Your Slip and Fall Accident Case: A Closer Look at Building Code Violations...

A slip and fall accident case involving building code violations can often be open and shut. When you slip and fall on someone else's property it's always a good idea to check if the relevant part of their building is up to code.

If you find a building code violation and can show that it directly contributed to your accident, the insurance company won't have much choice but to make you a fair settlement offer.

The tricky part about discovering building code violations in a slip and fall accident case is the same thing that makes it tricky for the builder to avoid them...

Sometimes these codes can't in any way effect a slip and fall accident case. Other times they're specifically designed to avoid them. There are several places you can go to investigate if a building code has been ignored. The easiest ones are your local law library or the county building permit office.

If your slip and fall personal injury happened on the stairs then check into everything about stairs you can find. This is the most common instance where a code violation will help you.

Common rules for stairs have to do with the evenness of stair depth. The distance from one step to the next has to be consistent, to a certain degree, throughout the whole staircase. Your local code will define exactly what this variance can be.

Not only does there have to be consistency in stair depths but the depth and height also have to fall within certain parameters. Measure the stairs that you tripped on and see if they exceed the local standard. Even if the variance is small it will work in your favor.

Another common thing to look at after falling on stairs is the handrail. Your local code will outline just how high a handrail should be. It should also give regulations as to when a handrail is required.

If you have a slip and fall accident case and any of these or other rules were broken the first thing you should do is spell that out in your demand letter. No one expects you to use technical language when talking about building codes. Just explain it as clearly as you can.