Trip-And-Fall Injuries Due To Falling Into An Open Hole In The Floor

Under California law any business who has an opening in the floor (like a whole) must cover it or provide a guardrail on all open sides. Toeboards shall be installed around the edges at openings where persons may pass below the opening. While the cover is not in place, the openings shall be constantly attended by someone or shall be protected by guardrails. Title 8, Code of California Regulations section 3212(a)(1).

The above law was successfully applied in one recent case in San Joaquin County, where the Plaintiff was awarded $867,000 for injuries and damages as a result of falling into a hole in the floor. (Payton v Installation Services Technologies, Inc.)  In that case, the victim was a bread delivery vendor of a restaurant who came for regular delivery and fell into a hole in the floor, created by an wiring installer previously.  The hole was unmarked and unguarded in violation of the above law.

​The power of the above section is the fact that violating it makes the Defendant automatically at fault and liable. This makes proving this type of slip-and-fall or trip-and-fall case easier than a typical slip and fall case, where the Plaintiff faces the common challenge of proving notice of the condition (i.e. that the condition that caused the fall was created by the Defendant or that they were aware of it long enough and failed to take reasonable steps to remedy it). A typical example of this more difficult slip and fall case would be falling on a wet floor or a banana peel at a grocery store.
​For more useful information on this please visit our page on how to prove a slip-and-fall injury case.

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