# Slip and Fall Lawyer - Springfield & Westfield, MA | Dunn & Phillips, P.C. > Springfield slip-and-fall lawyers for injuries on icy walkways, stairs, and store floors across Western Massachusetts. Snow-and-ice claims can require 30-day notice. Free consultation; pay nothing unless we win. 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Some of these claims carry a 30-day notice deadline, so call early. [New injury? Call or text (413) 426-8657](tel:+14134268657) [Request a free consultation](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/contact/?practiceArea=Personal%20Injury) Not sure you have a case? [Try the quick size up](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/consult/). A few quick taps. Have the firm call you Free. A real person calls you back. Phone That phone number looks too short. Please check it so we can call you back. What happened? (one line is fine) Have the firm call me Short version is fine. Save the details for the call. Sending this does not make us your lawyers yet. Something went wrong. Please call or text the 24-hour injury line at [(413) 426-8657](tel:+14134268657) instead. Thanks. We have it. A real person will call you back. If this is urgent, call or text [(413) 426-8657](tel:+14134268657). Western Massachusetts winters put ice on every walkway from Springfield to Westfield for a third of the year, and the rest of the calendar has its own hazards: a stair that finally gave way, a parking lot that was never lit, a spill a store knew about and left. When a property owner's neglect puts you in the emergency room, Massachusetts law puts the cost where it belongs - if the claim is built properly and on time. We handle premises injury cases across the region from our offices in [Springfield](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/locations/springfield/) and [Westfield](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/locations/westfield/). A new injury intake reaches a real person 24 hours a day at [(413) 426-8657](tel:+14134268657), and the first conversation is free. ## The 30-day trap in snow and ice cases One deadline ends more Massachusetts fall cases than any other: if snow or ice caused your injury, the property owner must receive **written notice within 30 days**. The three-year lawsuit deadline still applies on top of it - but without that early notice, the lawsuit may never get the chance to exist. Thirty days pass quickly when you are having surgery and dealing with insurance. It is the single best reason to make the free call in the first week, not the sixth. ## What a property owner actually owes you Since 2010, Massachusetts has applied one standard to snow and ice: a property owner must use **reasonable care** to keep the premises safe, the same as for any other hazard. The old rule that let owners walk away from "natural" accumulations is gone. A landlord who never treats a glare-ice walkway, a plaza that plows its lot into a melting-and-refreezing pile across the pedestrian route - these are claims, not acts of God. Indoors, the question is what the owner knew or should have known: how long the spill sat there, whether inspections actually happened, whether the hazard was one the business's own way of operating creates again and again. Store cases rise and fall on records - sweep logs, incident reports, camera footage - which is why we send a preservation letter immediately and get to the evidence before the retention cycle does. ## Falls on public property play by different rules A defect in a public way - a sidewalk heave, a pothole - triggers its own short notice deadline to the municipality, and Massachusetts caps recoveries for road-defect claims against cities and towns at amounts that will not cover a serious injury. That is not always the end of it: sometimes the responsible party is an abutting business, a utility, or a contractor whose work created the hazard, and the ordinary rules apply to them. Which door your claim goes through is a legal question worth getting right in week one. ## What these injuries are worth Falls are the punchline of insurance-industry jokes because the injuries are serious: hip and wrist fractures, shoulder tears, head injuries from backwards falls on ice. A fair claim covers the treatment you have had and will need, lost wages and earning capacity, and the pain and limitation the injury leaves behind. Adjusters lean on the "everyone falls sometimes" instinct to discount all of it. We prepare the case as if a Hampden County jury will hear it, and negotiate from there. ## What to do now Get the medical care you need and keep going until you are done treating. Photograph the spot as soon as you or someone you trust can. Keep the shoes you wore, unwashed and unrepaired. Report the fall - to the store, the landlord, the town - in writing where possible. And if ice or snow was involved, do not let the 30-day