Proving a Knee and Hand Injury From a Fall

Attorney Answer

Whether anyone owes you anything turns on why you fell, not on how badly you were hurt — and a twisted knee and an injured hand can support a real claim if someone's carelessness put the hazard there. There is no minimum severity in California law. There is a requirement that somebody was at fault, and a practical requirement that the injuries got into a medical record early.

The governing rule is Cal. Civ. Code § 1714(a): "Everyone is responsible, not only for the result of his or her willful acts, but also for an injury occasioned to another by his or her want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his or her property or person, except so far as the latter has, willfully or by want of ordinary care, brought the injury upon himself or herself." For a fall, the fight is nearly always about whether the person or business in charge of the place created the hazard, or knew or should have known about it and left it there.

The last clause of that section is where the other side will push, and it is worth knowing how far it gets them. California applies pure comparative fault: a claimant's recovery is reduced only to the extent their own lack of reasonable care contributed to the injury, as the Supreme Court reaffirmed in Daly v. General Motors Corp., 20 Cal. 3d 725 (1978). Being partly responsible reduces the recovery in proportion; it does not end the claim.

Where you fell also changes the route entirely. If it happened at work, Cal. Lab. Code § 3602(a) makes workers' compensation the exclusive remedy against your employer when the conditions of compensation are met, so the claim goes through that system rather than a lawsuit — although a careless third party who is not your employer sits outside that exclusivity and can still be pursued. If you fell on public property, a claim against the public entity generally has to be presented within six months under Cal. Gov't Code § 911.2(a).

On value, Cal. Civ. Code § 3333 measures damages as the amount that will compensate for all the detriment proximately caused, whether or not it could have been anticipated. Knee and hand injuries are proved through the record, and the weakness in most of these claims is a gap: the knee is treated, the hand is mentioned to nobody, and months later the hand is called unrelated.

What you can do

1. Get examined, and make sure the knee and the hand are both recorded at the same visit, with the fall described as the cause.

2. Follow through on the treatment you are given, and go back if it is not helping rather than simply stopping.

3. Go back and photograph the place and the condition that caused the fall, with something in frame that shows scale.

4. Ask whoever runs the place, in writing, whether an incident report was made, and request a copy.

5. Keep your bills, out-of-pocket receipts and a note of the days you missed work or could not use your hand normally.

6. If the fall happened at work or on government property, ask a local attorney right away — those routes carry their own and much shorter deadlines, including the six-month presentation period in Cal. Gov't Code § 911.2(a).

Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1 gives two years for a personal-injury claim, but a public-entity claim generally must be presented within six months under Cal. Gov't Code § 911.2(a), and a work injury runs on the separate workers' compensation deadlines. Which applies depends on where you fell and who was responsible — facts this page does not have. Have a local attorney check your dates early.