Washington Slip & Fall Attorney
A fall on a wet grocery aisle in Bellevue and a fall on a broken apartment stairwell in Kent usually land in the same place: King County Superior Court, or King County District Court if the claim is modest. Injury Law Group NW is a personal injury firm that handles slip and fall and premises injury claims for people hurt on someone else’s property across King County, the Eastside, Seattle, and the greater Puget Sound region.
If you are looking for a Washington slip & fall attorney, the first thing to know is that these cases are rarely decided by the fall itself. They turn on what the property owner knew, how long a hazard sat there, and what the store or landlord did about it. Insurers know that, and they start building their defense before you have left the emergency room.
Falls are also deceptive injuries. A hip fracture, a torn rotator cuff, a concussion that does not show up on a scan: these can change how you work and live for years. The claim has to be valued for that reality, not for how you felt on day three.
Why Choose Injury Law Group NW for a Premises Liability Claim
Injury Law Group NW represents people hurt by another party’s negligence throughout King County and the greater Seattle area, including Issaquah, Bellevue, Sammamish, Redmond, Kirkland, Kent, Renton, and Seattle. Our attorneys spent decades defending insurance companies before representing injury victims, and that background matters in a slip and fall case, where the insurer’s whole strategy is to argue the hazard was minor, obvious, or brand new.
Founding Partner Troy Hunter spent 16 years in insurance defense litigation, mostly as a partner at Floyd, Pflueger & Ringer, and also serves as a dispute mediator. Attorney David D. Mordekhov spent two decades at Gardner Trabolsi & Mordekhov trying wrongful death, catastrophic injury, and product liability cases. Both are rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell. David has been selected to the Super Lawyers list and teaches trial and deposition skills as faculty at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy. Associate Attorneys Warren Barreiro and Hannah Shergold complete the team, and the firm is a member of the Washington State Association for Justice. Our attorneys have argued at every level of the Washington court system, from district court to the Washington Supreme Court.
We know which records an adjuster pulls on a premises claim: inspection logs, cleaning schedules, surveillance video retention, prior complaints. We prepare every claim as though it will go to trial, because insurers pay more fairly when they know the lawyer across the table will try the case. Our results include mid-six-figure settlements for a family of five forced into the I-5 center barrier by a semi-truck and for an elderly woman struck by a transit bus in a downtown Seattle crosswalk, and more than $1 million for parents whose newborn died after a hospital failed to adequately test for Group B Strep. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a future outcome.
Clients tell us they value fast responses and honest communication. Our case managers return calls and texts promptly, David Mordekhov is fluent in Russian, and Warren Barreiro speaks Spanish. We work on contingency, so you owe no attorney fee unless we recover money for you, and the first consultation is free and confidential. If your injuries make travel hard, we will meet you at home or at the hospital.
Where Slip and Fall Injuries Happen in Washington
- Retail and Grocery Stores: Spilled produce water, leaking freezer cases, rain tracked in at entrances during the long wet season, and merchandise stacked where it can topple. Store managers are expected to inspect and clean on a reasonable schedule, and we look at whether they did.
- Apartment Complexes and Rental Housing: Crumbling exterior stairs, dark breezeways, loose handrails, and ice or moss on walkways that no one treats. Landlords and property management companies are often the responsible parties.
- Restaurants and Bars: Greasy kitchen-adjacent floors, wet entryways, uneven patio surfaces, and poor lighting in dining areas.
- Parking Lots and Sidewalks: Potholes, cracked pavement, missing wheel stops, and unplowed or unsalted ice in cold snaps. Responsibility can sit with the owner, a tenant, or a maintenance contractor.
- Stairs and Handrails: Worn treads, inconsistent step heights, and missing or loose rails in commercial buildings, offices, and common areas can cause falls with serious spinal and head injuries.
- Falling Merchandise and Objects: Heavy items stacked on high shelves and displays that give way can injure shoppers who never lost their footing at all.
