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064 All About Slip & Fall Cases

064 All About Slip & Fall Cases

Lawyers in the House with Montlick

Attorneys in Podcast: Mike Moran, Esq.| Sara Root, Esq.

In this week’s episode Montlick Attorneys Sara and Mike look at the facts of slip and fall accidents and premises liability. Learn the steps to take immediately after a slip and fall accident, the most common injuries and what are the responsibilities to prevent slip and fall and keep a safe premises.

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The purpose of this show is to provide general information about the law. Our guests will not provide any individualized legal advice. If you have a personal situation and need legal advice, contact us for your free legal consultation with a Montlick attorney.

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00:04	ANNOUNCER: Welcome to Lawyers in the House with Montlick. Wish you had a lawyer in the family? Now you do. Here’s your host, Veronica Waters. VERONICA: Welcome to Lawyers in the House with Montlick on WSB. I’m Veronica Waters here hosting you into the house for another fabulous episode with two brilliant Montlick Injury Attorneys.
00:31	VERONICA: So glad to have you with us again. Pull up a chair. Make yourself comfortable. I think you’re going to like our topic today. It’s one that we hear about all the time. Some people like videos of them. In pop culture, they have become somewhat of a punchline or a running joke. And to other people, today’s topic can kind of seem like a scam idea. But I’ll tell you that for the people in this room, what we’re talking about today is no funny business at all.
01:02	VERONICA: Let’s talk about who we’re talking to today. Introduction time. It’s Montlick Injury Attorneys, Sara Root and Mike Moran. Sara and Mike, welcome back to the House. MIKE: Good morning. VERONICA: You guys have had them in here with us before. You remember Sara and Mike. We’ve done several episodes together. Now, Sara Root is a graduate of Michigan State University, both undergrad and law school. SARA: Correct. VERONICA: So, you’re a Michigan native? SARA: I am. Yes. OK. VERONICA: And what led you to law? I read that you were inspired as a little kid.
01:33	SARA: It’s true. So, at my sixth-grade career day, I was torn between florist or lawyer. And I went to see these two speakers back-to-back. And the florist was kind of negative saying things like, you know, good luck seeing your spouse on Valentine’s Day. You have to work a lot of overtime. And then I went to the lawyer immediately after, who was really inspiring and engaging. And I walked out of there like, I’m going to be a lawyer. And that was that. VERONICA: That’s incredible. Really, a florist and lawyer. Yeah. So do you love floral arrangements?
02:03	SARA: I do, actually. Arranging flowers. SARA: And I like to garden. So, it’s a hobby now. VERONICA: I love it. Listen, first impressions really do matter. Do they not? SARA: There you go. VERONICA: Good luck seeing your spouse on Valentine’s Day, kids. And let me tell you about the thorns. OK. Sure. So, you became an attorney. And what I wanted to do today was also highlight something that from both of you, actually. Sara, you said advocating for justice for my clients in need and getting them the results they deserve is very rewarding. SARA: It is.
02:33	SARA: Yeah. I mean, I think I’ve said this before. I come from a family with a lot of medical people, medical backgrounds, doctors, nurses, things like that. And I’ve never had the stomach for those types of things. So, this is my way to help people who have been injured or hurt. You know, kind of the most immediate thing, of course, is making sure their medical needs are met. But then thereafter, they have so many obstacles financially with medical bills or if they’re not able to work. And just things that people don’t anticipate, it’s really rewarding to be there to guide them through the process, to just take that stressful element off their plate so they know that they can just turn to us.
03:08	SARA: We’re going to handle everything, and they can focus on getting better. VERONICA: Were your family, all of the medical people in your family sort of disappointed that you didn’t follow them into medicine? SARA: No, I think that was another thing from a young age when I’d be passing out when my mom and sister are talking about medical issues. My mom’s a nurse. My sister became a doctor. I’d be in the car like, stop talking about that. So, they knew that was not going to happen. VERONICA: Yeah. But now you’re in a field where you were seeing injuries all the time. SARA: Yeah. Yep.
