On Behalf of Buckley Law Offices, P.C.
Quick Summary
A slip and fall sounds minor. It's not. A fall on an icy parking lot, a wet grocery store floor, or a broken staircase can result in broken bones, hip fractures, traumatic brain injuries, and spinal damage. In New Hampshire, property owners and businesses have a legal duty to maintain safe conditions. When they fail that duty and someone gets hurt, they can be held responsible.
Step 1: Get Medical Attention Immediately
Before anything else. Go to an emergency room, urgent care, or call 911 if you can't move safely. You need your injuries documented by a medical professional on the day they happened. This creates a timestamp that connects your injuries to the fall.
If you wait two days and then see a doctor, the property owner's insurer will argue you hurt yourself doing something else in between. Don't give them that argument.
Step 2: Document The Scene Before Anything Changes
Use your phone. Photograph the exact spot where you fell. The condition that caused the fall, ice, water, a broken step, uneven flooring. Any warning signs that were missing. The lighting.
If there were witnesses, get their names and numbers. If you fell inside a store like a Nashua shopping center, ask for the incident report number. These things disappear fast. A broken step gets fixed. A wet floor gets dried. Get it on record before they do.
Step 3: Report It To The Property Owner Or Manager
Tell the property owner or a manager on duty. Don't just leave. Ask them to file an incident report and get a copy or at least the report number. This creates an official record that the fall happened at that location and time.
Keep it factual. Don't speculate about fault. Don't apologize. Just report what happened and where.
Step 4: Don't Speak To The Property Owner's Insurer Without Counsel
The property owner's insurance company will contact you. They'll be polite. They'll say they're sorry this happened. Then they'll try to get a recorded statement and a quick settlement.
The same reals that apply in car accident cases apply here. They move fast to lock you in before you understand your injuries. Decline the recorded statement. Tell them you'll be in touch with an attorney.
Step 5: Know New Hampshire's Premises Liability Law
Property owners in New Hampshire owe different duties of care depending on why you were on the property. Business invitees, customers in a store, visitors to a public building, receive the highest duty of care. The owner must inspect regularly, fix hazards promptly, and warn visitors about known dangers.
For outdoor hazards like ice: New Hampshire courts have addressed snow and ice cases extensively. The question is whether the accumulation was "unnatural", meaning it resulted from human modification of the property, or natural. Business parking lots that direct drainage toward walking paths can create liability. Improper plowing that piles ice near entrances can too.
Step 6: Talk To A Personal Injury Attorney
New Hampshire has a three-year statute of limitations on slip and fall claims. But the evidence you need starts disappearing day one. Surveillance footage gets overwritten. Witnesses forget. Conditions get fixed.
The sooner you speak with an attorney, the more options you have.
Buckley Law Offices Handles Slip And Fall Cases Throughout New Hampshire
Call Buckley! Call (603) 836-5483
