Slip and Fall Injury Lawyer Liverpool

You can claim for any injury caused by someone else's failure to keep their property safe. The range of injuries from falls is broad, and many are more serious than people first realise.

Impact injuries (happen at the time of the fall):

• Broken bones. Wrists, ankles, hips, and legs are the most common. Hip fractures are especially serious for older people.
• Head injuries. Even a ground-level fall can cause concussion or worse if your head hits a hard surface.
• Dislocated shoulders and torn rotator cuffs from landing on an outstretched arm.
• Knee injuries including torn ligaments and cartilage damage.
• Cuts and deep bruising.

Injuries that show up later:

• Back and spinal injuries. Disc bulges and nerve damage often don't peak until days or weeks after the fall.
• Chronic pain that develops from what seemed like a minor injury.
• Arthritis that worsens faster because of the fall.

Psychological injuries:

• PTSD, anxiety, and depression after a bad fall.
• Fear of leaving home or loss of confidence, especially in older people.

You can also claim for the costs that flow from your injury: medical bills, lost wages, rehab, home care, and reduced quality of life. The location doesn't matter. Falls at shopping centres, restaurants, footpaths, workplaces, and private homes are all claimable if someone's negligence caused them.

Compensation depends on how badly you're hurt, how long recovery takes, and how the injury affects your work and daily life. Every claim is different, but here are typical ranges.

What injuries are worth:

• Minor injuries like sprains and bruises: $5,000 to $15,000.
• Moderate injuries like broken bones and torn ligaments: $30,000 to $100,000.
• Serious injuries like complex fractures, chronic pain, and spinal damage: $150,000 to $500,000+.

What your payout covers:

• Medical and hospital costs (can run into six figures for serious injuries).
• Physio, rehab, and ongoing treatment.
• Lost wages for time off work.
• Future lost income if you can't go back to your old job.
• Home care and help with daily tasks.
• Pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life.

Real examples:

• A 45-year-old who breaks a leg in a shopping centre fall: $80,000 to $150,000.
• A 70-year-old with a hip fracture and complications: $200,000 to $400,000+.
• A 30-year-old with permanent back damage: $250,000 to $500,000+.

What affects the amount:

• Your age (younger people get higher future loss awards).
• Your income and career.
• How long the injury takes to heal.
• Whether there's permanent damage.
• How strong the evidence of negligence is.

We provide free estimates after reviewing your medical evidence and the facts of your fall.

No Win No Fee means if we don't win your claim, you don't pay us. It's that simple.

Here's how it works:

1. You pay nothing upfront. We cover all costs while your claim runs, including legal fees, expert reports, court filing fees, and investigation costs.
2. If we lose, you owe us nothing. We absorb every cost. That's our risk.
3. If we win, our fee comes from your compensation. Typically 25% to 33%, agreed in writing before we start. No surprises.
4. We arrange insurance to protect you against the other side's costs if needed.

Why this matters for slip and fall claims:

These cases often need expert evidence: engineers to assess floor surfaces, lighting specialists, and medical experts. These reports cost thousands. Without No Win No Fee, most people with valid claims couldn't afford to pursue them.

What it means for you:

• You're not choosing between paying bills and getting justice.
• We only take cases we believe we can win, so acceptance itself is a good sign.
• Our interests are completely aligned. We get paid when you do.

Call us on 1300 011 149 for a free consultation. We'll tell you honestly whether your case has merit.

You have three years from the date of your fall to start legal proceedings under the Limitation Act 1969 (NSW). Miss that deadline and you'll almost certainly lose your right to claim.

Exceptions:

• Children: The three-year clock doesn't start until they turn 18.
• People with a severe disability: The court may extend the deadline.

Why you shouldn't wait:

The three-year limit is the last possible moment, not the right time to start. Here's why early action matters:

• CCTV from shops and shopping centres is typically deleted within 30 days.
• Hazards get cleaned up or repaired, destroying evidence of what caused your fall.
• Witnesses forget details and become harder to find.
• Staff who saw the incident may leave the business.
• The property owner's insurer will use delays against you.

Practical advice: Contact us within weeks of your injury, not months. We can request CCTV before it's deleted, photograph the hazard before it's fixed, and get witness statements while memories are fresh.