03:35	SARA: And it is nice, honestly, to have those medical professionals as a resource when we encounter different injuries and medical questions. VERONICA: All right. And when did you know you were doing the right thing, Sara? I always know I’m doing the right thing. SARA: Yeah? Yeah. You knew from the beginning. I mean, truly. You were in the right spot. Yeah, the law. I love to read. So, it was a natural fit. And I’ve always been grateful that this was the path that I chose, and I enjoy my work, and I haven’t regretted it. VERONICA: Montlick Injury Attorney Mike Moran is sitting to Sara’s right.
04:04	VERONICA: And welcome back to the House, Mike. Thank you. Mike Moran went to East Stroudsburg University for undergrad and New York Law School. Correct. Where he got his JD? MIKE: I did. Yes. VERONICA: And so, tell me a little bit about this quote from you. When a client knows you really fought for them in their time of need, you earn a friend for life. MIKE: Yeah, I think it’s very true. I think Sara and I and I think everybody at our firm takes these cases very seriously and in turn work very closely with our clients.
04:39	MIKE: But that causes us to then take these things personally, right? And so, when you take something personally or take it upon yourself personally, you tend to earn friends. And that’s the way I look at this and the work that I do. And oftentimes, I mean, ideally, you want to part with a client as a friend. But when you earn a friend, VEROICA: it’s certainly very rewarding. And that’s what I enjoy about the job. VERONICA: Now, Sara, how long have you been an attorney? SARA: 2008, I think is when I was licensed.
05:10	VERONICA: And what about you, Mike? MIKE: Coming on 20 years. 20 years? VERONICA: OK, so how long were you both with Montlick? Or have you both been with Montlick? Was it? SARA: Mike’s been there longer than me. I came in 2013. MIKE: Okay. I’ve been there 21 years. VERONICA: Wow. So pretty much your entire career then. MIKE: That’s right. Yeah, yeah. VERONICA: And did you know, like, Sara, that you were doing the right thing and in the right place from the beginning? MIKE: Yeah, no doubt. Particularly with this law firm. Yeah. I mean, I felt really at home and supported right from the beginning.
05:39	MIKE: I had just moved here when they took me in from the northeast. And so, yeah, I felt right at home. It felt like a big family. So, I knew right away I was at the right place. And I knew I wanted to be in that field in helping injured people. And then this place took me right in as one of their own. And I haven’t looked elsewhere ever since. I mean VERONICA: Were you inspired into law as a kid, too? MIKE:Well, my mom will tell you I was a soapbox lawyer. Yeah, I could make some arguments as a five-year-old, for sure. VERONICA: And so, I knew kind of early on what I wanted to do.
06:10	VERONICA: This is why I should have extra dessert, Mom. Let me make my case. MIKE: That’s right. Exactly. I love it. VERONICA: Thank you so much for giving us those peeks into your lives. Montlick Injury Attorneys, Mike Moran and Sara Root. Welcome to the House, everybody. This is Lawyers in the House with Montlick on WSB. I’m Veronica Waters. And today we’re talking about slip and falls. I’ve got an attorney friend who says that he thinks the phrase slip and fall is sort of a misnomer, right?
06:39	VERONICA: Because people think you slip, you fall, you get a prize. But as I mentioned when we started off the show, slip and falls are really well, number one, they’re in a section of law called premises liability, right? MIKE: Correct. VERONICA: But to his point, it’s not some game that you play, although people will try to game the system and try to make up this stuff.
07:06	VERONICA: We’re talking today about folks who have had slips, trips, and falls and barely walked away with serious injuries. SARA: Correct. Yeah, I think that’s a common misperception. We have all seen those videos online, things that you talked about where people are trying to set up a scam. But what we encounter are very serious injuries. It’s not necessarily just a slip and fall. There’s a lot of different areas that are covered.
