Redmond Slip & Fall Attorney
Redmond residents who get hurt on someone else’s property usually face a decision within days: do you talk to the property owner’s insurer, or do you talk to a lawyer first? Injury Law Group NW is a personal injury firm that represents people hurt by negligence, including slip and fall and premises injuries, and we serve clients in Redmond, across King County, and throughout the Eastside and greater Seattle area. If you are looking for a Redmond slip and fall attorney, the first thing to understand is that these cases are won or lost on a narrow question that has little to do with the fall itself: what did the property owner know, or should they have known, about the hazard before you got hurt?
That question is what separates a slip and fall claim from a car crash claim. In a collision, the other driver’s conduct is usually visible in the wreckage. On a wet grocery aisle, a crumbling apartment stairwell, or an icy office park entrance, the owner’s defense is often that the hazard appeared moments before you arrived and nobody could have caught it. Proving otherwise takes evidence that disappears quickly: surveillance footage that gets overwritten, inspection logs that are never produced unless someone asks, and employee memories that fade.
Redmond is a place where this plays out in many settings. The city is built around office campuses, retail centers, apartment communities, and trails, and the Pacific Northwest weather keeps floors, parking lots, and walkways wet for much of the year. Rain tracked into a lobby, leaves over an uneven path, and frost on a loading ramp are ordinary conditions, which means owners are expected to plan for them. When they do not, people get hurt.
Why Choose Injury Law Group NW for a Redmond Premises Liability Claim
Injury Law Group NW is a Washington personal injury firm whose attorneys spent decades defending insurance companies before representing injured people. We serve clients in Redmond, Kirkland, Sammamish, Bellevue, Issaquah, Seattle, Kent, Renton, and communities throughout King County. We handle cases on a contingency fee basis, so there is no attorney fee unless we recover money for you, and the first consultation is free and confidential. Our case managers return calls and texts promptly, and if your injuries make travel difficult, we will meet you at home or in the hospital.
That defense background matters most in premises cases, because the insurer for a store or property owner decides early whether your claim looks like a fair payout or a fight. Founding partner Troy Hunter spent 16 years in insurance defense litigation, mostly as a partner at Floyd, Pflueger & Ringer, defending insurers and their corporate clients against injury and wrongful death claims. Attorney David D. Mordekhov spent two decades at the Seattle defense firm Gardner Trabolsi & Mordekhov, trying catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases before judges and juries. Troy Hunter and David Mordekhov are both 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. Troy also serves as a dispute mediator. Associate attorneys Warren Barreiro and Hannah Shergold are part of 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 to argue a hazard was too new to catch, and how a claim gets valued internally. We prepare every claim as though it will be tried, because insurers pay more fairly when they know the lawyer across the table will go to court. Our results include a mid-six-figure settlement 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, a case that also led the hospital to change its procedures. Clients describe our team as responsive, honest, and clear about where their case stands. David Mordekhov is fluent in Russian and Warren Barreiro speaks Spanish, so we regularly serve families in their own language. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a future outcome.
Where Slip and Fall Injuries Happen in and Around Redmond
- Grocery and Retail Store Falls: Spilled liquids, produce on the floor, wet entryways during rainy months, and merchandise that tumbles from high shelves are the classic retail hazards. The central issue is whether staff were walking the floor and cleaning up, or whether the spill sat long enough that a reasonable inspection would have found it.
- Apartment and Condominium Complexes: Broken stair treads, dark stairwells, loose handrails, and neglected walkways are common in multifamily housing. Landlords and management companies generally control these common areas, so repair requests and prior complaints often become key evidence.
- Office Parks and Corporate Campuses: Large commercial properties rely on contractors for janitorial work, snow and ice treatment, and landscaping. When a fall happens, responsibility may be split between the owner, the tenant, and a maintenance vendor, and each will point at the others.
- Restaurants, Bars, and Event Venues: Grease on kitchen-adjacent floors, crowded walkways, poor lighting, and stairs with no visible edge cause serious falls, especially when alcohol or darkness is involved.
