Tripped in hole at work

The first thing you should do is walk into the office of a good personal injury attorney, because you don't want to be in a situation where the landlord's insurance carrier denies coverage based on late notice of the incident. Whether or not the property owner is responsible for your fall may depend on how long the hole was there and how it got there. Once you retain an attorney, he or she will investigate and find out who insures the property owner, and the attorney will deal with the insurance company. That's the beauty of signing up with an attorney after you get injured: the attorney does most of the work. Don't waste any more time.

I would suggest that you contact an attorney who does worker's compensation work. Your injury was caused by the positional risk related to your work (i.e., the only reason you were in the parking lot was because of work). Because it is not a clear-cut "arising out of work" case, it is not surprising that L & I denied your claim. In order to contest L & I's initial decision, however, you must file an appeal. This must be done quickly (refer to the denial letter for the deadline).

It will also be important to know who owns the parking lot. Does your employer rent/lease the office or its parking facilities? Is the parking lot owned by another entity? Although the law may differ in Washington, in Florida you will need to know the anwer to these questions before determining if you must bring a workers compensation claim or whether a simple negligence claim can be brought against someone other than your employer.