07:33	SARA: But the premises liability term basically means you’ve been injured on someone else’s premises because of some sort of a dangerous condition that you weren’t aware of, but the property owner either was or should have been aware of. VERONICA: Can I have a slip and fall at my own house or on my own property? MIKE: Do you rent? And that’s, you know, if it’s a landlord tenant, that’s a whole aspect of the law. And the answer would be maybe.
08:00	MIKE: You know Typically, a landlord is not responsible for any injuries that you have once they surrender the property to you, unless they had undertaken some construction and did so negligently, or if it’s at an area where you need to come in and go out of your home, and it’s the only way in and out of your home. But mostly, if you get hurt in your own home, if you’re renting, no, you will not have a claim.
08:27	VERONICA: So, it is someone I trip, I step into something, I fall or something falls on me, and I’m hurt. But it’s always generally somebody else’s property. Yes. SARA: Correct. Because ultimately, the other person has to have knowledge of this sort of dangerous situation that you don’t have knowledge of. And ultimately, we’re looking to recover compensation for your injuries and damages.
08:56	SARA: And you’re not going to sue yourself for that type of claim. VERONICA: Probably not. SARA: And basically, then the issue would be you’re the person responsible for maintaining your own premises and keeping it safe for yourself and others. I think a lot of times when we hear slip and fall, you know this idea that comes forward isn’t necessarily what we’re actually seeing or talking about. The question is, what did you slip on if it is a true slip and fall or did you trip and fall?
09:26	SARA: And what was the item? I think a lot of people have this misperception that simply if they are injured on someone else’s property, then that alone means they have a valid claim. But that’s not accurate. VERONICA: Oh, yeah. I would absolutely think that. You’re right. I would absolutely think that. So, let’s dig into that a little bit, Sara and Mike. What do you have to prove then if it’s not just that simple? MIKE: Sure, sure. There’s a lot of these are very, very difficult cases. And we’re a national firm, and I’ll speak a little bit about Georgia, but mostly they all kind of file.
09:58	MIKE: Every state kind of files the same parameters. So, the first thing that the law looks at is, well, what is your status? What was your legal status? Why were you there? And so, they break it down. There are invitees. An invitee is typically at a public place like a store. They’re invited to come and spend their money and purchase things. So, they have one that has the highest duty is owed to invitees. VERONICA: Because you’re saying, come into my place, spend money with me.
10:28	VERONICA: I’m going to keep you safe. MIKE: Correct. They are owed duties. You know the landowner or store owner, whoever it may be, is inviting them in with a promise. And the promise is that I will provide you with safe property or premises the walk on. VERONICA: Okay. MIKE: And so that’s the highest duty is owed to invitees. And then there’s licenses. Licensee is like a social guest. It’s normally not at a public place. It’s a friend coming over to your apartment. It’s a delivery person.
10:59	MIKE: They’re there really not for the benefit of that property owner. They’re there for their own convenience, for their own purposes. And then there’s a trespasser, and they’re really owed no duties. If you’re on someone’s property, you weren’t invited, you’re not expected, it wasn’t foreseeable, you’re going to be there. You really have no right to bring a claim if you’re injured on that property. So, the first thing the law looks to is, what is your classification?
11:28	MIKE: Who were you? Why were you there? And so, it’s that invitee, license, and trespasser. Every property owner really has a duty to maintain their property in a safe manner, but certainly it’s the invitees that are owed at highest duty. VERONICA: All right. So then explain this to me. How can you prove that somebody was negligent when I came onto their property? I’m not the negligent one.
11:58	VERONICA: I’m the one who got hurt. Or am I the negligent one? I don’t know. Sometimes I know you guys always say, it depends. Did you do something wrong, right? SARA: Exactly. VERONCIA: But so how do you go about proving this? This has to be you mentioned it’s difficult, even though from state to state, the parameters might be the same, but I can’t imagine how hard this is. SARA: That’s very fact specific. So that’s why it’s important to contact one of us so we can go into questions and get a really good understanding of exactly what we’re dealing with.