clock run out while you wait to feel better. The consultation costs nothing, and if you do not need a lawyer, we will say so. Free worksheet - PDF ## Get the Massachusetts After-an-Accident Worksheet Every step after a crash, fall, or other injury, from the scene to resolving your claim, in one PDF worksheet. From a Western Massachusetts firm that handles the insurers so you can focus on healing. [Download the worksheet (PDF)](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/downloads/dunn-phillips-personal-injury-after-accident-worksheet.pdf) Saves to your device as a fillable PDF you can complete or print. It is free: no email required. Using this does not make us your attorneys. It is general information, not legal advice. Common questions ## Slip and Fall FAQs I fell on ice. How long do I have to act? Far less time than most people think. Massachusetts requires written notice to the property owner within 30 days for injuries caused by snow and ice, even though the lawsuit deadline itself is three years. Miss the 30-day notice and a strong claim can die in its first month. If your fall involved ice or snow, call now rather than later. The store says there's no incident report and no video. What now? Move fast. Surveillance systems overwrite footage on short cycles - sometimes days - and a preservation letter from a law firm obligates the store to keep what still exists. Independent evidence helps too: your photos, your clothes and shoes as they were, medical records from the same day, and the names of anyone who saw the area before or after you fell. The owner says I should have watched where I was going. Do I still have a case? Possibly, yes. Massachusetts applies comparative negligence: you can recover as long as you were not more than 50 percent at fault, with damages reduced by your share. Owners raise this argument in nearly every fall case; whether it holds depends on how visible the hazard was and how long it had been there - facts that favor whoever investigates first. What if I fell on a public sidewalk or town property? Claims involving public ways and government property run under special rules: shorter notice deadlines and, for road and sidewalk defects, sharply limited recoveries against a city or town. Sometimes the better claim is against an abutting business or contractor rather than the municipality. This is exactly the kind of sorting a free first conversation is for. What does a slip-and-fall lawyer cost? Nothing up front and nothing out of pocket. We work on a contingent fee set in a written agreement, front the case costs, and you owe no fee and no costs unless we recover for you. New Personal Injury Direct A new injury intake reaches a real person 24 hours a day. Call or text, or start with the intake form and we will get back to you. [Call or text (413) 426-8657](tel:+14134268657) [Start the injury intake form](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/#start-your-case) [Try the quick size up](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/consult/) Where we are Springfield, Main Office 185 Belmont Avenue, Springfield, MA 01108 [(413) 787-9955](tel:+14137879955) [Get directions](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=185%20Belmont%20Avenue%2C%20Springfield%2C%20MA%2001108) Westfield, Personal Injury Law Center 56 Washington Street, Westfield, MA 01085 [(413) 562-8300](tel:+14135628300) [Get directions](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=56%20Washington%20Street%2C%20Westfield%2C%20MA%2001085) Other injury case types we handle - [Car Accidents](/practice/personal-injury/car-accidents/) - [Truck Accidents](/practice/personal-injury/truck-accidents/) - [Motorcycle Accidents](/practice/personal-injury/motorcycle-accidents/) - [Dog Bites](/practice/personal-injury/dog-bites/) - [Workers' Compensation](/practice/personal-injury/workers-compensation/) - [Medical Malpractice](/practice/personal-injury/medical-malpractice/) - [Wrongful Death](/practice/personal-injury/wrongful-death/) **“Pay nothing unless we win” applies to personal injury matters only.** If we win, our fee is a percentage of the amount recovered and is paid out of that settlement or verdict, along with case costs; if there is no recovery, you owe no fee or costs. The percentage and terms are set out in a signed written fee agreement. This promise does not apply to our other practice areas, whose fees are charged as described in your fee agreement. This page is general information only, not legal advice for any specific situation, and reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship. Every matter depends on its own facts; for advice on your particular circumstances, talk to a licensed attorney. Published by Dunn & Phillips, P.C., 185 Belmont Avenue, Springfield, MA 01108. Responsible attorney: Cornelius W. Phillips, III. 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