- Dog Bites and Animal Attacks on Private Property: A different kind of premises claim. Under Washington’s dog bite statute, an owner is liable when a dog bites someone in a public place or lawfully on private property, regardless of whether the dog had a history of aggression.
- Construction Sites and Public Property: Visitors and passersby hurt by unsecured hazards at job sites, and falls on city or county property, which carry their own claim rules covered below.
What to Do After a Fall on Someone Else’s Property
Get medical care first, even if you think you were lucky. Adrenaline hides pain, and head injuries and fractures can announce themselves hours later. Whether you go to an urgent care clinic or an emergency room, tell the provider exactly how you fell and every place that hurts. Those first records become the foundation of your claim.
Report the fall to the store manager, landlord, or property operator, and ask that an incident report be made. Get a copy or at least the name of the person who took it. Do not guess about the cause or apologize. Say what happened and leave it there.
Photograph the hazard before it is cleaned or repaired: the wet spot, the broken step, the unlit stairwell, the surrounding area, and the shoes you wore. Collect names and numbers of any witnesses. Ask whether cameras cover the spot, and have a lawyer send a preservation request quickly, because surveillance video is often overwritten within days or weeks.
Be careful with the property owner’s insurer. You are generally not required to give a recorded statement to the other side’s insurance company, and adjusters are trained to ask questions that shrink your injuries or shift blame to you. Do not sign a medical release that gives them open access to your history. Also avoid posting about the fall or your recovery online.
Deadlines matter. Most Washington injury lawsuits must be started within three years of the injury, and an action counts as started when it is filed or served, provided the other step follows within 90 days. If the hazard was on property owned by a city, county, school district, or the state, a formal tort claim must be presented first, and no lawsuit can be filed until 60 calendar days after that claim is presented. The clock is paused during that waiting period. The state uses a standard claim form submitted to its Office of Risk Management, while local entities have a designated claims agent whose information is a public record. Missing these steps can end an otherwise strong case.
As for where a case ends up, King County Superior Court sits in Seattle and at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent. King County District Court has civil jurisdiction over smaller claims up to a statutory cap, and its Redmond civil filing area covers Bellevue, Issaquah, Kirkland, Sammamish, and nearby communities. Most premises claims settle before trial, but the settlement value is shaped by how credible the trial threat is.
Proving the Property Owner Was Responsible
Landing on a wet floor does not by itself make a store liable. A premises case generally requires showing that the owner or occupier created the hazard, knew about it, or should have discovered it through reasonable inspection, and failed to fix it or warn visitors. Notice is usually the battleground.
That is why records matter. Sweep logs, inspection checklists, staffing levels at the time, prior incident reports, maintenance complaints, and camera footage can show whether a spill sat for ten minutes or two hours, or whether a stair had been reported broken for months. Our attorneys spent years on the defense side learning exactly which documents carry weight and which gaps an insurer will exploit.
Washington follows a pure comparative fault rule. If the insurer argues you were distracted, wearing the wrong shoes, or should have seen the hazard, that argument can reduce your recovery by your percentage of fault, but it does not bar the claim. There is no 50 percent or 51 percent cutoff. Adjusters routinely overstate the injured person’s share, so the fault allocation deserves scrutiny.
Compensation in a successful claim can include past and future medical costs, lost wages and reduced earning capacity, and pain and suffering. For serious falls, the largest component is often the future: surgeries that may be needed, permanent limits on work, and the loss of activities you once did freely. If a fall caused a brain injury, we build medical and vocational evidence so the claim reflects the long-term picture, since insurers often dispute injuries that do not appear on a scan.
If a fall at work involved a third party, such as a property owner or contractor who was not your employer, you may be able to pursue them separately from workers’ compensation. Washington law allows an injured worker to elect to seek damages from a liable third person, and the Department of Labor & Industries or a self-insurer must be notified and may assert an interest in the recovery.
Slip and Fall Questions Washington Residents Ask
How long do I have to file a slip and fall lawsuit in Washington?
