Tim Rayne

Pennsylvania Car Accident & Personal Injury Lawyer

Tim Rayne

Pennsylvania Car Accident & Personal Injury Lawyer

Pennsylvania slip and fall attorney

Five Tips to Avoid Wintertime Liability for Pennsylvania Slip and Fall Accidents

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How to Avoid Unexpected Liability For Wintertime Slip and Falls

Winter is not over yet.  We are nearly guaranteed to have ice and snow in Chester County Pennsylvania in February or even early March.  Snow and ice lead to Slip and Fall accidents, injuries and legal liability.

Here are 5 Tips to Avoid Legal Liability from Slip and Fall Accidents caused by Snow and Ice:

Define Who is Responsible for Snow and Ice Removal and Treatment

In landlord/tenant situations, the issue of who is responsible to plow, shovel and treat snow and ice should be clearly defined in the Lease.  The landlord should spell out who must clear driveways, parking lots and sidewalks.  If responsibility is placed on the tenants, the Lease should provide that that tenant assumes all liability for slips and falls and the lease should require the tenant to purchase liability insurance.  In situations where a business or home has frontage on a public sidewalk, the property owner should research who is legally responsible to clear the sidewalk, the property owner or the municipality.

Promptly Shovel Snow and Salt Ice

Although Pennsylvania has favorable laws providing some protection to property owners from liability relating to snow and ice storms, ice and snow should be cleared promptly after a storm.  Often municipalities will have Ordinances specifying how quickly shoveling must be done.  Research and follow Ordinances and do your best to clear snow and treat ice in a timely manner.  If you allow it to remain and someone falls and is injured, you may face a legal claim.

Don’t Forget to Salt Spots that Melt and Re-freeze

After the initial snow or ice clearing, it is common to have melting and refreezing, which can create dangerous ice patches.  To minimize melting and freezing issues, think about where and how you pile snow.  Be sure to establish a regular schedule to salt and sand ice patches.  If possible, have a written schedule and keep records of your work.  This information would be helpful in defending a slip and fall lawsuit.

Be Mindful of Gutters, Downspouts and the Slope of the Property

Ice patches often result from defective gutters or downspouts or improperly designed or maintained parking lots, driveways or sidewalks which allow water to collect and freeze.  Be sure to conduct regular maintenance to prevent ice patches.  Also, have and maintain proper railings on stairways.

Make Sure that You are Adequately Insured

Make sure that adequate liability insurance is purchased which will cover slip and falls on ice and snow.  Falls can result in serious injuries, like broken hips or spine damage.  Liability coverage should be high enough to pay for serious injuries.

Wintertime can be beautiful, but also dangerous.  Snow and ice can result in slip and fall accidents and costly lawsuits, but the risks can usually be eliminated or managed through proper planning and insurance.

Tim Rayne is a Personal Injury and Slip and Fall Lawyer with the Chester County Pennsylvania law firm MacElree Harvey.  For over 25 years, Tim has been helping injured accident victims receive fair compensation from insurance companies.  Tim regularly represents Slip and Fall victims who have been injured in falls on snow or ice.  Tim has law offices in Kennett Square, West Chester and Philadelphia.  Tim can be reached at 6108400124 or trayne@macelree.com or you can check out Tim’s website at www.TimRayneLaw.com.

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Banana Peel Slip and Fall Teaches Lesson on Personal Injury Law

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It’s hard to believe but a banana  peel can teach a lesson about Pennsylvania Slip and Fall Personal Injury Law.  Falls on banana peels don’t just happen in cartoons.  One happened in Philadelphia and the court decision that resulted has taught an important lesson about the concept of Notice in Negligence cases.

The Case

A patron of the Save-A-Lot grocery store filed a lawsuit after sustaining injuries in a slip and fall on a bannana peel in the produce aisle of the store.

Unfortunately for the patron, he had no evidence about how the banana got on the floor in the first place or how long it was there before he fell.

The judge dismissed the case because of a lack of evidence of Negligence, reasoning that in order for the store to be held liable, the patron had to prove that the store knew or should have known about the dangerous condition and had enough time to eliminate the hazard.

The Legal Concept of Notice in Pennsylvania Slip and Fall Cases

In order to have a Slip and Fall case in Pennsylvania,  an injured person must show that the property owner was Negligent, or careless, by failing to discover and remedy a dangerous condition.  However, the law cuts property owners a little slack by only requiring them to act reasonably and fix hazardous conditions that they create or conditions that others create but that the property owner should have noticed through reasonable care.

What does that mean in the context of a banana peel fall in a grocery store?  It means that the patron who fell must show that a store employee caused the banana peel to be on the floor OR that the banana peel was on the floor for such a long period of time that the store employees should have noticed it and cleaned it up.

How this can be proven depends on the circumstances and, oftentimes, it cannot be proven resulting in the patron having no case. In other cases there are eyewitnesses or surveillance video that show what happened and prove the case.

This concept of NOTICE is critical in Pennsylvania Slip and Fall cases. Notice can be established in the form of Actual Notice which proves that the store caused the condition or someone testifying that the store actually knew of the condition.  In the alternative, Constructive Notice can be established through proof that the dangerous condition existed for such a long period of time that the store should have discovered it.

