Council Bluffs, IA asked in Landlord - Tenant and Personal Injury for Iowa

Q: How do I find out if I have a qualified personal injury to tenant on property resulting in broken and no income fortenat

I live on 2nd story of 6plex. To get to the parking lot there's a cement ramp to use but in obvious visual poor maintenance for years. Ive mentioned this while living here. Many of their other properties have bad concrete walkways/stairs. I work with special population individuals that have fallen as well at those properties because of deteriorating conditions with no fixed results after telling landlords. I hold onto the extremely loose railing when walking my ramp,that stops way too short of a large bottom stair. I stepped on the open side, tried to reach for railing but way too far. I landed on my right foot breaking it. I've lost 1 job and that income as a result and 2nd job may be in jeopardy and they're massively delaying helpful information that could've helped me apply for their short term disability. I have no income and been off work approx 2 wks. A lot to explain on that. But I notified landlord twice, the first time he never called back and said nothing when told in person

1 Lawyer Answer

A: A picture is worth a thousand words. I say that quite often but mostly in the area of premise liability cases where a defect has said to cause an injury and the injured person calls us asking if we will take their case. We need to see the condition that you believe is the defect. And then we need to understand how and if the events could have happened as you say they did. When you take photographs those images should be as close in time to the actual injury event as possible. The images should include rulers or tape measures to show width, depth, rises, etc. In other words, a picture is worth a thousand words. Got it?

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