Even if you're not sure whether you have a claim, a free consultation will clarify your rights.

You can still claim. Being partly at fault reduces your payout but doesn't eliminate it.

NSW law uses "contributory negligence" under the Civil Liability Act 2002. A court looks at what both sides did and splits the blame by percentage. Your compensation is reduced by your share of fault.

Simple example:

Your claim is worth $80,000, but you're found 20% at fault. You'd receive $64,000.

Things property owners blame you for:

• Not watching where you were walking.
• Wearing heels or thongs.
• Running or moving too fast.
• Ignoring a "wet floor" sign.
• Being distracted by your phone.

How we respond:

Just because you were on your phone doesn't mean the shop can leave a puddle on the floor. People wear heels. They carry shopping bags. They look at store displays. Property owners must keep their premises safe for how people actually behave, not how they ideally should.

In most cases, even when you share some blame, the property owner's failure is the bigger factor. A shop that leaves a spill for 30 minutes without cleaning it or putting up a sign is far more at fault than a customer who didn't see it.

We argue for the lowest possible fault on your side, or contest it entirely.

The more evidence you collect early, the stronger your claim. Here's what matters most.

Collect straight away:

• Photos of the hazard. The wet floor, broken step, uneven surface, or spill. This is the single most important thing you can do. Photograph from several angles.
• Photos of the area. Lighting, warning signs (or lack of them), and the layout.
• Your injuries. Photograph them at the scene and throughout recovery.
• Witness details. Names and phone numbers of anyone who saw the fall.
• Incident report. Ask the business to file one. Get a copy if you can.

We'll help collect these:

• CCTV footage (usually deleted within 30 days, so we act fast).
• The property's cleaning logs, maintenance records, and inspection schedules.
• Previous complaints about the same hazard.
• Medical records from your doctors, hospital, and specialists.
• Wage records proving lost income.
• Expert reports (engineers for surface conditions, lighting assessments).

What makes the biggest difference:

Photos of the hazard taken on the day carry enormous weight. CCTV showing how long the hazard was there before you fell proves the owner had time to fix it and didn't. Witness statements back up your account. Medical records link your injuries directly to the fall.

Don't worry if you couldn't collect everything at the time. Contact us early and we'll handle the formal evidence gathering.

Yes, and the lack of a warning sign makes your claim stronger. Property owners must warn of hazards that aren't obvious, and a wet floor is a classic example.

Why no warning sign matters:

Under the Civil Liability Act 2002, occupiers must alert visitors to hazards they can't easily spot. A wet floor from cleaning, spills, or water tracked in from outside isn't obvious to someone walking into the area. Without a "wet floor" sign, a barrier, or a verbal warning, the property owner has failed their duty.

What we look for in these claims:

• Was the floor wet because of cleaning? If so, we check the cleaning schedule and whether signs were deployed.
• Was it a customer spill? We check how long it was there. A spill left for 20 minutes in a busy shop without clean-up or warning is clear negligence.
• Was water tracked in from outside? Entrance matting and regular mopping are basic standards. If neither happened, the occupier is at fault.

How the other side tries to defend it:

The property owner may argue the wet patch was obvious and you should have noticed it. We counter this by showing:

• The lighting was dim.
• The floor finish made the wet area hard to see.
• You were carrying bags, minding children, or doing what normal shoppers do.
• No staff member was monitoring the area.

These claims are common and often strong. If you slipped on a wet floor without a sign, contact us.

Yes. Shopping centre falls are among the most common slip and fall claims we handle. Centres like Westfield Liverpool owe a high duty of care because they invite thousands of people onto their premises every day.

Shopping centres must:

• Keep floors clean and dry.
• Fix spills and debris quickly.
• Put up warning signs when floors are wet.
• Maintain stairs, escalators, and handrails.
• Keep car parks and corridors well lit.
• Run regular cleaning and inspection schedules.

Common shopping centre hazards:

• Wet floors in food courts, bathrooms, and entrances.
• Spilled drinks or food near cafes and restaurants.
• Broken escalator steps or loose entry mats.
• Poor lighting in car parks and back corridors.
• Trip hazards from merchandise displays.

