NJ Attorneys for Slip and Falls Leading to Wrongful Death

Helping Your Family Seek Justice and Compensation for a Fatal Fall Incident in New Jersey

Slip and fall accidents at home, a business, or work can be nothing, moderately harmful or deadly serious. When you slip on a slick surface, your unsuspecting body may react by reaching an arm out to break the fall and tensing muscles, leading to a broken wrist, a back injury, or a sprained muscle. However, some people fall quickly and have no time to react. They may suffer concussions when their heads hit a hard floor. Sadly, older adults and those with fragile bone conditions may suffer more severe consequences than others. Make no mistake: a fall could be fatal to anyone. A loved one lost to a slip and fall accident is heartbreaking for the family. It may be painful to think about such a tragic loss, with children, parents, siblings, and grandparents missing their loved ones dearly, especially due to a preventable accident.

When a business, employer, landlord, or individual causes a family member’s death by negligently maintaining the safety of their premises in New Jersey, it is crucial to seek legal guidance from a seasoned wrongful death attorney who regularly advocates for clients in fatal slip and fall cases. Fortunately, you have come to the right place. The highly experienced lawyers at Chamlin, Uliano & Walsh can assist you and your family with demanding and successfully obtaining the compensation you are entitled to through a wrongful death claim after losing a loved one in a slip and fall accident in Monmouth County, Ocean County, or elsewhere in New Jersey. We are dedicated to helping families obtain justice and full damages when tragic losses such as these impact themselves and their families financially, psychologically, and permanently. Contact us for a free review of your case online or call 732-440-3950 to speak with a member of our legal team.

Legal Rights for Surviving Family Members after Wrongful Death from a Slip and Fall

Wrongful death is the civil action family members can bring against a party or parties responsible for their loved one’s death through their carelessness, recklessness, or otherwise wrongful actions. In other words, when someone’s death results from another’s negligence, the deceased’s family can sue the negligent party for their financial, emotional, and relationship-related losses. Family members legally able to file a wrongful death claim in New Jersey include spouses or domestic partners, children, stepchildren, parents, or, if none of these exist, another legal heir. However, only parents of minor children or adult children without heirs can file a wrongful death claim.

Available Damages in Slip and Fall Wrongful Death Actions

Family bonds are based on trust, love, support, teachings, and countless other benefits most take for granted. When a member is torn from the family by a slip and fall fatality, the other family members may find it difficult, if not impossible, to recover. Children lose a parent, a spouse loses a partner, and a parent loses a child, all irreplaceable relationships and connections. The incomprehensible loss affects all aspects of the survivors’ lives.

A lost parent, child, or spouse to a slip-and-fall accident leaves loved ones with an emotional and financial burden. Financially dependent parents, spouses, and children may find themselves without emotional and financial support. Losing someone you depended on financially and emotionally leaves a gaping hole that it is hard to fill. However, remedies at law are available to compensate family members for the expenses they incurred and the emotional suffering they endured after a wrongful death. Filing a wrongful death claim on behalf of the deceased’s estate may help pay for funeral costs, medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, and loss of companionship or parenting.

When awarding damages, juries consider the age of the deceased, whether they were a healthy parent of dependent (minor or disabled) children with a long working life ahead or a retired senior adult caretaker of grandchildren. The value of lost earnings or emotional support depends on each case’s facts and circumstances.

Leading Reasons for Fatal Fall Incidents

Many poorly maintained surfaces and conditions can cause slip-and-fall accidents. Wet floors from spilled liquids, a fresh mopping, or polishing without signs can create hazards in stores or other businesses. Ice or loose gravel in parking lots can harm those entering stores. Marble floors wet from the rain, mist, or dew can also create a slippery surface. Soft, moist food on the floor inside or outside a fast-food establishment can cause someone to slide and lose their footing. The same applies to obstructions and clutter in narrow spaces, like aisles in a department store or corridors in an apartment complex. Broken stairway rails, poor lighting, bunched rugs, and many other hazardous conditions where people regularly walk can cause someone to slip, lose their footing, slide, and fall onto unforgiving floors. In any of these scenarios, fall victims can suffer grave injuries or death.

Negligent Property Maintenance Resulting in Deadly Falls in New Jersey

In New Jersey, property owners have a duty to maintain safe premises to avoid injuring others. A business or residence may be unsafe by design, such as a poorly lit concrete stairwell to a store’s parking lot with few lighting options. It may be dangerous due to poor maintenance. So, a poorly lit stairwell may be due to the store’s management failing to replace burnt-out light bulbs.

The extent of a property owner’s duty depends on the property and who enters it. When you are a business, you want and expect people to visit your business, what the law calls invitees. A store owner has a higher degree of responsibility to maintain safe premises for those entering the store. On the other hand, a landowner owes a trespasser the least degree of responsibility for their safety. Licensees are those permitted on someone’s property, like family members or other guests visiting a family member’s residence. A property owner’s responsibility for a licensee’s safety is to warn them of any dangerous conditions on the property prior to rectifying the situation.

When a property owner breaches the duty to maintain safe premises, they may be liable for the injuries or deaths victims suffer as a result. New Jersey law requires a property owner found liable for the injuries of a licensee or invitee on the owner’s premises to pay for the damages.

Legal Standards for Slip and Fall Wrongful Death Claims in NJ

Before a slip and fall victim’s family can recover for their losses through a wrongful death claim, they must prove the owner’s negligence in maintaining unsafe conditions under premises liability law. A plaintiff must prove that the owner of the premises owed those entering the premises a duty of due care to keep the premises safe or warn of dangers on their property that may cause someone to slip. A plaintiff must also prove the property owner’s negligence, that they breached the duty of due and reasonable care to safeguard others from falling on their property by removing or warning of hazards, such as slippery floors or cluttered aisles or stairways.

Next, they must prove the owner’s negligence caused the victim’s injury and death, which resulted in financial and emotional damages. Without proving all four elements, duty, breach, causation, and damages, a victim’s family may not receive compensation for the wrongful death of their family member.

Discuss Your Loved One’s Case with Our New Jersey Lawyers at Chamlin, Uliano & Walsh

In your time of grieving and sorrow, you will need the help of friends, family, and others to support you and take care of pressing matters. Our caring and talented team of wrongful death lawyers at Chamlin, Uliano & Walsh can relieve you of the legal burden of filing a wrongful death action based on your loved one’s deadly slip and fall. We proudly represent clients in Neptune, Manalapan, Manasquan, Colts Neck, Rumson, Belmar, Middletown, Ocean Township, Red Bank, Tinton Falls, Wall, Long Branch, Asbury Park, Freehold, and across New Jersey. We will work with you to make the process as easy as possible, acquiring medical records, investigating the conditions leading to the fatal slip-and-fall accident, finding the negligent parties responsible for your loss, and handling the necessary paperwork to resolve your claim, such as demand letters to insurance companies, filing lawsuits with the civil court, discovery requests, and all matters related to your claim. Consult with an attorney at our trusted New Jersey law firm to discuss your case, ask questions, seek advice, and learn how we can help you now by requesting a free consultation on our website or calling 732-440-3950.