Houma Slip and Fall Lawyer

Were you injured in a slip and fall accident in Houma, LA?

At Kiefer & Kiefer, we are slip and fall lawyers who pursue full recovery for injured clients and their families.

If you fell because a property owner allowed a hazard to remain, an attorney can pursue the compensation Louisiana law permits. These claims are harder than most people assume. Louisiana places a heavier burden on the injured person than nearly any other type of injury case, and insurers know it.

A Houma, LA slip and fall lawyer at Kiefer & Kiefer moves quickly for surveillance footage, inspection records, and cleanup logs, then builds the proof the statute demands. Our firm has handled these claims in Terrebonne Parish for more than four decades. The consultation is free.

Slip and Fall Lawyer Houma, LA

Falls caused more than 38,000 deaths among adults 65 and older in 2021 and nearly three million emergency department visits, according to the CDC. Those are national figures, and falls are not only an older adult problem. We tried a slip and fall case to a Houma jury in 2023 for a client who fell on broken concrete at a school.

A slip and fall claim is a civil demand against the business or property owner responsible for the condition that caused your fall. Proving it takes more than showing you were hurt. A Houma slip and fall attorney has to establish what the hazard was, how long it was there, and that the owner should have addressed it.

Types of Slip and Fall Cases We Handle in Houma

Where you fell determines which rules apply and what evidence exists. A grocery store has surveillance cameras and sweep logs. A private walkway may have neither, and the case gets built from inspection and photographs instead.

• Grocery and retail store falls. Spills, tracked-in water, and produce debris near checkouts and coolers. Sweep logs and video are the first records we demand, and both have short retention windows that run out while people are still in treatment.
• Restaurant and bar falls. Kitchen runoff, greasy floors, and poor lighting in service areas. Staffing records often show whether anyone was assigned to monitor the floor at the time, and whether that assignment was actually being carried out.
• Parking lot falls. Potholes, wheel stops, cracked pavement, and drainage that funnels water across walking paths. Maintenance history and prior complaints carry the argument, since a defect that developed over months is far easier to prove than a spill from minutes earlier.
• Stairway and step falls. Uneven risers, missing handrails, and worn treads. These cases frequently turn on whether the construction met the code in force when it was built, which a consulting engineer can measure rather than estimate.
• Apartment and rental property falls. Landlords owe duties for common areas, stairwells, walkways, and lighting. Prior tenant complaints about the same condition are powerful evidence.
• Hotel and short-term rental falls. Lobbies, pool decks, bathrooms, and corridors. Housekeeping schedules and incident reports usually exist and are rarely produced voluntarily. A written demand is generally what forces them out.
• Gas station and convenience store falls. Fuel spills, ice machine leaks, and worn mats at entrances. Camera coverage at these locations is good, which helps when it is preserved in time.
• Sidewalk and walkway falls. Raised slabs, broken concrete, and settled pavement. Who maintained the surface determines who answers for it, and that question comes before anything else.
• Construction and worksite falls. Unguarded openings, temporary walking surfaces, and debris. These claims often involve more than one company on the same site, each pointing at the others.
• Falls caused by inadequate lighting. A hazard that would be obvious in daylight becomes invisible at night. Illumination levels can be measured after the fact and compared against the standard for that kind of space.

Why Choose Kiefer & Kiefer as my Slip and Fall Lawyer in Houma, LA?

A Houma Jury Verdict in a Premises Case

In 2023 we tried a slip and fall case before a jury in Houma. Our client fell on broken concrete at a school while working there as a janitor. The defense offered $90,000 at mediation. The jury awarded her over $850,000. We work routinely with safety engineers who inspect a property and give an opinion on whether the condition was dangerous, and with those opinions we have proven negligence against large corporations for hazards that were not up to code. Megan Kiefer belongs to the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum. Chris Short graduated magna cum laude from Tulane University Law School. Our personal injury lawyer in Houma, LA is here to help you recover. Contact us today.

Results in Premises and Fall Claims

Kiefer & Kiefer has recovered millions of dollars for injured clients. Outcomes include:

• $2.25 million for a fall on a substance near a checkout, settled just before trial
• $1 million for a fall caused by a ceiling leak
• $825,000 for a hotel fall requiring facet joint fusion
• $350,000 for a fall on a defective stair causing a leg fracture

Understanding Slip and Fall Cases

Damages, Liability, and Compensation for Slip and Fall Cases

Civil Code Article 2315 obligates a person whose fault causes damage to repair it. Falls inside a store, restaurant, or similar business are also governed by Revised Statute 9:2800.6, which requires the injured person to prove all three of the following:

• The condition presented an unreasonable risk of harm that was reasonably foreseeable
• The merchant created the condition or had actual or constructive notice of it
• The merchant failed to exercise reasonable care

Falls on property that is not a merchant’s are handled as premises liability claims under general negligence principles instead. Recoverable losses include medical treatment already received and reasonably expected, wages lost during recovery, reduced capacity to earn afterward, pain and mental anguish, permanent impairment or disfigurement, and loss of consortium belonging to a spouse or child. Fault is apportioned among all contributors. Under Article 2323, amended effective January 1, 2026, a claimant assigned 51 percent or more of the fault recovers nothing, and anyone below that line has the award reduced by their share. Falls before that date remain under Louisiana’s former pure comparative fault rule.

What Are Important Aspects of a Slip and Fall Case?

The notice requirement decides most of these cases. A merchant is not responsible simply because someone fell on the property, so proving how long a hazard sat there is where claims succeed or collapse:

• Surveillance video requested before the system overwrites it
• The incident report, and a copy of what you signed
• Sweep logs, inspection sheets, and maintenance records
• Photographs of the condition taken before anyone cleans it up
• Names of employees and any witnesses present
• Prior complaints about the same condition at that location

Where a structure is involved, building codes supply a measurable standard that opinion alone cannot, and seasonal conditions matter too, since seasonal maintenance records show what a property owner did and did not do. Property type also determines who is liable, since a claim for someone injured at an apartment runs against a landlord rather than a merchant, and the merchant statute does not apply at all.

What Is The Slip and Fall Case Timeline?

Evidence preservation drives the early schedule. Article 3493.1 allows two years from the date of injury to file suit on causes of action arising on or after July 1, 2024. Earlier claims carried one year.

• Preservation demand for video, sweep logs, and incident reports
• Site inspection, frequently alongside a consulting engineer
• Treatment continuing until the injury stabilizes
• Demand delivered to the owner, the tenant, and every insurer
• Suit filed where notice or responsibility is disputed
• Discovery, depositions, mediation, or trial

Cases requiring surgery run longest, because future treatment cannot be valued until the treating physicians can say what that care will involve and for how long it continues.

What Should You Bring to Your Slip and Fall Consultation?

• Photographs or video of the hazard and the surrounding area
• The incident report, or the name of whoever took your statement
• Clothing and footwear worn at the time, unwashed and unrepaired
• Medical bills and treating provider names
• Anything an adjuster or the business has since sent you

The review is free. We will tell you honestly whether the notice element can be proven, because without it the rest of the case does not matter, however serious the injury. Injuries in public spaces frequently involve more than one responsible party, and we will identify each of them.

Reach Out to Kiefer & Kiefer to Schedule a Consultation

A slip and fall attorney in Houma, LA can review your claim at no cost to you. No fee is owed unless we recover, and a consultation commits you to nothing. Surveillance footage is overwritten on a schedule, so the sooner a preservation demand goes out the better. Contact us to arrange a review with a slip and fall lawyer in Houma, LA.