Generally three years from the date of the injury. An action is treated as commenced when it is filed or served, as long as the other step happens within 90 days. Claims against government property owners require a tort claim first and a 60-day waiting period before suit.
What if I fell in a city or county park, sidewalk, or building?
You must present a formal claim to the local government’s designated claims agent before filing suit, and no lawsuit can be started until 60 calendar days have passed. The limitations period is paused during that window, and a suit filed within five court days after it ends is treated as filed the day after the 60 days run. For state property, the claim goes to the Office of Risk Management on the state’s standard form.
Can I recover if I was partly at fault for my fall?
Yes. Washington’s pure comparative fault rule reduces your award by your percentage of responsibility without barring recovery. If you were found 20 percent at fault, you could still recover 80 percent of your damages.
Do I need proof the store knew about the hazard?
Usually you must show the owner created the hazard, actually knew of it, or would have found it through reasonable inspection. Cleaning logs, video, and prior complaints are common ways to prove that, which is why early preservation matters.
What does it cost to hire Injury Law Group NW?
The consultation is free and confidential, and we handle injury cases on a contingency fee basis. If there is no recovery, you owe no attorney fee.
Who pays my medical bills while my claim is pending?
Your health insurance can cover treatment in the meantime, and we help coordinate bills so care is not delayed. Medical payments coverage on a property owner’s policy may also apply in some cases. Ultimately the responsible party’s insurer should bear the cost through your settlement or verdict.
Should I give the store’s insurance company a recorded statement?
You are generally not required to, and it is wise to speak with a lawyer first. Having spent years on the defense side, our attorneys know how those statements are used to minimize injuries and assign blame.
What if the store says I signed a waiver or there was a warning sign?
A posted sign or waiver does not automatically end a claim. Whether a warning was adequate, visible, and actually addressed the hazard is a fact question, and a waiver rarely excuses a property owner’s failure to fix a known danger. Bring any paperwork to your consultation.
What if a tenant or contractor, not the owner, caused the hazard?
Several parties can share responsibility, including owners, landlords, tenants, and maintenance or cleaning contractors. We look at who controlled the area and who had the duty to inspect or repair, then pursue every responsible party and their insurers.
How long does a slip and fall case take in King County?
It depends on the injury. Cases involving surgery or lasting impairment take longer because we generally wait until your medical picture is clear before valuing the claim, so you do not settle before the full extent of your injuries is known. Litigation in Superior Court adds time if the insurer will not negotiate fairly.
Is it worth hiring a lawyer for a fall that did not seem serious?
If you have ongoing pain, missed work, or any medical treatment beyond a single visit, a free consultation costs nothing and lets you learn what your claim may be worth. Soft-tissue and head injuries often worsen over weeks, and early low offers can close out a claim that later proves larger.
Can a fall that leads to a death be pursued?
Yes. When a death is caused by another’s wrongful act or neglect, the personal representative can bring a wrongful death claim for the benefit of the spouse, domestic partner, and children, or parents and siblings if there are none. These claims also generally carry a three-year deadline from the date of death.
Serving Slip and Fall Clients Across King County and Greater Seattle
Our work for injured people begins in King County and extends across the Eastside and Puget Sound region. From Issaquah and Sammamish through Bellevue, Redmond, and Kirkland, we represent people hurt in stores, apartment complexes, restaurants, parking lots, and public spaces. We also serve clients in Seattle, Renton, and Kent, along with neighboring communities throughout the greater Seattle area.
Whether the fall happened at a big-box retailer near I-90 or a rental building in a city neighborhood, our attorneys handle claims throughout Washington and can meet you at home or the hospital when travel is hard.
Talk to a Washington Slip and Fall Lawyer About Your Injury
If a property owner’s carelessness put you on the floor, you do not have to face the insurance company alone. A Washington slip and fall lawyer at Injury Law Group NW can review what happened, explain your options, and tell you what a fair recovery looks like. Call or text us to schedule a free, confidential consultation. We give hope. We get results.