The bottom line is that Pennsylvania Slip and Fall cases can be hard to prove and win because of this Notice issue.  It’s not enough that someone fell and got hurt badly.  An injured victim also needs to show that the store was Negligent because it knew or should have known about the hazard and failed to fix it.

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Tim Rayne is a Pennsylvania Slip and Fall Lawyer with the Chester County Law Firm MacElree Harvey, Ltd.  For over 20 years, Tim has been helping injured victims of Slip and Fall accidents in Pennsylvania receive fair treatment from insurance companies.  Contact Tim at trayne@macelree.com or 6108400124 to schedule a Free Consulttation in Tim’s Kennett Square or West Chester offices.  

Three Things To Do After a Pennsylvania Slip and Fall Accident

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Pennsylvania Slip and Fall Accident
Three Things to do After a Pennsylvania Slip and Fall Accident

If you’ve been injured in a Pennsylvania Slip and Fall accident, there are three things you should do immediately to protect your legal rights.  As a Pennsylvania Slip and Fall Lawyer, I can tell you that the three things you should do are:  take photos of the condition that caused the fall, report the slip and fall accident to the property owner and get medical treatment for your injuries.

Take Photos of the Condition that Caused the Fall

It’s crucial to take photos of the condition that caused the fall in order to preserve the evidence.  The central issue in any Slip and Fall case is what was the defective and dangerous condition that caused the fall and why didn’t you see and avoid it.  The best evidence proving the condition is a photo.  As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.  If you don’t take a photo of the condition, it can become a battle between you and the property owner regarding the actual condition of the property.   As a Pennsylvania Slip and Fall Lawyer, I’v seen that fight many times and always wished that my client had pulled out the phone and taken a photo.   You can minimize the controversy if you have the presence of mind to snap some  photos and/or shoot video with your phone.

Report the Slip and Fall Accident to the Property Owner

The second thing you should do is to report the Slip and Fall accident to the property owner.  You need to document that the accident happened so you cannot be accused of making the incident up.  You should insist that the owner take down a full report of the incident and you should ask for a copy of the report.  If the property owner won’t provide you with a copy, you should at least take down the name and contact information of the person to whom you reported the accident.

Get Immediate Medical Treatment

As a Pennsylvania Slip and Fall lawyer, I can tell you that the third thing you need to do after a Slip and Fall accident is to obtain immediate medical treatment.  It’s important to get treatment for medical reasons, but you must also document your injuries for any potential legal action.  If you don’t obtain medical treatment, you can be sure that the insurance company for the property owner will claim that you must not have been injured in the fall.

Tim Rayne is a Pennsylvania Slip and Fall Lawyer who helps Slip and Fall accident victims receive fair compensation from insurance companies.  Tim has extensive experience in settling Personal Injury claims with insurance companies and trying cases in court in Pennsylvania.  Tim is Board Certified in Trial Advocay and has a Masters Degree in Trial Advocay.  Super Lawyers Magazine has named Tim Rayne one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Philadlephia and Pennsylvania.  Tim takes pride in educating his Pennsylvania Slip and Fall clients on their legal rights and fighting for fair compensation.

Five Things To Do if You’ve Been Injured in a Slip or Trip and Fall Accident in Pennsylvania

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Hi. My name is Tim Rayne, and I’m a Pennsylvania Slip and Fall Attorney. Today’s legal tip is five things to do if you’ve been injured in a slip or trip and fall.

Number one — photograph the condition that caused you to fall. It’s extremely important that you immediately document the condition that caused your fall, whether it’s something on the floor, whether it’s snow, or ice; whether it’s another type of defective condition. It’s of critical importance that you take a photograph.

Fortunately nowadays, most of us carry a cellphone or some other type of device that has a camera on it. Use that, and immediately take a photograph of the condition that caused you to fall, because it will be extremely important evidence to use in the event that you have a legal case.

Number two — identify any witnesses to the fall and get their contact information. Again, this is very important. You need the contact information of anyone who saw you fall, and/or witnessed the condition that caused you to fall. Get that information immediately before they leave the scene of the accident.

Number three — be sure to notify immediately the property owner or business owner of the place where your fall occurred. It’s important that the property owner be notified so that there can’t be any argument later that you didn’t fall, or you fell somewhere else, or you’re making this up. It’s important that you notify the property owner or business owner immediately.

Number four — get immediate medical treatment. If you’ve been injured in a fall, it’s important that you document your injuries, and it’s important that you get medical treatment immediately. If you don’t do that, that will allow the insurance company to argue that maybe you weren’t hurt at all, or maybe you got hurt somewhere after this fall occurred. So, you need to get immediate medical treatment.

Number five — contact and consult with an experienced Personal Injury Attorney. It’s important that as soon as possible after the accident, you locate and talk to an experienced Personal Injury Attorney who handles these types of cases. There are many mistakes that you can make unknowingly that will hurt your claim, if you don’t seek immediate advice. So, it’s important that you find and talk to an experienced Personal Injury Attorney as soon as possible.

So, those are the five things that I recommend that you do after a slip or trip and fall accident. And my name is Tim Rayne. I’m a Pennsylvania Personal Injury Attorney. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any other questions. I can be reached by phone 610 840 0124 or email trayne@macelree.com.  Thank you.