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Fresno Slip and Fall Lawyer
Slip and fall victims often suffer serious injuries because of a property owner’s negligence in providing a safe environment at their home or business. However, premises liability lawsuits can be complicated because of the difficulty in determining who was at fault.
If you’ve suffered injuries from a slip and fall accident, a trusted slip and fall attorney in Fresno can help you navigate the legal complexities and secure the compensation you deserve. Slip and fall injuries often occur due to a property owner’s negligence in maintaining a safe environment. Whether it’s a hazardous condition at a business, public space, or private property, victims frequently face mounting medical bills, lost wages, and pain that disrupts their daily lives. Filing a premises liability lawsuit is the first step toward holding negligent property owners accountable.
In California, every property owner owes a duty of care to people invited onto the property or visiting as customers. This applies to places of business, private homes, and public property such as a public park. You have a legal right to collect damages from a negligent property owner who allowed a dangerous condition to continue, causing damage to you or a loved one.
At Nunes Law, Inc., we understand the physical, emotional, and financial toll slip and fall accidents can take. Our experienced legal team is here to provide compassionate support and aggressive representation to ensure you receive maximum compensation for your injuries.
However, holding owners responsible for the hazards on their property can be difficult. You need the help of experienced Fresno slip and fall accident lawyers to investigate the details of your accident and prove that you deserve maximum compensation for your injuries. Call Nunes Law, Inc. today at (559) 436-0850 to discuss your fall claim with our knowledgeable personal injury attorney and see if you have a valid lawsuit.
What Are Common Causes of Fresno Slip and Fall Injuries?
A trip and fall injury claim can occur for various reasons and locations. Some common causes of slip and fall injuries include:
- Icy sidewalk
- Broken sidewalks
- Poorly organized construction site
- Wet floors
- Debris left on the floor in a workplace
- Inadequate lighting
- Toxic spills
- Unmarked drops or stairs
- Poorly maintained elevators and escalators
- Missing or broken handrails
- Damaged or defective playground equipment
If the property owner knew or should have known about the hazardous condition, you may be able to collect compensation for your injuries. This includes many different locations where slip and fall injuries occur.
Some places where victims fall and are injured because of the owner’s negligence include:
- Public parks
- Parking lots
- Shopping centers
- Apartment buildings
- Private property, such as a person’s home
- Workplaces
- Amusement parks
- Office buildings
- Construction sites
- Hospitals
- Public transportation buildings
What Injuries Typically Occur in Slip and Fall Accidents?
When you or a loved one is injured on someone else’s property, you might suffer severe damage. These injuries could result in a lengthy, painful recovery that prevents you from working and enjoying your everyday life. Some injuries even result in catastrophic damage, leaving you or your family member paralyzed or permanently disabled. In the worst scenario, the victim succumbs to their injuries in a case of wrongful death.
Some common injuries that typically occur in trip and fall accidents include:
- Broken bones, including broken arms, legs, and hips
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI), including concussions
- Lacerations from sharp objects or corners
- Burns from toxic spills
- Mental disability from brain trauma
- Emotional distress
- Internal organ damage
- Drowning
- Electrocution
- Partial or total paralysis
- Death
At Nunes Law, Inc., our Fresno trip and fall attorney is committed to fighting for the full compensation you deserve, including medical expenses, lost wages, and non-economic damages like pain and suffering. In severe cases, victims may face wrongful death due to the extent of their injuries.
When you are recovering from your injuries, it is essential that you and your family have the financial ability to cover medical expenses and non-economic damages, such as disfigurement and emotional distress. You have the best chance of getting the compensation you deserve by opening a slip and fall claim with a trusted legal representative.
Who is Liable in a Trip-and-Fall Accident?
Determining liability is crucial in developing a successful slip and fall case. This can be complicated since it must be shown that the owner knew about the dangerous condition and did not sufficiently act to prevent a guest from being injured.
