Can I Change Slip and Fall Lawyers in California?

Your right to a different slip and fall lawyer

The California Supreme Court held in Fracasse v. Brent that you can discharge your lawyer whenever you want. A contingency lawyer who is let go can claim the reasonable value of the work, and only if you recover. You do not need permission from the old firm.

Fall cases are easy to let drift. The store’s insurer denies the claim, the file sits, and the evidence quietly disappears. If you have not heard what your lawyer has done to get the video or the store’s records, ask. If the answer is unclear, read our California guide to switching lawyers.

Why notice decides most California fall cases

A store is not automatically responsible because you fell there. In California, you usually need to show the store knew about the spill or hazard, or should have found it with reasonable care. In Ortega v. Kmart Corp., the California Supreme Court held that a plaintiff can prove this kind of constructive notice by showing the area had not been inspected within a reasonable period of time. The evidence still has to show the hazard was there long enough that a careful store would have found it.

That means the case often comes down to two questions. When did an employee last walk that aisle, and how long was the liquid or object on the floor? A new lawyer needs records that answer both.

Evidence in a fall case that can vanish

• Surveillance video. Many stores keep footage for a limited time and then record over it. The video of the minutes before your fall matters as much as the fall itself.
• Sweep logs, floor-walk records and inspection checklists for that day.
• The incident report the store wrote, and the names of the employees who responded.
• Photos of the spill, its size and color, cart tracks or footprints through it.
• The shoes and clothes you wore. Keep them unwashed in a bag.
• Witness names and phone numbers, including other shoppers.
• Store policies on spills and inspections, which are often produced in discovery.

If your first lawyer did not send a preservation letter, the new lawyer should send one the same day they are hired. For big retailers in particular, see our California store slip and fall page.

Falls on public property have a shorter clock

If you fell on a city sidewalk, in a government building or at a public park, a different set of rules applies. Government Code § 835 makes a public entity liable for a dangerous condition of its property only in certain cases, such as when it created the condition or had actual or constructive notice in time to fix it. Before suing, you usually must file a written claim within six months under Government Code § 911.2.

This is one of the most common problems we see in transferred files. A lawyer who treats a sidewalk fall like a store fall can miss the six-month claim. If your fall happened on public property, ask your lawyer today whether a government claim was filed and when.

Other things a new lawyer has to catch up on

Fall injuries are often hips, wrists, knees, backs and heads, and the defense will look hard at your prior medical history. The new lawyer should collect your treatment records, imaging and bills, and learn about any earlier injuries to the same body part before the defense does. California’s pure comparative fault rule from Li v. Yellow Cab Co. also applies. If the store says you were looking at your phone, that may reduce damages by a percentage, but it does not bar the claim.

The general deadline to file a lawsuit is two years under Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1.

What you pay if you switch

Your fee does not go up when you bring your fall case to us. Whatever the first lawyer is owed for their work is paid out of our fee, not added to yours. Costs that firm advanced are normally repaid from the recovery like any case cost. If there is no recovery, you owe us nothing for fees or costs.

If you already signed a release and accepted payment, that release generally ends the case, and we cannot bring it back.

How we take over your fall case

We send preservation letters to the property owner, notify your former lawyer, and request the complete file. If a case is already filed, we prepare the substitution for the court. Any fee claim from the old firm goes to us. Free reviews in English or Spanish. Contact us or call (310) 552-6959.

Sources

1. Fracasse v. Brent (1972) 6 Cal.3d 784 (scocal.stanford.edu)
2. Ortega v. Kmart Corp. (2001) 26 Cal.4th 1200 (scocal.stanford.edu)
3. Cal. Gov. Code § 835
4. Cal. Gov. Code § 911.2
5. Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804 (scocal.stanford.edu)
6. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1
7. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 284
8. Cal. Civ. Code § 1541