Why these claims are strong:

Shopping centres have CCTV everywhere. That footage often captures your fall, the hazard before and after, and whether any warning was in place. Cleaning logs show when floors were last checked. This evidence cuts both ways: it can prove the centre knew (or should have known) about the problem.

Shopping centre operators carry large insurance policies. That means compensation is available and claims are taken seriously.

The common defence:

Centres argue you should have watched where you were walking. We counter this by showing that normal shoppers carry bags, look at displays, and manage children. They can't be expected to watch every step. The centre must keep things safe for how people actually behave.

Footpath trips are one of the most common injury claims in Liverpool. Who you claim against depends on who owns or maintains the footpath.

Council footpaths:

Most public footpaths in Liverpool are maintained by Liverpool City Council. The council must keep them in a safe condition. Cracked concrete, raised edges, sunken paving, and missing sections are all council's fault if they create a real hazard.

But councils don't have to fix every tiny bump. Minor unevenness that a careful person could avoid isn't enough. The hazard needs to be serious, usually a level change of 25 mm or more under common council maintenance policies. Prior complaints about the same spot make your case much stronger.

Private footpaths:

Footpaths next to shops, offices, or private buildings are the property owner's duty. They have the same standard: keep the surface safe and fix problems.

What you need to show:

• The defect was bad enough to need fixing (not just a minor bump).
• The owner or council knew about it (or should have found it through normal checks).
• They didn't fix it within a reasonable time.
• The defect caused your fall and injury.

We gather photos, expert reports on the footpath condition, council maintenance records, and any prior complaints to build your case.

Yes, you can claim against Liverpool City Council for falls on public land. But council claims are harder than claims against businesses because councils get extra legal shields.

What councils must do:

Keep footpaths, parks, playgrounds, and public areas safe. Check them regularly. Fix hazards promptly. Warn of known dangers.

What makes council claims harder:

The Civil Liability Act 2002 (Section 43A) gives councils a defence for "obvious dangers." If the hazard was something a normal person would have seen and avoided, the council may not be liable. A big crack in broad daylight might be obvious. The same crack hidden by leaves or poor lighting is not.

Councils also get a defence for natural hazards like falling tree branches, as long as they had a proper checking program.

How we get past these defences:

• We dig into the council's upkeep records and checking logs.
• If other people reported the same hazard before your fall, that proves the council knew about it.
• If their checking schedule was lacking, that shows fault.
• We bring in engineers to give evidence on whether the area met proper safety standards.

You must give formal written notice of your claim, usually within 12 months of the injury. This is mandatory for council claims. We handle all the paperwork and deadlines.

Council claims take longer than business claims, but we've taken on Liverpool City Council before and know how their defences work.

"The hazard was obvious" is the most common defence property owners raise. But it doesn't automatically kill your claim.

The law doesn't expect you to watch every step.

Reasonable people look at shop displays. They carry bags. They talk to companions. They check their phones. You don't have to be on high alert in a shopping centre, restaurant, or car park. Occupiers must keep their premises safe for people behaving normally, not for people staring at the floor.

When the "obvious danger" defence fails:

• Poor lighting. A hazard that's clear in bright light may be invisible in a dim corridor or car park.
• Distraction is normal. Managing kids, reading a menu, looking at products. These are all reasonable things to do while on someone's property.
• Age and vision matter. An older person with glasses isn't expected to spot hazards as quickly as a 20-year-old. The owner can't assume perfect eyesight.
• Context changes expectations. You expect a wet floor in a bathroom. You don't expect a puddle in a dry goods aisle.

Even if the hazard was visible, the owner still has a duty. A step that anyone can see still needs a warning sign if it's in a spot where people might not look down. The absence of a warning is negligence even if the hazard was "obvious."

If you're found partly at fault, your payout is reduced by your share of blame. But it isn't wiped out. Most cases still result in meaningful compensation.

Yes. If you fell because you couldn't see a hazard due to poor lighting, the property owner is at fault.

Where poor lighting claims come up:

• Car parks (especially at night or underground).
• Stairwells without working lights.
• Corridors and back passages.
• Outdoor walkways at night.
• The transition from a brightly lit shop into a dark car park (your eyes haven't adjusted).