12:26	SARA: Because very small differences in one fact pattern and another could make all the difference in the world and bring in the case. So, for example, let’s say we have a slip and fall at a grocery store. That’s a common thing that happens. We have to know why did you slip? What did you fall on? Because we may not be able to pinpoint why this was there. If someone slipped in a liquid and it’s coming from the freezer and the grocery store knew that this freezer was broken, ice has melted all over the floor.
12:54	SARA: A couple of hours have gone by, and they’ve done nothing to remedy the situation or put out some warning signs or clean it up. That’s extremely different than the shopper who came down the same aisle 30 seconds before you spilled their water bottle. VERONICA: And how would the store have known that? Exactly. Because they’re not following around every customer with a mop and a broom. SARA: Yep. VERONICA: OK, I love it. So, we’re starting to delve into how to prove a slip and fall case not as easy as you might think. We’re talking to Montlick Injury Attorneys Sara Root and Mike Moran. Stay with us. We’ll be right back.
13:29	ANNOUNCER: You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick. Join us 8:00 a.m. every Sunday if you want to listen live on 95.5 WSB. VERONICA: Welcome back to Lawyers in House with Montlick on WSB. I’m Veronica Waters in the House with Montlick Injury Attorneys Mike Moran and Sara Root. We are talking about slip and falls today and just how bad they can actually be.
13:52	VERONICA: Mike and Sara, you were just talking to me about how difficult these things can be to prove. For example, in a store where people might often say that they have had a slip and fall, you think it’s obvious that the store is at fault, but maybe not. MIKE: Yeah, these cases, I like to think of them as like when I’m handling them, it feels as if I’m walking on a razor’s edge. And the reason I say that is if you get hit from behind in a car wreck, it’s a clear liability case. You can prove that case. It moves on to damages.
14:20	MIKE: But in this case, you have to prove knowledge of the owner of the property, actual or constructive. And the best way to do that is clearly by filing a lawsuit and getting down into the nitty-gritty of discovery. But in these kinds of cases, you are opening your client up to having the case dismissed right away at any point, really, during the case. And that’s not available on most other cases, but it is on-premises liability cases.
14:46	MIKE: So, you kind of have to walk this razor’s edge and try to be creative and try to find ways to prove your case without having the benefit of discovery or a lawsuit, at least initially, because you don’t want the case being dismissed right away. So, there’s things that need to be done, preservation of evidence letters. Today, we see there’s cameras everywhere, of course. So, you want to get an attorney immediately asking people to preserve evidence. You want to do some creative things.
15:16	MIKE: You want to perhaps if it’s a real static defect, you know a broken issue, you want to get some building department inspections, you want to get some 911 calls, you can get 911 calls to a particular store going back a year. And so, you can see if this has been a really habitual problem area for them. And so, you can do all these creative things without opening up your client to having their case dismissed by filing a lawsuit right away.
15:45	MIKE: So, it is a little bit of a razor’s edge because it all comes back to their knowledge versus their defenses that they can launch. There’s an awful lot of defenses like contributory negligence. Did you see it before you fell? If you saw it before you fell, you can be told you have equal knowledge, and a judge will dismiss your case. So, these cases have a lot more defenses than other cases. And I think that’s what makes them particularly difficult. VERONICA: How hard to prove is a slip and fall case?
16:17	SARA: It’s pretty difficult. As Mike was saying, all states have slightly different variations on the rules, but Georgia has quite a few defenses that would tend to favor the property owner. So, you know contributory negligence. If you’re distracted, like a lot of us are these days, looking at your cell phone instead of watching where you’re going, you know that’s an easy one right there. If there’s an argument that whatever sort of dangerous thing you fell on or tripped on was open and obvious, meaning if you had just been looking where you’re going, you would have seen this thing, and you should have been able to avoid it.
