Primary Location
Phoenix Personal Injury Lawyers
2700 N Central Ave Suite 320, Phoenix, AZ 85004, United States
Phone: (602) 905-7766
Call us at (855) 855-8910
Call us at (855) 855-8910
A fall that barely slows down a 30-year-old can end a senior's independence. That's not an exaggeration. The CDC reports that 1 in 4 Americans over 65 falls each year [1]. Falls are the number one cause of injury death for seniors in this country.
The numbers on hip fractures tell the worst of it. Ninety-five percent of hip fractures come from falls. And 1 in 5 hip fracture patients dies within a year of the injury [2]. That's a staggering fatality rate from something people often shrug off as "just a fall."
Broken wrists. Fractured spines. Traumatic brain injuries from hitting tile or concrete. Older bones break easier and heal slower. What looks like a simple trip can spiral into surgery, months of rehab, and a permanent loss of mobility.
We've handled hundreds of slip and fall cases across Phoenix. The ones involving elderly victims are consistently the most life-altering. A younger person tears a ligament and bounces back in a few months. A 78-year-old breaks a hip and may never walk without a walker again.
That's why these cases demand a legal team that understands the real stakes. Not just medical bills. Lost independence. Lost years.
Arizona is one of the top retirement destinations in the country. The Phoenix metro area alone has over 800,000 residents aged 65 and older. Sun City, just northwest of the metro, was one of the first planned retirement communities in the United States. More than 37,000 people live there today. Nearby Sun City West, Surprise, and Peoria have large retiree populations too. Scottsdale draws a significant number of older residents as well.
All those seniors means a lot of people walking through stores, medical offices, and public spaces who are more vulnerable to falls than the general population.
Phoenix also creates fall hazards that other cities don't. Extreme summer heat keeps older adults indoors for months. Temperatures regularly hit 110 degrees from June through September. That means more time walking on smooth tile and polished marble floors inside homes, malls, and medical buildings. Those surfaces get dangerously slick when even a little water hits them.
Then there's monsoon season. Heavy rains blow through fast and leave puddles at store entrances, pharmacy doorways, and medical office lobbies. Property owners who don't put down mats or mop up water are gambling with the safety of everyone who walks through that door. For an 80-year-old with balance issues, one wet entryway is all it takes.
We see it every summer. Grocery stores mopping aisles during busy hours without putting up signs. Medical offices with slick lobby floors after a monsoon rolls through. These are preventable situations. And when property owners skip basic precautions, they should answer for it.
We've built cases from just about every type of location in the valley. Here's where elderly fall injuries happen most:
Produce sections with water on the floor. Freshly mopped aisles with no warning cones. Spills left unattended near checkout lines. Big-box stores with cluttered aisles. These are the most common locations we see. Staff knows spills happen constantly. When they ignore them, they put every elderly shopper at risk.
Older adults visit doctors and pharmacies more than any other age group. Waiting rooms with polished floors. Parking lots with cracked asphalt. Pharmacy aisles just wide enough for a wheelchair but too tight to see a wet spot. Falls at medical facilities carry a painful irony — injured at the very place you went to stay healthy.
Older congregations, aging facilities, and limited maintenance budgets. Loose carpet edges. Uneven thresholds. Poor lighting in hallways. We've taken cases from churches across Phoenix and Scottsdale where a simple handrail or better lighting would have prevented everything.
Polished stone floors that turn into skating rinks when wet. Escalators without proper non-slip surfaces. Food court areas with grease and drink spills. Malls draw elderly visitors for walking exercise, social activity, and air conditioning during summer months.
This is a category all its own. Falls account for the majority of nursing home injuries in Arizona. We cover this in its own section below because the legal issues are different.
Here's what happens in almost every elderly fall case. The insurance company pulls medical records and finds prior health issues. Arthritis. Osteoporosis. A previous knee replacement. Diabetes affecting balance. Then they make their argument: "Your client was already in bad shape. The fall didn't cause anything new."
This tactic works on people who don't have a lawyer. It should never work in a courtroom.
Arizona follows comparative negligence under A.R.S. Section 12-2505 [3]. The defense can argue that a victim's age or health contributed to the severity of the injury. But there's a legal principle that shuts this down: you take your victim as you find them.
A property owner can't leave a puddle on the floor and then blame the 75-year-old with osteoporosis for breaking her hip. The puddle caused the fall. The fall caused the fracture. End of analysis. Yes, a younger person might have walked away with a bruise. That doesn't excuse the property owner. It actually makes their negligence worse — they should know elderly customers use their business.
Our team builds medical timelines that show exactly what changed after the fall. If your parent was walking independently before the accident and can't stand without help after it, the cause-and-effect is clear. We work with medical experts who explain the difference between a pre-existing condition and a new injury on top of one.
Don't let an insurance adjuster dismiss your parent's claim because of their age. That's exactly what they're trained to do. And it's exactly what a good Phoenix personal injury lawyer won't allow.
Falls inside care facilities are a different animal. These aren't random accidents. They're often signs of understaffing, poor training, or outright neglect.
Falls account for the majority of nursing home injuries in Arizona. When a resident falls because staff didn't answer a call button, didn't help with a bathroom transfer, or left a hallway wet without supervision — that's not bad luck. That's a failure of care.