However, California law protects victims who are injured in these accidents, and a skilled Fresno slip and fall lawyer like at Nunes Law, Inc. will carefully investigate your case to ensure the proper evidence exists to back up your claim.
To successfully prove that the owner is responsible for your accident, your attorney will help you prove that one of the following three facts is true:
- The property owner caused the dangerous condition that led to your injuries, such as in the case of a spill.
- The owner, manager, or employee knew the hazard existed but did not fix it or warn guests of the danger, such as a lack of “Wet Surface” signs in a spill.
- The owner should have known about the dangerous condition because a reasonable, careful property owner would have been aware and fixed it, such as allowing snow and ice to accumulate on sidewalks following a snowstorm.
While a duty of care exists for guests, customers, and clients, this legal protection does not automatically extend to trespassers. However, there are certain cases where an owner can be held liable for intentional bodily harm, such as purposefully creating a dangerous situation that would harm a trespasser. Children are also granted more protection under California law, even if they were not on the property with permission.
Holding a property owner responsible in a premises liability claim is vital for your financial recovery and to prevent future fall accident victims from being harmed by negligent owners. Contact our experienced Fresno trip and fall attorney today to discuss the details of your fall accident case and hold irresponsible owners accountable.
What Should I Do if I’ve Been Injured in a Slip and Fall Accident?
If you have been injured in a slip-and-fall accident, you should act quickly to get the necessary medical care. Even if you don’t feel that you’ve been severely injured, you should be examined by a medical professional to ensure that you don’t have any masked internal injuries. It is also important to document your accident through photos and gather contact information of eyewitnesses to help your case.
Once you are out of harm’s way and are recovering from your injuries, you should consider hiring a trip and fall attorney to help with your fall accident case. Trip and fall lawsuits are highly complicated, requiring in-depth investigations that only a skilled legal professional can perform adequately.
Many victims think that filing a claim with the insurance company is sufficient. However, these payouts are often much lower than the victim’s actual expenses. Avoiding a lawsuit may seem easier, but it can cost victims their jobs, homes, vehicles, and more. Please don’t take any shortcuts when it comes to getting the compensation you deserve for your slip and fall accident. Contact our Fresno slip and fall lawyers today for a free consultation to get the support you need when seeking maximum compensation following a trip and fall incident.
How Much Compensation Can You Recover?
Whether the negligent party is a private property owner, a government entity, a business owner, or an office manager, they should take responsibility for causing your injuries. This usually goes beyond what an insurance company will offer. Insurers are notorious for offering lowball settlements to victims, hoping the individuals will take the money and walk away. Sadly, these payouts rarely cover the many future expenses that arise from injuries. However, there is hope of getting a fair settlement with the help of a Fresno slip and fall attorney!
Your lawyer can help you recover compensation for a wide range of damages, including:
- Past and future medical bills
- Doctor’s visits
- Surgical procedures
- Hospital bills
- Chiropractors
- Physical Therapy
- Medical equipment, such as a wheelchair
- Home renovations related to your injury, such as a wheelchair ramp
- Lost wages
- Lost salaries
- Lost vacations and bonuses
- Workers Compensation
- Reduced ability to earn an income
- Emotional distress
- Trauma, including PTSD
- Mental disability related to brain injuries
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium
- Wrongful death
- Funeral charges (within reason)
- Punitive damages if the at-fault party engaged in criminal activity
It is essential to understand that in California, both parties can share a portion of the fault in an accident. Because of this, your share of the damages may be reduced according to your liability for your injuries. However, unlike many states, you can still recover damages even if you were more than 50% at fault. Contact our Fresno slip and fall lawyers to discuss your situation and see if filing a trip and fall lawsuit is the right course of action for you.
Should You Hire Our Fresno Slip and Fall Attorney?
With the complex nature of premises liability claims, you need the help of a lawyer whose law office is laser-focused on helping clients overcome the challenges of personal injuries. While many law firms offer a wide range of services, they typically do not perform any of them very well. At Nunes Law, Inc., we focus primarily on personal injury law to offer excellent counsel and representation for our clients.
