Have you ever had that unfortunate fall while walking to your car, up a flight of steps, or on an icy parking lot? It happens all the time to various people around the world, and sometimes it creates some sort of personal injury. This results in medical bills, medicines, and just more money out of your pocket then you wanted when the day had begun.

Here are a few factors courts consider when assessing such a claim. The law is a fairly complex entity that varies from state to state, so while this article discusses generalities, please consult with a lawyer about the specifics of your case.

One of the primary considerations to determine who is responsible is the duty. For instance, is Wal-Mart expected to be responsible if you fall in their parking lot? It's a complex question, but one with many considerations.

Take, for instance, someone slipping on a patch of ice in an apartment complex. If the fall happened in a parking lot, it might be argued that the apartment complex did not have a reasonable duty to keep its parking lot clear of ice, particularly in cold climates.

If the fall happened instead on a flight of stairs, however, the apartment's duty to keep those stairs clear is much greater. Falls on sidewalks are treated similarly, though the responsibility is usually the city's. The major difference between the first situation and the latter two is that a parking lot is a large area which cannot be expected to be free of ice, while the latter are smaller areas on which pedestrians have the reasonable expectation of walking safely.

Some questions of duty are more clear-cut. For falls involving spills, poor lighting, etc. it is usually obvious that the cause is negligence on the part of a property owner or an employee of same. In order to be legally liable for your slip, at least one of these conditions should be true.

* The condition responsible for the fall must have been caused by an establishment's owner or one of its employees.

* The owner or employees knew about the cause but did nothing to fix it.

* In some circumstances, it can be argued that the owner or employees *should* have known about the cause had they taken reasonable care of the property. This is usually determined via common sense, and by determining if the owner has made reasonable prior maintenance efforts.

As you can see, determining liability is a tricky business. Here are a few practical questions to help ascertain if you have a valid claim.

* Could the problem been addressed long before the accident occurred?

* If the cause was an object, was there a good reason for the object to be located there? Could it have been realistically located elsewhere and not cause injury?

* Could a warning sign or barrier kept you from getting hurt?

It is also possible that your own negligence may have contributed more than did the property owner's. Here are a few questions to help determine this.

* Were you distracted at the time of your fall?

* Could you have honestly avoided the issue if you were paying closer attention?

* Did you have a good reason for being at the location of the fall?