A slip and fall accident can happen anywhere — a grocery store, a restaurant, a neighbor’s property, a parking lot, or a public sidewalk. In New Jersey, these accidents are more common than most people realize, and the injuries they cause can be serious: broken bones, torn ligaments, head injuries, and back damage that may require surgery and months of recovery. If you have been hurt in a slip and fall, knowing what to do — and what not to do — in the hours and days that follow can make a significant difference in your ability to recover full compensation.

Step 1 — Seek Medical Attention Immediately

Your health is the top priority. Even if your injuries seem minor, see a doctor as soon as possible. Some injuries — including soft tissue damage, concussions, herniated discs, and internal bleeding — may not be immediately apparent. Adrenaline and shock can mask pain in the moments after a fall.

Prompt medical treatment is also critical for your legal case. Every time you see a doctor, a medical record is created that documents your injuries and connects them to the accident. Insurance companies look for gaps in treatment and will argue that if you did not seek care right away, you must not have been seriously hurt. Go to the emergency room, urgent care, or your primary care doctor the same day if at all possible — and continue treatment without gaps. Every appointment, prescription, and therapy session is a piece of evidence that supports your claim.

Step 2 — Report the Accident

Report the accident to the property owner, manager, or supervisor right away. Ask them to create a written incident report and request a copy. If they refuse, write down who you spoke with, their title, and the time of your conversation.

This matters because of how New Jersey premises liability law works. Property owners have a legal duty of care to maintain safe conditions — but the level of that duty depends on why you were there. Customers and business guests are “invitees,” and owners owe them the highest duty: regularly inspecting the property and fixing or warning about dangerous conditions. Social guests at a private home are typically “licensees,” and owners must warn them of known hazards. Trespassers receive the least protection, though owners still cannot intentionally harm them. Knowing which category applies to you is something an attorney can help determine.

Step 3 — Document the Scene — and Act Fast on Surveillance Footage

Photograph the scene as thoroughly and quickly as possible. Use your phone to capture the hazardous condition — a wet floor with no warning sign, a broken step, cracked pavement, poor lighting, a loose handrail. Photograph your injuries, the surrounding area, and any signage or lack thereof.

Speed matters here for a critical reason: surveillance footage. Most stores, restaurants, parking garages, and commercial properties record continuously — and those recordings are typically deleted within 30 to 90 days. Once gone, they are gone permanently. An attorney can send a litigation hold letter demanding the property owner preserve the footage. But if you wait too long, that evidence may already have been destroyed. Contacting an attorney quickly is one of the most important steps you can take in a slip and fall case.

Step 4 — Gather Witness Information

If anyone witnessed your fall, get their name and contact information right away. Bystanders leave quickly and can be nearly impossible to track down later. Witnesses are especially valuable in New Jersey because of how insurers defend slip and fall claims.

New Jersey follows a modified comparative negligence rule. If you are found partially at fault, your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault — and if you are 50% or more at fault, you recover nothing. Property owners and their insurers use this aggressively: they will argue you were looking at your phone, wearing improper footwear, or should have seen and avoided the hazard. Independent witnesses who observed the dangerous condition and your fall can directly counter that strategy.

Step 5 — Preserve Your Evidence

Keep the shoes and clothing you were wearing at the time of the accident. Do not wash them — the condition of your footwear can be relevant evidence. Bag them and store them somewhere safe. Keep all medical records, bills, receipts, and written documentation related to your injury. A daily journal noting your symptoms, pain levels, and how your injury affects your work and daily life becomes powerful evidence of your non-economic damages.

Step 6 — Understand Constructive Notice

One of the central issues in any New Jersey slip and fall case is whether the property owner knew — or should have known — about the dangerous condition. This is called constructive notice, and it is often the key battleground in these cases.

A property owner is not automatically liable just because you fell. You generally need to show that the hazard existed long enough that a reasonable owner exercising proper care would have discovered and fixed it. If a spill happened two minutes before you fell, the owner may argue they had no opportunity to respond. But if the wet floor had been there for an hour with no action and no warning sign, that is a much stronger case. Surveillance footage showing how long the hazard existed, employee inspection logs, and witness testimony about the condition all help establish constructive notice.

Step 7 — Do Not Give a Recorded Statement

The property owner’s insurance company may contact you shortly after the accident and ask for a recorded statement. Do not provide one without first speaking to an attorney. Adjusters are trained to ask questions that minimize your claim — getting you to say you “felt fine” at the scene, that you were distracted, or that you had been to the property before. Any of those answers can be used against you. You are not legally required to give a recorded statement to the other party’s insurer, and doing so without legal advice is almost always a mistake.

Step 8 — Know Your Deadlines

In New Jersey, the statute of limitations for most slip and fall cases is two years from the date of the accident. Miss that deadline and your right to compensation is permanently gone.

There is an important exception: if your fall happened on government-owned property — a public sidewalk, a municipal building, a state park — the deadline is far shorter. Under the New Jersey Tort Claims Act, you must file a formal Notice of Claim within 90 days of the accident. This notice is not the lawsuit itself; it is a written declaration of your intent to bring a claim against the government entity. Missing this 90-day window can bar your claim entirely. If there is any chance a government entity owns or maintains the property where you fell, contact an attorney immediately.

Step 9 — Contact a Personal Injury Attorney

Property owners and their insurers fight hard to avoid paying compensation. An experienced slip and fall attorney can investigate the accident, send preservation letters for surveillance footage, gather inspection records, work with medical experts, and build the strongest possible case for what you deserve.

How Blaise Injury Law Can Help

At Blaise Injury Law, we represent slip and fall victims across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. Attorney Blaise Richards spent over five years working for a major insurance company and understands exactly how property owners and their insurers evaluate these claims and build their defenses. That inside knowledge gives our clients a real advantage.

We move quickly to preserve evidence — including surveillance footage — and handle every step of the process so you can focus on recovering. Free case evaluations, no obligation, and you pay nothing unless we win.

If you have been injured in a slip and fall in New Jersey, do not wait. Contact Blaise Injury Law today.

Call (856) 340-5685 or visit our contact page to get started today.