If you or a loved one is the victim of a slip and fall accident, you may feel worried about the future and confused about your options. However, you don’t need to go through this troubling time alone. Call (559) 436-0850 right away to schedule a free case evaluation, where we’ll discuss your unique needs. We promise to dedicate our time, energy, and skill to getting the results you need in your trip and fall injury claim, so call today!
Call Nunes Law, Inc. immediately to learn how we can help.
What Frank Nunes Knows About Insurance Companies
When you slip and fall on someone else’s property in Fresno, you are not just dealing with the property owner. Within days, sometimes hours, you are dealing with their insurance company.
Insurance adjusters are trained to minimize claims, dispute liability, and make lowball offers sound fair. Most Fresno attorneys go up against them without any firsthand knowledge of how they operate.
Frank Nunes has that knowledge. Before founding Nunes Law, Inc. in 2007, he served as in-house counsel for a national insurance company. He knows how adjusters evaluate premises liability claims, which arguments they use to shift blame onto victims, and where they look for weaknesses to justify a reduced payout.
As a Fresno slip and fall attorney, Frank Nunes uses that insider knowledge to your advantage. His background as a former Tulare County Prosecutor adds courtroom credibility that insurers take seriously when deciding whether to make a fair offer or face a jury.
How Long Do You Have to File a Slip and Fall Claim in Fresno, California?
California law places strict time limits on your right to pursue compensation after a slip and fall. Missing these deadlines means permanently losing that right.
The Two-Year Standard Deadline
Under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1, as of June 2026, you have two years from the date of your slip and fall accident to file a personal injury lawsuit against a private property owner, business, or individual.
Two years may sound like a long time, but it passes quickly. Factor in medical treatment, investigation, evidence gathering, and legal preparation, and that window shrinks fast. Waiting also gives property owners time to repair hazards, destroy records, and lose witnesses.
The Six-Month Government Claims Deadline
If your slip-and-fall occurred on government-owned property, a shorter deadline applies. Under the California Government Claims Act (Government Code Section 911.2), you must file a written claim with the responsible agency within six months of your accident.
This is a mandatory pre-lawsuit step. Skipping it eliminates your right to sue the government entirely. If you fell on a public sidewalk, in a government building, or on any publicly maintained property in Fresno, contact Nunes Law, Inc. immediately.
The Discovery Rule
In some cases, the full extent of an injury, such as a spinal compression, is not immediately apparent. California’s discovery rule may delay the two-year clock until the date you knew or reasonably should have known about your injury. This exception must be supported by evidence. Frank Nunes will assess your timeline and advise you on exactly how much time you have.
Slip and Fall on Government Property in Fresno: What You Need to Know
Many Fresno slip-and-fall accidents occur on property owned or maintained by government entities, including cracked city sidewalks, poorly lit public parking lots, hazardous school grounds, and deteriorating public building entrances. These claims are valid but governed by different rules than claims against private property owners.
Which Government Entities Can Be Held Liable?
Depending on where your fall occurred, the responsible entity may be the City of Fresno, Fresno County, a school district, Caltrans, a public transit authority, or another government body. Each has its own claims process and designated recipient for the government tort claim.
The Six-Month Filing Requirement
The California Government Claims Act requires a written claim filed with the responsible agency within six months of your accident. The claim must include the date, location, circumstances of the fall, your injuries, and the compensation you are seeking.
If the agency denies your claim or fails to respond within 45 days, you may then file a lawsuit. Missing the six-month deadline, without a recognized legal excuse, bars your case regardless of how clearly the government’s negligence caused your fall.
Government Immunity and Its Limits
California Government Code Section 835 establishes that a public entity is liable for injuries caused by a dangerous condition of its property if the entity had actual or constructive notice of that condition and failed to take reasonable action. Government entities cannot hide behind immunity simply because they own the property.