16:48	VERONICA: Pull your face out of your cell phone people. We’re talking slip and fall cases here on Lawyers in the House with Montlick on WSB. I’m Veronica Waters, inviting you to come right back. ANNOUCNER: You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick. Join us 8:00 a.m. every Sunday on 95.5 WSP. VERONICA: Hey, hey, welcome back to the House. Lawyers in the House with Montlick on WSB.
17:16	VERONICA: I’m Veronica Waters here with Montlick Injury Attorneys Sara Root and Mike Moran. We are talking about slip and fall cases today and just how hard they are to prove. Let me tell you, it’s been eye-opening so far in the first half of the show. If you missed any of it, don’t worry. We got you. Just make sure you subscribe to Lawyers in the House on your favorite podcast platform. And that way, when the new episode drops, it’s going to come right into your earbuds, so you don’t have to miss a thing.
17:44	VERONICA: We’re always available online at lawyersinthehouse.com where you can also send us a note 24 hours a day, seven days a week, or watch us on the YouTube and see our smiling faces. Guess what? We’re all dressed in blue today. I don’t know. There was no memo, but we got the blues. But we’re happy, happy, happy blues, happy, happy blues. And remember that you can always find us on social media too in between each and every show. Just hit us up at Montlick Law. Slips, trips, and falls are what we’re talking about today, Sara and Mike.
18:15	VERONICA: And you said they are desperately hard to prove. Let’s delve into a case together. I know that you two actually worked on a really big one together. Please tell us about it. SARA: Sure. So, this is probably about 10 years ago because it came after that major ice storm that we had in Atlanta at the time. And normally, slip and fall cases on the ice are not necessarily valid claims that we would pursue just because everyone has notice of the icy conditions.
18:47	SARA: It makes it a little bit more difficult. But this case had some unique facts. Like I mentioned before, it’s very fact specific. And it was a really sad, you know, tragic outcome. So anyway, what had happened was our client had gone to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner several days towards the end after we were still in a state of emergency, but we’d had a lot of sunny days. The ice had melted in most areas. People are going back out to restaurants, things like that.
19:15	SARA: And so, this man and his family had gone into the Mexican restaurant for dinner, and it was one of their favorite local places to go as well. And they had seen while they were seated that there was some kind of an emergency type event. They could see the lights of the ambulance out in the parking lot, but they were seated towards the rear of the restaurant, didn’t pay a lot of attention. But then when they went to leave, this older gentleman goes out the front door, which was not the door he had entered from. There were two separate entrances and exits. And he immediately slipped on the ice.
19:45	SARA: He fell back and he hit his head extremely hard. He actually fractured his skull and then developed a severe brain bleed. So, it was a very significant injury. And so, while he was lying there and his family’s there and some employees came out and the EMTs came, they said we were just here you know 25 minutes ago. And so, it turned out that another patron had gone out the same exit, slipped and fell on this ice and broke his leg.
20:12	SARA: But then in the interim, no one took any steps to lock the door, put a sign out, secure the area, put any salt down, you know nothing, which would have been such a simple thing to do is just to block that door and have everyone leave out of the other exit. So, because that had happened, Mike and I felt like it was a strong case that we SARA: could be successful on. So, we partnered up together to bring it forward successfully. VERONICA: Before you take another step forward on this story, I have to say I am floored.
20:44	VERONICA: No pun intended. Two people within like 30 minutes had the paramedics come out to the same restaurant where they had broken bones because of a slip and fall at this place’s door. That is stunning. MIKE: Oh, Sara and I went and met the family, and they were in a bad, bad way. And it was an elderly wife now caring for her elderly husband with a head injury. And the first thing this insurance company did for this restaurant was deny the claim.