Assisted living and nursing facilities have a legal duty to protect residents from foreseeable harm. Falls are foreseeable for elderly residents. Everyone working in these facilities knows that. Care plans are supposed to include fall prevention protocols. Bed alarms. Non-slip flooring. Adequate staffing on every shift. Handrails everywhere they're needed.
When those protocols aren't followed, the facility is liable.
We've seen cases where a resident fell three times in two weeks and the facility never updated the care plan. Cases where call lights went unanswered for 40 minutes. Cases where hallway floors were waxed during active hours with residents walking by.
If your parent or grandparent fell at a nursing home or assisted living facility in Phoenix, don't take the facility's incident report at face value. They write those to protect themselves. We subpoena staffing records, internal communications, and inspection reports. The real story usually looks very different from the version they hand the family.
Elderly fall injuries are expensive. Hip replacement surgery alone can run $40,000 to $75,000. Add in hospitalization, rehabilitation, home health aides, and ongoing physical therapy, and the costs pile up fast.
Here's what your claim can include:
Medical expenses. Emergency room visits, ambulance transport, surgery, imaging, hospital stays, physical therapy, prescription medications. If future procedures are expected — like a second surgery or long-term pain management — those projected costs are part of the claim right now.
In-home care and assisted living costs. If the fall means your parent can no longer live independently, the cost of in-home aides or a move to an assisted living facility is recoverable. This is often one of the largest damages in elderly fall cases.
Pain and suffering. Chronic pain. Loss of mobility. Depression from losing independence. Fear of falling again. Isolation from not being able to go places alone. These damages don't come with receipts, but they're real and juries understand them.
Loss of enjoyment of life. Your parent used to walk the neighborhood every morning. Now they sit in a chair all day. They used to drive to Sun City to play cards with friends. Now they can't get in a car without help. That loss has real value in Arizona courts.
Wrongful death. When a fall leads to a fatal injury — and with elderly hip fractures, it happens far too often — surviving family members can pursue a wrongful death claim for funeral costs, loss of companionship, and other damages.
Arizona does not cap damages in premises liability cases. A jury can award whatever the evidence supports. With $600 million and counting recovered for our clients, we know how to present these cases for maximum value.
Our attorneys have handled personal injury cases across Arizona and California. We know how Phoenix insurance companies operate, and we know how to push back.
That number reflects real results for real families — medical bills paid, lost wages recovered, and futures protected.
You pay nothing upfront. Our fee comes out of your settlement or verdict. If we do not win your case, you owe us nothing.
Accidents do not follow business hours. Neither do we. Call (602) 905-7766 any time — nights, weekends, and holidays.
Our Phoenix team works out of 2700 N Central Ave, Suite 320. We know the roads, the courts, and the insurance adjusters you are up against.
“After a crash, you need a team that answers the phone, explains your options, and fights for every dollar you are owed. That is what we do at The Simon Law Group.”
Over 250 years of combined attorney experience
Phoenix office at 2700 N Central Ave, Suite 320 |
Licensed in Arizona and California
Yes. Nursing homes have a legal duty to protect residents from foreseeable harm, and falls are entirely foreseeable for elderly residents. If the facility failed to follow fall prevention protocols, didn't answer a call button, or had inadequate staffing, they can be held liable. We subpoena staffing records and internal documents to uncover what actually happened — not just what the facility reported to your family.
This is a common insurance company tactic, and it doesn't hold up. Under Arizona law, property owners take their victims as they find them. If a store left a wet floor that caused your parent to slip, the store is responsible for the resulting injuries — even if a younger person might have walked away unharmed. Your parent's age doesn't excuse the property owner's negligence. It actually strengthens the argument that they should have taken more precautions.
Insurance companies love pointing to arthritis, osteoporosis, or prior surgeries to argue the fall didn't cause anything new. But Arizona law allows you to recover for the aggravation of a pre-existing condition. If your parent's arthritis was manageable before the fall and now requires surgery, the fall caused that change. We build medical timelines with expert testimony to show the difference between how your parent functioned before and after the accident.
Medical bills, surgery costs, hospital stays, rehabilitation, in-home care or assisted living expenses, pain and suffering, loss of independence, and loss of enjoyment of life. If a fall leads to a fatal injury, surviving family members can pursue a wrongful death claim. Arizona does not cap personal injury damages, so a jury can award whatever the evidence supports.
Two years from the date of the fall. That's the deadline under A.R.S. Section 12-542. It sounds like plenty of time, but it goes fast. Medical treatment needs to stabilize before anyone can calculate the full value of the claim. Settlement talks and litigation preparation eat months. If your parent fell recently, talk to a lawyer now so no deadlines get missed.
First, get medical attention immediately — even if your parent says they feel okay. Falls can cause internal injuries that don't show symptoms right away. Second, report the fall to the store manager and ask for a copy of the incident report. Third, take photos of the hazard that caused the fall, your parent's injuries, and the surrounding area. Fourth, get contact information from any witnesses. And fifth, call a lawyer before talking to the business's insurance company. Adjusters will try to get a recorded statement that minimizes the claim.
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