- Parking Lots and Exterior Walkways: Potholes, uneven pavement, faded curb paint, drainage that pools in winter, and untreated frost on cold mornings turn ordinary arrivals into injuries.
- Falling Objects and Defective Fixtures: Signs, ceiling materials, shelving, and display racks can fail and strike customers. These claims turn on maintenance and installation rather than a wet floor.
- Construction and Renovation Zones: Open to the public during a remodel, a property may have cords, debris, uncovered openings, or missing barricades. Owners and contractors both have duties to keep visitors out of danger.
- Government-Owned Property: Sidewalks, public buildings, parks, and trails owned by a city or county follow different claim rules, covered below, and missing the notice step can end a case before it starts.
What to Do After a Fall in Redmond
Get medical care first, and get it quickly. Falls cause injuries that do not announce themselves right away, including concussions, spinal injuries, torn ligaments, and fractures that feel like sprains. Delays in treatment give an insurer room to argue your injury came from something else. If you are able, tell the property manager or an employee what happened and make sure an incident report is written. Ask for a copy, and note the name of whoever took it. Do not sign anything the property or its insurer hands you without having a lawyer review it.
Evidence is the next priority. Photograph the hazard from several angles before it is cleaned or repaired, along with the lighting, the footwear you were wearing, and any warning signs or the lack of them. Write down the names of witnesses while they are still on site. Keep the shoes you wore. Then, in writing, ask the owner to preserve surveillance video and inspection or cleaning records for that day. Many businesses overwrite footage on a short cycle, so a prompt preservation request matters, and a lawyer can send one that carries weight.
Be careful with insurers. The owner’s adjuster may call within a day or two sounding sympathetic and asking for a recorded statement. You are generally not required to give one, and the questions are often designed to pin down details that later get used to minimize your injuries or assign blame to you. Washington follows comparative fault, which means your compensation is reduced by your share of responsibility rather than eliminated. An adjuster who says you were not watching where you were going is trying to push that percentage up. Do not post about the fall or your recovery on social media either, since photos and comments get pulled into claim files.
Deadlines drive everything. Washington generally gives you three years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit, and a case is considered started when the complaint is filed or served, as long as the other step happens within 90 days. If the property belongs to a city, county, or other local government, you must first present a claim on the standard tort claim form to the entity’s designated agent, and you cannot file suit until 60 calendar days have passed after that presentation. Email and fax generally do not count as proper delivery. Claims involving state property follow a similar 60-day rule through the state’s risk management office. These notice rules trip up people who assume they have three full years to start the process.
When a lawsuit becomes necessary, the court depends on the size of the case. The District Court East Division, which includes a Redmond location, hears injury claims up to its monetary limit, and larger claims go to King County Superior Court, which has courthouse locations in Seattle and Kent. Most premises cases settle before trial, but the settlement you can expect often tracks how credible the threat of trial is.
How Slip and Fall Cases Differ From Other Injury Claims
Many people assume a fall on someone’s property automatically makes the owner liable. It does not. The law asks whether the owner created the hazard, knew about it, or should have discovered it through reasonable inspection, and whether they fixed it or warned visitors in time. A spill the store’s own employee caused is a different case from a spill that appeared thirty seconds earlier. A stairwell with a documented history of tenant complaints is a different case from a freshly loosened handrail. Your lawyer’s first job is figuring out which category you fall into and gathering proof for it.
Your own conduct is examined too. Washington’s fault rules reach unreasonable assumption of risk and unreasonable failure to avoid an injury, so owners often argue the hazard was obvious, that you were distracted, or that you ignored a warning. Because Washington reduces damages in proportion to fault rather than barring recovery, a claim can still succeed when you carry some of the blame, but the percentage assigned to you directly reduces what you collect.
Premises cases also differ in who must be sued. A single fall can involve the property owner, a tenant who leased the space, a management company, and a contractor responsible for cleaning, snow removal, or repairs. Identifying every responsible party early expands the insurance coverage available. If a fall leads to a brain injury, a fracture that needs surgery, or lasting limits on your ability to work, the claim should include future medical care and lost earning capacity rather than only the bills in hand. Settling before you know the full extent of your recovery is one of the most expensive mistakes people make.