21:13	MIKE: And the first thing they said was that, well, this man went in that way, and it came out that way. And if you do that, it’s this prior traversal rule. You know we were talking about a lot of defenses. VERONICA: Prior traversal means. MIKE: If you go through the area once and you, do it successfully, you are typically barred from bringing a claim if you get hurt the second or third time you go through. VERONICA: Oh, OK. MIKE: So, we went to the restaurant, and we saw that that’s actually not the way it works. You go in the one, it’s purely an entrance, and then they make you leave out the other.
21:42	MIKE: So, this man didn’t go in and go out the way that they said. And then they had claimed later on that it was impossible to go out that area because they had some fencing, not fencing, but railings up. And then you know we had realized that they put the railings up afterwards. VERONICA: Wait, who said it was it possible to who said MIKE: there was their attorney. VERONICA: Also, the attorney said this couldn’t have happened because look at the fence right here. MIKE: Correct. But what he didn’t realize is that we were there way earlier and had taken pictures and the railing actually didn’t exist at that time.
22:13	MIKE: And so, this defense counsel just didn’t go to this place. And so that was the difference is when they called us, we both got right into action, met with the family. Their attorneys went to the place, captured some evidence, and we were up against defense counsel who are great defense counsel, but have a lot of cases. And certainly, it became clear when we were meeting with them that they had never been to the place, never actually laid their own eyes on it.
22:41	MIKE: And so, it gave us a great advantage in the case and ultimately allowed us to be successful for this very deserving family. SARA: Yeah. And I think to your point, it is pretty shocking that this restaurant didn’t take some very simple measures to make this area safe. And so that’s what we were talking about earlier. They had prior knowledge of this dangerous icy condition because someone else had just been injured. And I think more shocking to us was it would just be such a simple thing to do to lock the door, to send people another way.
23:10	SARA: And I think in general, we see that with a lot of these premises’ liability cases. It’s not rocket science. MIKE: It’s just avoidable. SARA: Yeah. Look for dangerous things that might not be readily apparent, but they’re there and they’re not that hard to find. VERONICA: Did the business have any reason? I don’t want to say excuse, but did they give any reason for why they didn’t do something in that interim between when the first guy fell and broke his leg and when your client fell and had a hole in the back of his skull, a literal hole?
23:42	MIKE: No, that would be an admission against interest, and they will never do that. And so, you have to prove that. You have to say, you mostly have to prove, well, this is what they could have done or should have done. And it becomes so obvious that these things are avoidable. You very rarely get the admission. And in fact, the one thing that angers me the most about these cases is a lot of this stuff is on video. And so, when I first get the case, I say, “Give me the video,” and they won’t do that.
24:09	MIKE: And so, you know, a lot of these things can be avoided if they just share video. You know, maybe we don’t even have to bring a claim if they show me the video and it’s not what I suspect it may be, which is an avoidable fall that horrifically hurt my client. But, you know, not only won’t they give you, they won’t give you the video, but you’re not going to get an admission, unfortunately. So, the only way to get an admission is to get a win for the family. And it’s in financial recoveries.
24:41	SARA: Yeah. And we’re going to get that video if we file a lawsuit. But like Mike said, sometimes there are reasons strategically where it doesn’t make sense to go that route. And I have seen a few a couple of bigger stores, too, have started to at least allow us to see the video footage if it doesn’t show what our client is telling us. And that is an easy way to avoid prolonging litigation or a claim that doesn’t isn’t valid. We don’t want to do that. So that can be a win for both sides. I was going to say with this particular case, I do recall at one point having a conversation with the adjuster, I think, before they got the defense lawyers involved.
25:14	SARA: And they did try to argue to me that the restaurant couldn’t get any salt you know because there was this ice storm in Atlanta and there was a shortage of salt. And even though it’s not the right type of salt, Mike and I kind of jokingly said, well, they have salt from margaritas. Like I mean, literally if they had to put that salt down to melt this little patch of ice because it wasn’t a big area. It was just shady, and it was right in front of the door that they could have probably addressed it that way. VERONCIA: So yeah, just take 10 minutes away from assaulting the rims and go outside.