What property owners must do:

Lighting isn't optional. Car parks typically need 50 to 100 lux. Walkways need 20 to 50 lux. If the lighting falls below these standards, the owner has failed their duty.

How we prove it:

• Expert lighting assessments that measure lux levels and compare them to standards.
• Records showing whether the owner maintained their lighting (broken bulbs left for weeks, for example).
• Photos or video showing how dark the area was at the time you fell.

What the other side argues:

• "The hazard was visible." We show it wasn't, given the actual light levels.
• "You should have used your phone torch." The law doesn't require visitors to bring lighting to a business.
• "Upgrading lights is too expensive." Cost isn't an excuse for failing a basic safety duty.

If you fell in a poorly lit area and couldn't see the hazard, call us. These claims are strong when we can show the lighting was below standard.

If you fell at your workplace, it's usually workers compensation first. But in some cases you can claim public liability too, and the combined payout can be much larger.

Workers comp (your main option):

If you're an employee and you fell at work, workers comp covers you regardless of whose fault it was. You get:

• Weekly payments: 95% of your pre-injury pay for weeks 1 to 13, then 80%.
• All medical and rehab costs.
• A lump sum for permanent damage.
• Retraining if you can't go back to your old role.

When public liability also applies:

If someone other than your employer caused the hazard, you may have a separate public liability claim against that third party. For example:

• You work in a shop and fell on a spill caused by a delivery driver. You'd claim workers comp from your employer AND public liability against the delivery company.
• You work on a client's premises and their poor upkeep caused your fall. Public liability claim against the client.

Can you sue your employer?

Usually no, because workers comp is designed to replace that right. But if your employer was grossly negligent (knowingly hid a danger, refused to provide safety gear), you may have a work injury damages claim on top.

What we do:

We look at every fall to check whether third-party claims exist alongside workers comp. Finding them can double or triple your total recovery.

Absolutely. Elderly people have the same right to claim, and falls are often far more serious for older people. That usually means higher compensation, not lower.

Why falls hit harder with age:

• A hip fracture that might heal in months for a 40-year-old can be permanently disabling for someone over 70.
• Bones are more fragile. A single fall often causes multiple injuries.
• Recovery takes longer. Extended hospital stays, rehab, and nursing care add up.
• The risk of losing independence is real. Some people never return to living on their own.

Why this means higher payouts:

Courts factor in all of this. Compensation for elderly fall injuries often runs well into six figures because the impact on quality of life is so severe.

The "eggshell skull" rule also applies. If you had a pre-existing condition that made your injuries worse, the property owner is still liable for the full extent of harm. Osteoporosis making a fracture worse than it would be in a younger person is a common example.

What the property owner should have done:

If the business caters to older visitors (pharmacies, medical centres, banks, aged care), they should expect that some visitors move slowly, have poor eyesight, and are more fragile. They must maintain extra high safety standards for that reality.

What your claim covers:

• Medical costs, surgery, and rehab.
• Nursing care and home help.
• Pain and suffering.
• Loss of independence and quality of life.
• Residential care costs if you can't live at home.

If you or a family member was injured in a fall, contact us. These claims deserve urgent attention.

What you do in the first few hours after a fall can make or break your claim. Here's the checklist.

At the scene:

1. Get medical help. If it's serious, call 000. Even for injuries that seem minor, see a doctor the same day. Many injuries get worse over the following days.
2. Report it. Tell the property owner or manager straight away. Ask them to file an incident report. Get a copy or note who you spoke to and when.
3. Take photos. The hazard (wet floor, broken step, uneven surface), the area around it (lighting, signs or lack of them), and your injuries. This is the most important thing you can do.
4. Get witness details. Names and phone numbers of anyone who saw what happened.
5. Don't accept blame. Don't say "I wasn't looking" or "it was my fault." Just describe what happened.

In the days after:

1. See your doctor. Get every injury documented. Medical records from the first few days carry the most weight.
2. Keep records. Receipts for medical costs, transport, and medications. Start a diary noting pain, sleep, and things you can't do.
3. Don't sign anything from the property owner or their insurer without speaking to a lawyer first.

Contact us early. We can request CCTV before it's deleted (usually within 30 days), send a formal letter of claim, and start building your case while evidence is fresh.

Call 1300 011 149 for a free consultation.