Common Questions About Redmond Slip and Fall Claims
How long do I have to file a slip and fall lawsuit in Washington?
Most personal injury actions must be started within three years of the injury. Claims against local governments require a formal claim to be presented first, followed by a 60-day waiting period before suing, and that waiting period pauses the limitations clock. Because these steps have strict mechanics, it is best to talk with a lawyer well before the deadline approaches.
What if I was partly at fault for my fall?
You can still recover. Washington reduces your compensation by your percentage of fault but does not bar the claim. If a jury found you 25 percent responsible, you would recover 75 percent of your damages. Insurers often inflate this share, so having the facts reviewed matters.
Do I have to prove the owner knew about the hazard?
Not always. You can also show the owner created the hazard or that it existed long enough that reasonable inspection would have found it. Cleaning schedules, employee testimony, and video often settle this question.
Should I give the property owner’s insurance company a recorded statement?
You are generally not required to. Adjusters ask questions that can be used to minimize your injuries or suggest you were careless. Speaking with a lawyer first is the safer course.
What is my slip and fall case worth?
Value depends on the severity of your injuries, medical expenses, lost income, effect on daily life, and the insurance coverage available. Compensation can include past and future medical care, lost wages and earning capacity, and pain and suffering. We evaluate cases the way insurers do so we can tell you what a fair recovery looks like.
How much does it cost to hire Injury Law Group NW?
The first consultation is free and confidential. We work on contingency, so you owe no attorney fee unless we recover compensation for you.
What if I fell at a store and the manager said it was not their fault?
A manager’s comment at the scene is not a legal finding, and the owner’s insurer will conduct its own review. Statements made at the scene can still be useful evidence, so write down what was said and by whom.
Can I bring a claim for a fall at an apartment I rent?
Often yes. Landlords generally control stairwells, hallways, parking areas, and other common spaces. Prior repair requests and complaints are valuable evidence that the landlord knew of the problem.
What if the fall happened on city or county property?
You must present a claim on the standard tort claim form to the entity’s designated agent, and you cannot file suit until 60 calendar days after presentment. Email and fax generally do not satisfy the delivery requirement, so the method of delivery matters.
Will my health insurance cover treatment while my claim is pending?
It may, and it is often smart to use it so you do not delay care. The health plan may later seek reimbursement from a settlement, and we work to address those repayment claims so that more of the recovery stays with you.
Is it worth hiring a lawyer for a fall that did not seem serious?
Many falls look minor until imaging or follow-up care reveals more. Insurers also tend to offer quick low payments before the full injury is known. A free consultation lets you learn whether the claim deserves more than a quick check.
What if the store says it has no video of my fall?
Sometimes footage is overwritten before anyone asks for it. A prompt written preservation request helps, and if video was destroyed after the owner knew of an injury, that fact can affect the case. Other evidence, such as incident reports, witnesses, and maintenance logs, can still prove liability.
Serving Redmond Slip and Fall Clients Across King County and the Eastside
We represent injured people from across Redmond, from the downtown core and the Overlake business district to Education Hill, Bear Creek, Willows, Idylwood, and the neighborhoods near Marymoor Park. We also serve clients in neighboring Eastside communities, including Kirkland, Bellevue, and Sammamish, as well as Issaquah, Renton, Kent, and Seattle. Our reach extends across King County, the greater Seattle area, and the broader Puget Sound region, wherever a fall at a store, apartment complex, workplace, or public property has left someone hurt. If your injuries keep you from traveling, we will come to your home or the hospital.
Talk With a Redmond Slip and Fall Injury Attorney Today
If a fall has left you with medical bills, missed work, and an insurer pressing for a quick statement, speak with a Redmond slip and fall injury attorney before you say anything on the record. Call or text Injury Law Group NW for a free, confidential consultation. We will listen to what happened, explain how Washington’s rules apply to your situation, and tell you plainly what a fair recovery looks like. You pay nothing unless we recover money for you. We give hope. We get results.