25:45	SARA: Exactly. But that was kind of a ridiculous argument. They didn’t make any attempts. VERONICA: And I don’t mean to make light of it because I know that your client was hurt so badly. I mean, the injuries were egregious. SARA: Yeah. MIKE: Well, you go out to dinner and your life changes, right, on something that’s completely avoidable. And I know that made us very angry and aggressive in response on behalf of him. VERONICA: I know you guys pulled out all the stops too. And you constantly do for these for these cases.
26:14	MIKE: No question. SARA: Yes. Yeah. And in going to their home and meeting with the family, Mike and I took a pre-litigation deposition of this husband and wife. And it was really eye-opening to see she was just this tiny petite woman. She was such a caring wife. She was, you know, doing everything she could for her husband, but he was a bigger guy. And then because of these injuries, she was having to help him, you know, just to lift him kind of to get into a standing position. And it was so difficult on them. And I think they had been married like 50, 60 years.
26:45	SARA: And it was heartwarming to see just how caring she was. She was such a devoted wife, but it was also heartbreaking to see what they were struggling with in their last few years of life. And then tragically, our client did pass away shortly thereafter. We think we couldn’t prove it was from this, you know, some of the injuries compounded with other things, but it was a really sad situation. VERONICA: Other health conditions that he had? SARA: Yeah, with a brain bleed, for example, this was something we encountered.
27:14	SARA: So, a lot of older people are on blood thinners. Well, when you’re, if you have a brain bleed, they don’t want that blood, you know, the thin blood to come into the brain and cause more of a bleed. So, they’re having to sort of weigh the risk and the benefit of being on the blood thinner. So, he had to go off of the blood thinner due to the brain bleed. But then the fear was, now are you at risk for a blood clot and a stroke? And that was exactly what happened to him. Unfortunately, a few weeks later. VERONICA: Oh, just a few weeks later. SARA: Yeah. And then that sort of led to a downward spiral with other medical conditions.
27:46	VERONICA: Do you argue then at trial or in settlement talks or whatever that but for this accident, this client would not be on his deathbed? MIKE: Yeah. Oh, absolutely. And in this case, you know, we talked earlier about being an invitee, right? They were inviting people to come for dinner. Well, if you can’t provide a safe premises, then turn your lights off. Don’t invite people, right? I mean, and so that would have been the butt for thing.
28:14	MIKE: Don’t invite people if you can’t provide a safe premise because of the state of emergency or whatever the condition may be. But the minute you turn your lights on, and you invite people, you are telling them it’s safe to come. And if it’s not, you know then certainly we would hope that we could hold them responsible for that. VERONICA: So, I do want to point out here a stat that I got for you. The National Floor Safety Institute says slip and falls account for about a million trips to the emergency room each and every year.
28:47	VERONICA: Again, I think we cannot emphasize strongly enough. This is not a joke. It’s not a punchline. It can be a scam for some people, but that’s usually borne out by the evidence. We’re talking about really serious injuries here. And when somebody is hurt that badly, to know that the laws are written, especially in a business-friendly state, to sort of help the businesses and attract the businesses, it’s more of an uphill battle than you might think to try to get justice, to try to get made whole, to try to get your medical bills paid.
29:21	SARA: Absolutely. MIKE: Yeah. Listen, I come from a family of trippers, right? My mom trips all the time. My father-in-law is a shuffler. When that happens to them, that’s not cases. Cases are when they’re owed a duty, and there’s a real defect that the owner knew about, and it hurt the person. In the cases we’ve worked on, you know, people are really hurt from these falls. I mean, there’s broken legs, there’s broken arms, thumbs, head injuries, like we were just talking about.
