If you slipped, tripped, or fell on someone else’s property in Kingsport and got hurt, you may have a legal claim. It doesn’t matter whether the fall happened in a grocery store, a restaurant parking lot, a friend’s front porch, or a government building. What matters is whether the property owner or occupier knew about the hazard, or should have known, and failed to fix it.
Our Kingsport, TN slip and fall lawyer at The Law Offices of Mark T. Hurt handles slip and fall claims throughout the Kingsport area. With more than 30 years of experience in accident and injury cases, we know how to prove property owner negligence and fight for the compensation you deserve.
Mark T. Hurt founded this firm to represent seriously injured people. He earned his B.S. from the University of Virginia and his J.D. from Duke University School of Law. Over three decades, he has handled premises liability and slip and fall cases across Tennessee and Virginia. He knows how property owners and their insurance carriers try to deflect blame by claiming the hazard was obvious, that the injured person wasn’t paying attention, that the condition had just occurred moments before the fall.
Attorney Payton R. Johnson handles personal injury claims at the firm, including fall injury cases throughout East Tennessee. Payton graduated from Appalachian School of Law with his J.D. and holds a B.S. in Economics from Campbell University. He brings an analytical approach to premises liability claims by documenting the hazard, identifying prior complaints, and quantifying the financial impact of the injury.
Attorney P. Heith Reynolds, who earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia, also handles injury cases at the firm and has particular experience with workers’ compensation claims involving workplace falls.
The Law Offices of Mark T. Hurt has helped clients recover millions of dollars. Our firm has secured significant results in cases involving severe fractures, brain injuries, and crush injuries. We bring the same commitment to slip and fall cases in Kingsport thorough investigation, careful documentation, and aggressive negotiation.
Our personal injury lawyer in Kingsport, TN handles slip and fall claims on a contingency basis. There are no upfront fees, no hourly charges, and no cost to you unless we recover compensation.
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“Thank you Mark Hurt and the social security team for disability. Helpful from beginning with SSA case even with first call, worked with Ms. Bixby who kept my wife’s case going, kept up with us about medical updates and informing SSA. Always answered our calls and emails. Many blessings! The Martins.” — Dwayne Martin
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Slip and fall accidents happen in all kinds of locations and under all kinds of conditions. The common thread is a property owner or occupier who allowed a dangerous condition to exist when they had a duty to fix it. Our Kingsport slip and fall attorneys handle claims including:
Tennessee law requires property owners and occupiers to maintain their premises in a reasonably safe condition. When an owner knows about a hazardous condition, or should have known through reasonable inspection, and fails to repair it or warn visitors, the owner may be held liable for injuries caused by that condition.
Under Tenn. Code § 28-3-104, you have one year from the date of the fall to file a personal injury lawsuit. Tennessee’s one-year statute of limitations is among the shortest in the country, and it applies strictly. Once that year passes, the court will dismiss your case. This makes it critical to contact a Kingsport slip and fall attorney quickly, not only to preserve your legal rights, but also to document the hazardous condition before the property owner repairs or removes it.
Tennessee follows modified comparative fault under Tenn. Code § 29-11-103. If you are found less than 50% responsible for the fall, for example, if the defense argues you were wearing inappropriate footwear or looking at your phone, you can still recover damages. But your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault. If a jury says you were 30% at fault and your damages total $200,000, you receive $140,000.
Claims against government entities in Tennessee such as falls on city-owned sidewalks or in government buildings are subject to the Tennessee Claims Commission Act. These claims have specific procedures and shortened filing windows that differ from private property claims. An experienced slip and fall lawyer in Kingsport, TN will know which rules apply to your situation.
The Tennessee Code does not impose a specific duty to remove ice and snow within a set timeframe, but Tennessee courts have held that commercial property owners must take reasonable steps to address known winter weather hazards.
Fall injuries vary widely in severity, but even a “moderate” fall can produce weeks of lost work, thousands in medical bills, and persistent pain. The law accounts for this.
Economic damages include all financial losses stemming from the fall. Medical expenses including emergency care, imaging, surgery, physical therapy, prescription medications, and any future treatment your doctors recommend are the starting point. Lost wages from missed work and reduced earning capacity if the injury limits your future employment also qualify. Additional costs like assistive devices, in-home help, and transportation for medical visits are recoverable. According to the CDC’s fall injury data, falls are a leading cause of injury-related hospitalizations nationwide, and the average cost of a fall-related hospitalization runs into the tens of thousands.
Non-economic damages cover pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of mobility, scarring, and the diminished quality of life that follows a serious fall. A hip fracture that limits your ability to walk, a wrist injury that prevents you from doing your job, chronic back pain from a spinal compression fracture are consequences that affect every aspect of daily life. Tennessee law allows full recovery for these non-economic losses.
Punitive damages are available in rare cases involving particularly reckless behavior by the property owner such as knowingly ignoring a life-threatening hazard despite repeated complaints. Tennessee caps punitive damages at the greater of $500,000 or twice the compensatory award under Tenn. Code § 29-39-104.
We offer free consultations and work on contingency meaning we collect no fees unless we recover compensation for you. Contact us to discuss your Kingsport slip and fall case with an attorney who understands premises liability law and will fight for the compensation your injuries deserve.
“We hired Mr. Hurt to help settle a worker’s comp injury case for my husband. Mark, Bart, and Mary worked tirelessly to resolve his case and reach a settlement we were pleased with. They were always available to answer questions and returned calls in a timely manner.“
