Wilkes-Barre Slip and Fall Lawyers

To prove negligence in a slip and fall case, your attorney must generally establish four elements: (1) Duty: The property owner owed you a legal duty of care (for example, to keep the aisles safe for customers in a Wilkes-Barre store). (2) Breach: The owner breached that duty by creating, or failing to correct or warn about, a dangerous condition (a spill left on the floor of a Scranton restaurant). (3) Causation: The breach directly caused your fall and injuries. (4) Damages: You suffered actual harm (medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering). Photos of the hazard, surveillance footage, witness statements, incident reports, and maintenance records are the evidence that proves it.

Pennsylvania's modified comparative negligence law means you can still recover compensation if you were partially at fault, as long as your share of fault is less than 51%. Your award is reduced by your percentage of fault: if you are awarded $100,000 but found 20% at fault, you receive $80,000. An experienced lawyer works to keep the fault attributed to you as low as the evidence allows.

It varies. Simpler cases with clear liability and modest injuries might settle in a few months. More complex cases, especially those involving severe injuries or disputed notice, can take one to two years, or longer if the case is tried in the Luzerne or Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas. It is generally advisable to wait until you have reached maximum medical improvement before settling, so the full extent of your injuries and future needs is known.

Claims against government entities — a fall on a city-owned sidewalk in Wilkes-Barre or Scranton, or in a county building — are governed by the Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act. The Act has strict rules, including a much shorter notice requirement: often just six months to provide written notice of your claim. There are also caps on the damages you can recover. These claims need an attorney familiar with the Act's exceptions and deadlines.

The value of a slip and fall claim depends on many factors: the severity of your injuries (broken bones, a brain injury, a spinal injury), total medical expenses past and future, lost income and earning capacity, the impact on your quality of life, any permanent disability or disfigurement, the strength of the evidence proving the owner's negligence, and your percentage of comparative fault, if any. An attorney can evaluate these factors against your records and give you a realistic range rather than a guess.

If the fall caused an injury that needed treatment and the property owner knew or should have known about the hazard, yes. Most Pennsylvania premises claims resolve with the owner's liability insurer without trial, and a contingency fee means the case review costs nothing. The key questions are notice — how long the hazard existed — and whether video or incident reports still exist, which is why calling a lawyer within days matters.

Harder than a car crash and very winnable with early evidence. You must prove the owner had actual or constructive notice of the condition and failed to fix or warn. Pennsylvania's hills-and-ridges doctrine adds a hurdle for natural ice and snow, and comparative negligence reduces your award by your share of fault — you recover as long as you are 50% or less at fault. Surveillance footage, incident reports and witness names gathered in the first week decide most of these cases.