Frank Nunes handles government slip-and-fall claims throughout Fresno and the Central Valley, ensuring that every deadline and procedural requirement is met from day one.
The Attractive Nuisance Doctrine: When Children Are Injured on Someone Else’s Property
California law gives children significantly stronger legal protections than adults when injured on private property, even when the child was trespassing. This protection comes from the attractive nuisance doctrine.
What Is the Attractive Nuisance Doctrine?
A property owner can be held liable for injuries to a child trespasser if the property contains a condition likely to attract children that poses an unreasonable risk of harm. The doctrine recognizes that young children cannot fully appreciate danger the way adults can.
What Qualifies as an Attractive Nuisance in Fresno?
- Unfenced or inadequately fenced swimming pools
- Abandoned vehicles or equipment on residential or commercial property
- Construction sites with accessible ladders, scaffolding, or open excavations
- Unlocked storage areas containing dangerous chemicals or machinery
- Trampolines or playground equipment in an unsafe condition
- Drainage ditches, retention ponds, or bodies of water accessible to children
What Must Be Proven?
To establish liability under this doctrine, it must be shown that the owner knew children were likely to trespass, that the condition posed an unreasonable risk to children, that the children did not appreciate the risk, that the burden of eliminating the danger was slight compared to the risk, and that the owner failed to exercise reasonable care.
If your child was injured on someone else’s Fresno property, even if they were not supposed to be there, contact Nunes Law, Inc. immediately. Frank Nunes will fight for their full protection under California law.
Slip and Fall Accidents in Fresno and California: What the Numbers Show
Falls are one of the most preventable causes of serious injury in the United States, and the numbers are significant.
National Statistics
In 2024, 43,020 individuals aged 65 and older died as a result of preventable falls, and in 2023, over 3.85 million were treated in emergency departments due to fall-related injuries. More than 8.8 million people were treated in emergency rooms for fall-related injuries in 2023 across all age groups.
In 2024, 844 workers died in falls, accounting for 17% of all workplace deaths, and nearly 480,000 were injured badly enough to require days away from work.
California and the Workplace
In California’s construction sector, fatal falls, slips, or trips accounted for 43 of the 81 construction fatalities recorded in 2024. Fall Protection violations topped OSHA‘s list of most frequently cited standards for the 15th consecutive year, with 5,914 citations issued in fiscal year 2025.
Fresno County and Agricultural Workers
Crop, nursery, and greenhouse farmworkers and laborers in California accounted for 11 workplace fatalities in 2024. Agricultural workers throughout the Central Valley face elevated risks from uneven terrain, wet irrigation surfaces, and ladders used during harvest, making Fresno County one of the highest fall-risk regions in the state.
Surveillance Footage After a Fresno Slip and Fall: Why the First 48 Hours Are Critical
If your slip and fall happened inside a store, restaurant, parking lot, apartment complex, or any commercial property in Fresno, there is a good chance the accident was captured on surveillance camera.
That footage can be the most powerful piece of evidence in your case. It shows exactly what the hazard looked like, how long it had been present, whether employees walked past it, and precisely how your fall occurred.
Footage Is Deleted Quickly
Most commercial surveillance systems overwrite footage automatically on a rolling cycle, typically every 24 to 72 hours. Once overwritten, it is gone permanently. Property owners and their insurers know this. In some cases, footage documenting their negligence is simply overwritten rather than preserved.
How Frank Nunes Preserves Your Evidence
One of the first actions Frank Nunes takes after being retained is to send a formal evidence-preservation letter directly to the property owner, the property owner’s insurer, and any other relevant third parties. This letter serves as a legal notice to the owner that surveillance footage, incident reports, maintenance logs, and all related evidence must be retained immediately.
If they destroy evidence after receiving this notice, they face serious legal consequences, including a jury instruction that they may draw an adverse inference from the destruction. Evidence spoliation can be devastating to a defendant’s case in California.
