New Orleans Trip And Fall Lawyer

Were you injured in a trip and fall accident in New Orleans?

At Kiefer & Kiefer, we help injured clients in New Orleans pursue full recovery in trip and fall matters.

If you were injured by a raised sidewalk slab, a defective stair, or an unmarked height change, an attorney can pursue a claim against the party responsible for maintaining that surface. Our New Orleans, LA trip and fall lawyer retains safety engineers who measure the defect and document it against the applicable code. We have handled Louisiana premises claims since 1982 and work on a contingency fee. Contact us for a review at no cost.

Trip and Fall Lawyer New Orleans, LA

A trip and fall lawyer handles claims involving injuries caused by a defective walking surface. The fall itself is seldom in dispute. Liability depends on proof that the property owner knew or should have known about the hazard and failed to either correct it or warn visitors about it.

The CDC attributes roughly 3 million emergency department visits and more than 800,000 hospitalizations each year to falls. New Orleans compounds the ordinary risk. Live oak roots lift sidewalk panels across most of Uptown and Mid-City, French Quarter walkways date to the eighteenth century, and subsidence pulls slabs out of alignment year after year.

Types of Trip and Fall Cases We Handle in New Orleans

Where you fell determines who is responsible and which procedures apply. These are the situations we handle most.

• Broken and uneven sidewalks. Root heave, subsidence, and utility cuts create height differentials that exceed what code permits. Whether the city or the adjoining property owner is responsible depends on the specific location.
• Defective stairs. Inconsistent riser heights are among the most reliable predictors of a stairway fall, because stride adapts to the first few steps. We recovered $350,000 for a client who fractured a leg on a defective stair.
• Missing or inadequate handrails. A handrail that stops short of the full flight, or does not exist at all, converts a stumble into a serious fall.
• Slip and fall accidents. Wet floors and spills follow a different evidentiary path than a trip, but the notice requirement is the same.
• Premises liability. Poor lighting, obstructed walkways, and unmarked transitions between flooring types all fall under the same framework.
• Hotel accident injuries. Lobbies, stairwells, pool decks, and courtyards in older buildings frequently contain conditions that would never pass current inspection.
• Tourist premises liability. Visitors injured here face the added complication of returning home mid-treatment, which insurers use to argue the injury resolved.
• Parking lot and garage falls. Wheel stops, potholes, crumbling asphalt, and unmarked curbs cause falls that property managers routinely blame on inattention.
• Serious injuries from falls. A fall onto concrete produces fractures, spinal damage, and head trauma comparable to a moderate-speed collision.
• Wrongful death claims. Falls from height and falls involving older adults sometimes prove fatal, and the family’s claim follows a strict order of priority under Louisiana law.

Why Choose Kiefer & Kiefer as my Trip and Fall Lawyer in New Orleans, LA?

Safety Engineers and Code Compliance Evidence 

Premises cases turn on documentation. We routinely retain safety engineers who inspect the property and give an opinion on whether the condition met code. Those opinions have let us prove negligence against large corporations for hazards on their property. Megan Kiefer has been selected to Super Lawyers in 2022, 2023, and 2024, and teaches trial advocacy as an adjunct instructor at Tulane. Nat G. Kiefer, Jr. has practiced Louisiana injury law since 1982 and earned the Walter Sutton Award at Tulane. Anyone hiring a personal injury lawyer in New Orleans, LA for a fall claim should ask whether the firm has ever put an engineer on the stand.

Results and Fee Structure

We’ve recovered millions of dollars for clients injured in falls. Recent outcomes include:

• $871,000 jury verdict, upheld by the Louisiana Supreme Court, for a fall on a defective sidewalk
• $652,000 for a trip and fall in a parking lot causing neck and shoulder injuries
• $360,000 for a stairwell trip and fall
• $350,000 for a defective stair fall resulting in a leg fracture

These claims are handled on a contingency fee, so nothing is owed unless we recover compensation for you.

Understanding Trip and Fall Cases

Damages, Liability, and Compensation for Trip and Fall Cases

Liability rests on Civil Code Article 2315, which obligates a person whose fault causes damage to repair it. In a premises case that means showing the condition presented an unreasonable risk and that the owner had actual or constructive notice of it.

