We have to rely on sidewalks, but we cannot always trust them. Tree roots or freezing soil can break them from below, undrained mud can bury them for months or years, and snow and ice can make them impassable for weeks.
What happens when a sidewalk trips you up so badly that you cannot get up again? If you have been injured in sidewalk slip and fall accidents in Pittsburgh, you may have a right to damages. Contact Bordas & Bordas today to schedule a consultation with an experienced slip and fall attorney.
In Pittsburgh, property owners have to maintain sidewalks and curbs under the Code of Ordinances at § 417.02. A tenant, business, or other person occupying that property will assume the responsibility while they are in control.
The city is still responsible for accidents on its own sidewalks, by Commonwealth law at 42 Pa.C.S. § 8542(b)(7). However, adjoining property owners are usually the ones who can be liable for slip and fall sidewalk accidents from issues that they knew or should have known about, such as drifts of debris, standing water, and broken pavements.
Ice and snow accidents are more complicated. Owners cannot allow either to pile into “hills and ridges” that block safe travel for walkers. However, they are not responsible for accidents when the snow is still falling.
Pittsburgh property owners often need to protect against hidden hazards, but they do not have the same responsibility for every walker or every fall on sidewalk. Your claim will depend on why you were on the property and when you slipped and fell, as well as whether you were at fault for the accident.
Most people on the sidewalk are considered licensees and are allowed to travel past for their own benefit. If an owner knows or should know about an unreasonably risky sidewalk problem, they can be responsible to licensees for resulting accidents.
When a company invites people into its space for shopping, dining, or other business purposes, those people are invitees. The owner then has an additional duty to inspect the property for hazards.
The property owner’s insurance company is likely to handle any claim for damages. Its first concern is finding a way to deny a claim or reduce its value as much as possible. If it cannot get out of paying a slip and fall claim by claiming that the owner had no responsibility for the danger, it will try to shift the blame for the accident to the person who fell.
In Pennsylvania accident recovery law, an injured person who was partly at fault for the accident still has some right to damages, but if they were more responsible than anyone else, they will lose their claim. In such cases, an insurance company may try to find evidence that the injured person was responsible for their own fall, so that they can deny the claim or offer little for it.
Bordas & Bordas brings the fight to companies like Walmart and State Farm every day. Some of our clients have won millions in court, while others have gotten the settlements that they need to heal and rebuild.
Let us guide you and your family through this system. If you have been hurt in sidewalk slip and fall accidents in Pittsburgh, we need to hear from you as soon as possible to start work on your claim.
