Trip and falls in the dark can cause worse injuries

Have you ever been walking and missed a step? Have you ever been walking down stairs and your foot doesn’t land properly and you lose your balance and fall?

These incidents can be bad. You know what’s worse?

When you’re totally not expecting a hazard lurking in the dark. Let me give you some examples:

-A client was at a concert and began walking towards the restroom. Little did he know that there were two stairs leading down the path towards the restroom. The stairs had no lights, and the client with size 14 feet missed both steps, rolled his foot, and fractured his ankle.

-A client walking through a hotel patio thought he was walking on a flat pathway, when in fact, there was a stair with no illumination.

-A client walking down a driveway apron to get to her parked car on the street couldn’t tell that the driveway was poorly maintained and had cracks and elevated concrete. Her foot glided past an elevated portion of the driveway and she lost her balance and fell, fracturing her ankle and needing surgery.

-A client walking on the grassy parkway stepped into a deep depression in the grass. A tree had formerly been planted in that location, but had been removed by the homeowner. The homeowner did not fill in the depression or level it off. The depression caused the client’s foot to step at an awkward angle and fracture her foot.

As you can tell, trip and fall injuries that happen in the dark can be so much worse because the person walking is literally defenseless. Sometimes if we detect ourselves falling, we can cushion the fall somewhat by using our hands and arms—although not always.

But tripping and falling on a hidden hazard in the dark can cause serious injuries.

If you were injured by a hidden stair, or a pathway that was not lit up properly in Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks, or Orange County, reach out to an attorney to discuss your options.

My office is ready to assist, 24/6.