If you've been seriously or catastrophically injured in a slip and fall accident in Southern California from La Quinta to Laguna Beach, CA, from Corona del Mar, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Irvine, or Anaheim in Orange County, to Carlsbad, Mission Valley, La Jolla, Del Mar, or Escondido in San Diego, from Fontana, San Bernardino or Riverside in the Inland Empire or Palm Springs or Palm Desert in the Coachella Valley, to Victorville, Hesperia and Palmdale, you're probably asking yourself, what did I do to deserve this?

Until you search the news for "Slip and Fall Accidents" you don't realize just how dangerous those two words are, even as a personal injury lawyer.

These are just a few of the headlines that shout out at you which have one or more of those two words:

Padres fall into tie for NL last place.

Ireland is the first to slip into recession.

Asian stocks fall for the eighteenth day.

Pig drowns in bizarre slip and fall accident.

America could slip into a financial panic.

European stocks slip as banks fall.

Palin makes another slip of the tongue.

Biden makes another slip of the tongue.

The fall of the British Monarchy.

Homes threatened by slip evacuated before they fall.

Fall brings big slip in temperatures.

Home prices continue to fall.

McCain hoping to avoid slip-up.

Of course you can also useful warnings of how to avoid slip and falls. Don't walk in puddles. Don't run at the swimming pool. But what about the warnings of how hard it is to pursue a claim when you've been injured due to the negligence of a grocery or other large discount store.

What most attorneys will tell you is that grocery and discount stores have made it absolutely frustrating for both injured clients and attorneys to get these self-insured companies to even consider a claim prior to your filing suit.

They ignore your letters. They raise bogus defenses. Recordings of the accident go missing. And they make the injured client feel like they are the one at fault for the failures of these stores to have safe premises.

As an example, take the common circumstance of a woman falling in water caused by a grocery store's employees who either fail to mop up the water they have left on the floor or fail to put cones around the water. If you are fortunate enough to have the grocery store risk management department respond to either your first, second or third letter, you will probably learn from their response, that the grocery store is disputing liability because either they deny it was their fault, they feel the injured victim was wearing shoes that the grocery store considers unsafe, or they deny any injury occurred despite the fall.

The method for dealing with this type of case by other large retailers is to force everyone to trial. Few clients have the stomach for this and an attorney looking at only soft tissue injuries must also determine if the reward is worth the risk and expense of trial. Fewer attorneys today are taking these cases as a result.

The next time you go into any of these stores, consider this slip and fall warning. Think of these stores as dead zones where accidents occur and no one will ever admit responsibility.

However, if you have serious injuries from a slip and fall and the negligence of the other party is clear and substantial, we invite you to call our office. Remember it's not enough generally simply that you fell and that people saw you fall. Ask yourself this - what did the city, or the store owner or the home owner etc. actively do, or fail to do, to make your accident site a dangerous condition.

If you've been injured in a homeowner accident in Orange County, San Diego, in the Inland Empire, Palm Springs or anywhere in Southern California, we have the knowledge and resources to be your Palmdale Personal Injury Lawyer and your Victorville and Hesperia Personal Injury Attorney on your case. Be sure to hire a California law firm with personal injury lawyers who can serve areas such as Santa Barbara, Ventura, Oxnard, Anaheim, Oceanside, Santa Ana, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Fontana, Del Mar, San Diego and Indio so you are properly represented and get the compensation you deserve.

If you have been injured in a slip and fall accident or personal injury accident of any kind, call the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson, or visit our website at and learn how we can assist you. You can also call us to speak directly to Sebastian Gibson on the phone about your legal matter.