29:50	MIKE: I mean, these falls cause really serious injuries that we typically see. VERONICA: I think that when we come up in the MCA, the Montlick closing argument is just ahead. Maybe we can give a couple of tips. Little pieces of advice to homeowners and business owners about how to protect themselves from such slip and trip and fall cases. That’s straight ahead here on Lawyers in the House with Montlick on WSB. Don’t miss out.
30:20	ANNOUCNER: You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick. If you want to listen to our radio show live, you can hear it every Sunday, 8:00 a.m. on 95.5 WSB. VERONICA: We are back in the house. Lawyers in the house with Montlick on WSB. I’m Veronica Waters here hosting Montlick Injury Attorneys Mike Moran and Sara Root.
30:42	VERONICA: We’re talking about slips, trips and falls today, and it’s time for what you’ve been waiting for all hour long, the Montlick closing argument. Sara and Mike, take it away. MIKE: Yeah, so I think the most important thing is you know we practice across the country, and we want to know about these things as soon as they happen. So, the key is call us right away. Let us get involved. You get an attorney who gets right on the case. You’re not working with a call center. You get an attorney who starts to put in a place of strategy.
31:12	MIKE: There’s a lot of evidence that needs to be preserved, and it goes away rather quickly. So, starting from the very beginning, talking directly with an attorney, coming up with a strategy, I think, is huge in these cases, because the evidence does need to be preserved. So that would be the biggest thing and the most important thing, getting out of the gate, I think. SARA: Yeah, I agree. Calling us, making sure you’re hiring the right attorney from the get-go is critically important. But then on the flip side, for any business owners or small business owners that might be listening, I mean, ideally, we’d love to avoid having these injuries happen in the first place.
31:46	SARA: And I think there’s so many simple things that somebody who owns a business can do. It’s not complicated. It’s really just taking a look around. I was saying earlier, my family jokes and teases me that I’m like the safety patrol. But often when we go out to restaurants or things like that, I will see things that are so obvious to me. And I know it’s just ripe for an injury. When my kids were younger, for example, we’d go out to this complex in Brookhaven.
32:13	SARA: And there was a brick wall that had a piece of rebar just sticking out several inches right at my children’s eye level. And it kind of blended in with the color of the brick. It was rusty. Then a few hundred yards later, there’s this rusty old air conditioning bracket that was still there. And so those types of things, if you just look SARA: around and kind of intentionally go looking for them as the business owner to try to see what you may not notice otherwise. But if you’re intentionally looking for it, trying to find those dangerous things, just remove them.
32:43	SARA: Take care of it. It will prevent a lot of injuries in the long run. VERONCIA: Same thing we could say to homeowners, too, because I’m thinking about what could be around my own house where somebody might either accidentally injure themselves or try to pretend like they did. So maybe check your yard for hoses, kids’ toys, gardening instruments. I mean, we’ve all seen the cartoons where somebody steps on a rake, right, and it bangs you in the head. But that could be a real-life injury. We’ve got to become our own safety patrols, really, around our own homes. Yes?
33:13	MIKE: Yeah, we do. And we’re inviting people to deliver things more and more online, right? So, you have FedEx, you have Amazon coming to your home all the time. So, you are inviting people all the time, and that’s a great idea. Just safety proof your home, your yard. And for businesses, you know maybe invite your insurance underwriter out to your business. Have them walk around. Let somebody in their profession kind of tell you what maybe needs to be done. VERONICA: Yeah, they want to protect you too. Thank you so much to Mike Moran and Sara Root, Montlick Injury Attorneys for being in the house with us here on Lawyers in the House.
33:45	VERONICA: I’m your host, Veronica Waters. Just remember, if you’ve ever been hurt in a slip, trip and fall, don’t you want the right attorney to stand up and fight for you? We’ll see you next time on Lawyers in the House. ANNOUCNER: You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick. Catch us live every Sunday, 8:00 a.m. on 95.5 WSB.

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