Recoverable damages include:

• Medical expenses, from the emergency visit through surgery and rehabilitation
• Lost wages and reduced earning capacity where restrictions become permanent
• Pain and suffering, which drives value in fracture and fusion cases
• Future care, including revision surgery and long-term pain management
• Loss of enjoyment of life, particularly where mobility is permanently limited

Older adults are a distinct category here. A hip fracture at 70 carries consequences that a comparable injury at 40 does not, including a real risk of permanent loss of independence, and the valuation should reflect that rather than treating the fracture as a discrete event.

Fault allocation carries more weight than it did. Article 2323 was amended effective January 1, 2026, barring recovery entirely for a claimant found 51 percent or more at fault. Distraction and footwear are the arguments insurers use to push a claimant toward that line. Incidents before that date remain under the prior pure comparative system.

What Are Important Aspects of a Trip and Fall Case?

The evidence in these cases disappears faster than in almost any other claim. Property owners repair defects within days of a fall.

• Photographing the defect with a reference object for scale before it is fixed
• Requesting the incident report at the scene and keeping a copy
• Surveillance footage, which many systems overwrite within one to four weeks
• Measurements of riser height, tread depth, and height differential taken by a professional
• Prior complaints or earlier falls at the same location, which usually surface in discovery
• Understanding who is liable when a lease splits maintenance duties between owner and tenant

Building codes provide the standard against which the condition gets measured.

Notice is where most of these claims are won or lost. A defect that appeared an hour before the fall is treated very differently than one that has been photographed by neighbors for two years. Maintenance tickets, prior complaints, and repair invoices tend to settle that question faster than any witness can. We request them early, because businesses produce documents slowly once litigation looks likely.

What Is The Trip and Fall Case Timeline?

Timelines vary based on the injury and whether the owner disputes notice.

• Preservation demands and property inspection in the first weeks
• Medical treatment through to a stable prognosis
• Engineering assessment where the defect is contested
• Demand and negotiation with the property insurer
• Suit and discovery if the offer does not reflect the harm
• Mediation, trial, or settlement, then lien resolution

Louisiana provides two years under Civil Code Article 3493.1 for injuries sustained on or after July 1, 2024. Claims against public entities carry additional procedural requirements that begin much sooner.

What Should You Bring to Your Trip and Fall Consultation?

• Photographs of the hazard, the surrounding area, and your injuries
• The incident report, if the business prepared one
• Medical records, imaging, and bills
• The footwear you were wearing, which the defense will ask about
• Names and numbers for anyone who saw the fall

If the fall happened on a public sidewalk, bring anything that identifies the exact location. Responsibility for maintenance can shift from the city to the adjoining property owner within a few feet, and pinning down the spot precisely is the first thing an engineer will need.

We’ll assess whether notice can be proven, what the defect measurements are likely to show, and whether the claim is worth pursuing. That conversation costs nothing.

Most Dangerous Locations for Trip and Fall Accidents in New Orleans

Streets and sidewalks:

• The French Quarter: Centuries-old flagstone and brick walkways with significant height variation
• St. Charles Avenue: Live oak roots that lift and crack sidewalk panels along the streetcar route
• Magazine Street: Narrow sidewalks, uneven storefront thresholds, and frequent utility cuts
• Frenchmen Street: Heavy nighttime foot traffic on poorly lit and irregular pavement

Larger corridors and public areas:

• Canal Street: High pedestrian volume across transit platforms and varied surface materials
• Poydras Street: Construction activity and temporary walkway routing through the business district
• Convention Center Boulevard: Long stretches of pedestrian traffic in areas with surface transitions
• Bourbon Street: Sunken pavement and drainage grates in constant use

Reach Out to Kiefer & Kiefer to Schedule a Consultation

If a defective walking surface caused your injury, a New Orleans trip and fall attorney at our firm can send preservation demands, arrange an inspection, and give you a direct read on the claim. The consultation is free and the fee is contingent, so you owe nothing unless we recover. Contact us before the property gets repaired.