Other Time-Sensitive Evidence
Frank Nunes also acts immediately to preserve:
- Incident reports filed with the property owner or manager
- Maintenance and inspection logs showing prior knowledge of the hazard
- Employee shift records identifying who was responsible for the area
- Prior complaint records showing the owner knew about the condition
- Photos of the accident scene before the hazard is repaired or removed
- Witness contact information before memories fade
Every day that passes after a slip-and-fall accident, evidence deteriorates. Contacting us at Nunes Law, Inc. immediately, before speaking to any insurance company, is the single most important step you can take to protect your case.
Why Choose Nunes Law, Inc.?
- Experienced Legal Team: Our attorneys have a proven track record of handling slip-and-fall cases and understand the complexities of premises liability law.
- Personalized Representation: We provide tailored legal strategies that focus on your specific needs and goals.
- Compassionate Approach: We treat our clients with care and understanding, ensuring you feel supported throughout the legal process.
- Aggressive Advocacy: Our team is committed to fighting for the maximum compensation you deserve for your injuries.
- Free Consultation: We offer a no-obligation consultation to discuss your case and explore your options.
Contact Our Fresno Slip and Fall Attorneys Today
With the complex nature of premises liability claims, you need the help of a lawyer whose law office is laser-focused on helping clients overcome the challenges of personal injuries. While many law firms offer a wide range of services, they typically do not perform any of them very well. At Nunes Law, Inc., we focus primarily on personal injury law, offering excellent counsel and representation to our clients.
If you or a loved one is the victim of a trip and fall accident, you may feel worried about the future and confused about your options. However, you don’t need to go through this troubling time alone. With our No Win, No Fee promise, you won’t pay unless we win your case. Call our trip and fall lawyer in Fresno (559) 436-0850 right away to schedule a free case evaluation, where we’ll discuss your unique needs. We promise to dedicate our time, energy, and skill to getting the results you need in your trip and fall injury claim.
Frequently Asked Questions for Slip and Fall Attorney in Fresno
What compensation can I receive for a slip and fall injury?
Compensation for slip and fall injuries may include medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other damages related to the accident. The amount varies depending on factors such as the severity of your injuries and the impact on your daily life. Our experienced attorneys will strive to maximize your compensation through negotiation or litigation.
Do I need to prove the property owner’s negligence to win a slip-and-fall case?
Yes, to succeed in a slip-and-fall case, you must establish that the property owner or manager was negligent in maintaining a safe environment. This may involve proving that they knew or should have known about the hazardous conditions that led to your injury and failed to take reasonable steps to address them.
What if I partially contributed to my slip and fall accident?
California follows a comparative negligence system, meaning your compensation may be reduced if you're found partially at fault for the accident. However, you can still recover damages as long as you're not entirely responsible. Our attorneys can assess the circumstances of your case and advocate for your rights to fair compensation.
How long does it take to resolve a slip-and-fall case in Fresno?
The duration of a slip and fall case can vary depending on factors such as the complexity of the case, the extent of your injuries, and whether a settlement is reached or litigation is necessary. Some cases may be resolved in a matter of months, while others may take longer. Rest assured, our team will work efficiently to achieve a timely resolution while prioritizing your best interests.
Will my slip-and-fall case go to trial?
While many slip-and-fall cases are resolved through settlement negotiations, some may proceed to trial if a fair settlement cannot be reached. Our attorneys are skilled negotiators and trial advocates, prepared to pursue whichever course of action is in your best interest. We'll keep you informed and involved at every stage of the process.
What steps should I take to protect my rights after a slip and fall accident?
After a slip and fall accident, it's essential to take several steps to protect your rights and strengthen your potential claim. These steps may include seeking medical attention, reporting the incident to the property owner or manager, gathering evidence (such as photos and witness statements), and consulting with an experienced slip and fall attorney as soon as possible. By taking these proactive measures, you can help ensure that your rights are protected and maximize your chances of obtaining fair compensation for your injuries and losses.