In premises cases, the property owner’s biggest pressure point is usually what they knew and when. Lancaster has a mix of newer construction and older structures, and stairways can vary widely in design, upkeep, and lighting.
Insurance defenses commonly look like this:
- “We didn’t know about that condition.”
- “The stairs were inspected recently.”
- “Your fall was caused by something unrelated (or by how you were walking).”
Your job as the injured person is to give your attorney the strongest possible foundation: what the stairs looked like, what the lighting was like, whether anyone reported the hazard before you fell, and what happened immediately before the fall.


