to lower the amount they have to pay out on the claim or to deny it completely. In fault-based insurance states, this common insurance company tactic takes advantage of the state’s pure comparative negligence laws. A skilled attorney can compile evidence to defend injured clients against these tactics.

In the event that you were partly at fault for the accident, you can still recover compensation under the state’s contributory negligence laws.

 Missouri 537.765 describes contributory negligence as follows:

“The defendant may plead and prove the fault of the plaintiff as an affirmative defense.  Any fault chargeable to the plaintiff shall diminish proportionately the amount awarded as compensatory damages but shall not bar recovery.”

Under this law, you can recover a portion of your damages minus your percentage of fault. For example, suppose you fell in a major convenience store because a leaky ice cream cooler caused a slippery puddle. The manager was aware of the leak and placed a “Wet Floor” warning sign but failed to promptly repair the leak. You slipped and fell because the sign was placed in a cluttered area and wasn’t clearly visible. The insurance adjuster could assign you 25 percent of the fault for not seeing the sign, and 75 percent of the fault to the store owner for failing to promptly repair a known safety hazard. If your damages amount to $100,000, you’d still recover $75,000.

How Long Do I Have to File a Slip-and-Fall Case in St. Louis?

It’s best to speak to your attorney from The Floyd Law Firm about the timing of your case. In Missouri, you have up to five years to file a lawsuit under the state’s uniquely generous statute of limitations for personal injury claims. However, this doesn’t mean you should file a claim years after the injury. The time limit only refers to a lawsuit in court. If negotiations for a fair settlement don’t result in full compensation for your damages, you can pursue the matter in court through a lawsuit as long as it’s filed within five years of the fall.

The state may extend the statute of limitations under specific circumstances including the following:

• If the slip-and-fall victim is under the age of 18 at the time of the fall, they have up to five years from their 18th birthday to file a lawsuit
• If the fall results in unconsciousness, coma, or incapacity, the victim has five years from the date they recover cognitive ability
• If the victim doesn’t discover the injury until later, they have five years from the date of the discovery

Delayed discovery sometimes occurs when, for example, a doctor diagnoses a nagging backache as a slipped disc from an earlier slip-and-fall accident.

Contact Our St. Louis Slip and Fall Attorneys Today

You may not know how to hold someone responsible for your slip and fall accident in St. Louis or achieve the case results that you deserve for a catastrophic injury. The Floyd Law Firm is here to help. Our St. Louis personal injury lawyers can represent you or your family as you go up against a property owner in pursuit of accountability and fair financial compensation.

Contact us today to request a free case consultation. Our St. Louis slip and fall accident lawyer will meet with you (at your home or hospital, if necessary) to discuss your legal rights and options in more detail. Call us at (314) 863-4114.