Injured in a Slip and Fall in Pittsburgh?

Tell the property owner, store manager, landlord, or building supervisor that you fell and that you're hurt. Ask them to create a written incident report. Get a copy if possible, or at minimum write down the name of the person you reported to and the time.

If you fell at a business (a grocery store, restaurant, shopping center, or office building), the business almost certainly has an incident reporting process. Ask for the manager on duty. Request their name, the business's insurance information, and confirmation that an incident report was filed.

If you fell on a public sidewalk, in a city park, or on government property, you'll need to file a formal notice with the government entity. In Pennsylvania, claims against the Commonwealth, its agencies, or local municipalities require written notice within six months under the Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act (42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 5522). Missing this deadline can bar your claim entirely — even though the general statute of limitations is two years.

Pull out your phone and photograph the exact spot where you fell. Capture the hazard that caused your fall: a wet floor, broken step, uneven sidewalk, ice patch, loose handrail, torn carpet, poor lighting, or debris. Take wide shots showing the area and close-ups of the defect.

This step is urgent because conditions change fast. A store employee may mop up a spill within minutes. A landlord may patch a broken step within days. A city crew may repair a sidewalk defect after your fall. Once the hazard is gone, your case becomes much harder to prove. Photograph it now.

If there were witnesses, ask for their names and phone numbers. Write down exactly what happened while it's fresh in your memory — the time, what you were doing, what caused you to fall, and what the conditions were like. Note whether there were any warning signs, wet floor signs, or barricades near the hazard. The absence of a warning sign can be evidence of negligence.

Slip and fall injuries are often more serious than they seem in the moment. A "tweaked" back can be a herniated disc. A sore wrist can be a fracture. A bump on the head can be a concussion. Hip injuries from falls can require surgery and months of rehabilitation, especially for older adults.

See a doctor within 72 hours of your fall. If your injuries are severe — you can't bear weight, you hit your head, you have severe back or neck pain — go to the emergency room. UPMC Presbyterian and Allegheny General Hospital are Level I Trauma Centers in the Pittsburgh area. UPMC Mercy, UPMC Shadyside, and St. Clair Hospital offer additional emergency and urgent care.

Tell your doctor exactly how you fell and connect your injuries to the incident. This medical record creates a documented link between the fall and your injuries. Without it, the property owner's insurance company will argue your injuries came from something else. Keep every receipt, every doctor's note, and every prescription.

In Pennsylvania, property owners owe different levels of care depending on why you were on their property. If you were an invitee (a customer at a store, a guest at a restaurant, a tenant in a building), the property owner owes you the highest duty of care — they must inspect for hazards, fix known dangers, and warn you about conditions they knew about or should have known about through reasonable inspection.

If you were a licensee (a social guest in someone's home), the owner must warn you about known hazards that aren't obvious. Trespassers generally receive the least protection, though there are exceptions for children under the attractive nuisance doctrine.

The critical question in most slip and fall cases is whether the property owner knew or should have known about the hazard. A grocery store that ignores a spill for 30 minutes has different liability than one where a customer dropped a jar two seconds before you walked by. Evidence of how long the hazard existed — security camera footage, employee inspection logs, witness testimony — is often the key to the case.

Pennsylvania has a unique legal doctrine that makes winter slip and fall cases more difficult than in many other states. The "Hills and Ridges" doctrine holds that a property owner is generally not liable for falls caused by general slippery conditions from ice and snow during or shortly after a storm. To recover, you typically must prove that hills or ridges of ice and snow had accumulated, that the property owner knew or should have known about them, and that the hills and ridges caused your fall.

This doctrine exists because Pennsylvania courts recognize that it's impractical to expect property owners to keep every surface clear during an active winter storm. But once a storm passes and ice and snow have had time to accumulate into uneven, elevated formations, the property owner's duty to clear them kicks in.

The Hills and Ridges doctrine does not apply to all winter fall cases. If the dangerous condition was man-made — such as a downspout that drains onto a walkway and creates a sheet of ice, or a property owner who partially cleared snow and created an icy berm — the doctrine may not protect the property owner. The distinction between natural and man-made ice conditions is often the difference between winning and losing a winter slip and fall case in Pittsburgh.

The property owner's insurance company will contact you, often quickly. Their adjuster will ask you to describe exactly what happened, what you were wearing on your feet, whether you were looking where you were going, whether you saw the hazard before you fell, and whether you had any pre-existing conditions.

These questions are designed to find ways to blame you for the fall. You are not legally required to give a recorded statement. If they ask, say: "I'm not prepared to give a statement at this time." Do not sign a medical authorization that gives them access to your full medical history — they will comb through years of records looking for a prior back or knee problem to blame your injuries on.

They may offer a quick settlement. Don't accept it without understanding the full extent of your injuries. Some fall injuries — herniated discs, torn ligaments, hip fractures — require months of treatment and may result in permanent limitations. An early settlement rarely reflects the true cost.

Pennsylvania follows a modified comparative negligence rule under 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 7102. If you're found partially at fault for your fall, your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you're 51% or more at fault, you recover nothing.

Property owners and their insurers will always argue comparative negligence in slip and fall cases. Common arguments include: you were wearing inappropriate footwear, you were looking at your phone, you ignored warning signs, you chose to walk through an obviously hazardous area, or you had been to the property before and should have known about the condition.

This is why documentation matters so much. Photographs showing the absence of warning signs, the severity of the hazard, poor lighting, or a property owner's failure to maintain the premises all help counter comparative negligence arguments.

Premises liability cases are fact-intensive and often come down to evidence that can disappear quickly — surveillance footage is overwritten, spills are cleaned up, ice melts, and broken steps get repaired. An attorney can send a preservation letter to the property owner demanding they retain security camera footage, maintenance logs, inspection records, and incident reports.

An experienced premises liability attorney can also investigate whether the property owner had prior notice of the hazard, whether they followed their own inspection and maintenance protocols, and whether building code violations contributed to your fall. In Pittsburgh, aging infrastructure means many buildings and sidewalks have conditions that violate current safety codes.

Most personal injury attorneys in Pittsburgh work on contingency. No upfront cost. Free initial consultation. You pay nothing unless they recover compensation for you.