Maison Law can guide you through the claims process when you’re injured on a sidewalk in Glendale. There’s no way to prepare for an injury on a sidewalk. One minute, you’re walking along the same way you always do, and the next, you’re on the ground in pain. Our Glendale premises liability lawyers will be there to support you as you get better. Set up a free consultation today.
Do I Actually Need a Lawyer for a Sidewalk Injury?
This might be the most honest answer you’ll get: not every sidewalk injury needs a lawyer. Some falls result in minor soreness that fades. Others heal after a quick visit to urgent care. But sidewalk injuries in Glendale often become complicated once you ask one simple question:
- Who was responsible for the sidewalk where I fell?
At that point, fingers start getting pointed and answers become much more difficult. That’s when our team can be beneficial. We’ll:
- Look into what happened.
- Help you gather the right evidence.
- Explain your options and what the path forward looks like.
- Handle all the talks with insurance companies and government agencies.
A free consultation doesn’t lock you into anything. It simply helps you understand whether this is something you can handle on your own—or whether waiting could cost you options later. Even before you reach that point, though, you’ll need to gather information on your own.
What Should I Try to Document After a Sidewalk Accident?
After an accident on a sidewalk, most people are focused on getting up, getting home, or getting medical care—not gathering evidence. That’s completely normal. But sidewalk conditions in Glendale often change quickly after you get hurt. Cracks get filled. Edges get ground down. Temporary repairs appear. Once that happens, it becomes harder to show what happened. But it’s not impossible. Here’s what you should try to document:
- Photos or videos showing uneven concrete, cracks, lifted slabs, or poor repairs
- Wider shots showing the surrounding area, nearby businesses, street signs, or intersections
- Notes or photos showing lighting conditions, especially at night or early morning
- Shoes, clothing, glasses, or other personal items damaged in the fall
- Names and contact details of anyone who saw the incident or noticed the hazard before
- Any reports made by police, city workers, or property management
- Your own notes describing how the fall happened and what you felt afterward
You don’t need perfect documentation. Even a few photos or quick notes can help preserve what the sidewalk looked like before it was altered.
Who’s Responsible for Unsafe Sidewalks in Glendale?
This is probably the biggest hurdle for you. But at least legally, a sidewalk accident falls under premises liability law. That means it comes down to one core question:
- Did the person or agency responsible for the sidewalk know—or should they reasonably have known—that it was unsafe and fail to fix it in time?
With that, you have a lot of potentially responsible people, including:
- City, county, or state agencies for public sidewalks
- Business owners near storefronts or shopping areas
- Property management companies or HOAs
- Private homeowners
Again, all this sounds straightforward, but everything depends on where the accident happened. What’s more, it’s often the case that more than one of these people are going to be involved. That makes the claims process more difficult—but also can make it more fruitful.
What Type of Claim Applies After a Sidewalk Injury?
Facing a sidewalk injury claim isn’t just about your evidence and who’s responsible—although these things are extremely important. It’s also about going through the actual process, and the way that plays out is going to depend on whether the sidewalk is public or private:
- Public sidewalks. If your injury happened on a public sidewalk, California law usually requires following a government claim process under the California Tort Claims Act (CTCA). This process has strict rules:
- A formal Notice of Claim generally must be filed within six months of the injury
- The government entity typically has 45 days to respond
- In many cases, damages must exceed $10,000 to move forward
Only after this process can a lawsuit be considered. Missing a step or deadline can stop a claim entirely, which is why timing matters so much with public sidewalk injuries.
- Private sidewalks. If the sidewalk is privately owned, the process is more familiar:
- You generally have two years from the date of the injury
- Claims often start with an insurance claim
- A personal injury lawsuit may follow if needed
Regardless of which option applies to your situation, the focus is the same: how the injury has affected your life. This is your “damages” and here’s what you can get in a claim:
- Medical treatment and future care
- Income lost from time away from work
- Repair or replacement of damaged personal property
- Physical pain and lasting limitations
- Emotional stress and disruption to daily routines
Where the accident happened often explains more than people realize—not just how the injury happened, but why the sidewalk was in that condition in the first place.
What Are Some of the Different Sidewalk Accidents in Glendale?
Sidewalk injuries in Glendale usually aren’t random. They tend to happen in familiar places—areas people walk every day—where foot traffic is high and maintenance doesn’t always keep up with wear and tear. This obviously leads to accidents in the same types of areas over and over again, like:
- Older neighborhoods, where the concrete has slowly shifted or lifted over the years.
- Busy commercial areas near restaurants and shops where foot traffic is constant and repairs don’t always keep up.
- Shared walkways see a lot of daily use, and when small issues aren’t fixed quickly, they quietly turn into tripping hazards.
- Parking lot entrances and driveway crossings, where sidewalks slope, crack, or dip in ways you don’t notice until your foot catches.
- Construction zones that have temporary patches, metal plates, or uneven transitions are easy to miss when you’re just trying to get from point A to point B.
And when injuries happen, it’s rarely just a clean “trip and fall.” In Glendale, people get hurt in all kinds of ways—catching a toe on a raised slab, losing balance on a sloppy repair, slipping on dirt or gravel that’s been tracked onto the sidewalk, or stumbling at awkward driveway slopes. Some people end up stepping into the street to get around an obstruction and get hurt that way. Others never even see the problem because poor lighting hid it. Scooters and skateboards hit broken pavement too, often sending riders down hard.And when that happens, the consequences almost always land on the person who has the least control over the situation—you.
Maison Law Can Help You With a Sidewalk Injury Claim in Glendale
No matter what the circumstances are surrounding your sidewalk injury in Glendale, you don’t have to go through the claims process by yourself. Our team at Maison Law will be there to help you understand your options, get the right evidence, file the right kind of claim, and get better. Set up a free consultation today to get started.
