What to write down today if you just fell

If you fell today — or in the last few days — the most valuable thing you can do this evening costs nothing: sit down for twenty minutes and write out everything you remember. Not for a lawyer, not in legal language. Just plainly, in your own words, while it's fresh.

Here's why it matters: memory fades fast, and fall cases are won and lost on details. Six months from now, an insurance adjuster may ask exactly where your left foot was, or whether the wet-floor sign was up before or after you fell. The person who wrote it down on day one has an answer. The person who didn't has a guess.

The basics: when and where

Start with the anchor facts:

• Date and time, as precisely as you can. A store receipt, a parking ticket, or a text you sent around that time can pin it down to the minute.
• The exact spot. Not "at the grocery store" — "aisle 7, near the olive oil, about ten feet from the endcap." If it was outdoors, note the address, cross streets, or drop a GPS pin.
• The store name and location, including which entrance you used.

What caused the fall

Describe the hazard like you're explaining it to someone who wasn't there:

• What was it? Liquid, produce, a folded mat, a broken tile, an unmarked step?
• How big was it, what color, could you see it from a distance?
• Was there any sign or cone nearby — and did it appear before or after you fell?
• What were the conditions? Lighting, crowding, anything blocking the view of the floor.

If you took photos, note when you took them. If you didn't, describe the scene anyway — a detailed written description from day one still has real value.

People: witnesses and employees

Write down every person connected to those few minutes:

• Witnesses' names and phone numbers, if you got them.
• Employees involved: first names, job titles, physical descriptions if that's all you have. "Manager, tall, glasses, name tag said Brenda" is genuinely useful.
• Who helped you up, who cleaned up the hazard, who filled out the incident report.

What was said

Conversations evaporate fastest of all. Capture them now, as close to word-for-word as you can:

• What did employees say? Comments like "we've been meaning to fix that" or "someone spilled that a while ago" matter enormously — and are forgotten by everyone else within days.
• What did you say? If you told the manager exactly how it happened, note that.
• Was an incident report created? Who filled it out, and did they refuse to give you a copy? Write down the refusal, with the date.

Your body: start a symptom log

Injuries from falls often reveal themselves gradually. Starting today, keep a short daily note:

• Where it hurts, on a 1–10 scale.
• What you couldn't do that day — lifting, sleeping through the night, working.
• Every medical visit: date, provider, what they said.
• Expenses as they happen: co-pays, medications, transportation, missed work hours.

Two lines a day is enough. A dated log kept in real time is far more persuasive than a summary reconstructed months later.

While you're writing, the other evidence is on its own clock

Your notes are safe once written. The store's evidence is not. Incident reports go into files you can't see, and camera footage on most systems is automatically overwritten — often within days to a few weeks, depending on the system. The way to protect those is a written request: asking for the incident report and sending a preservation of evidence letter for the footage. We don't hold those records — the store does — but requesting preservation in writing, early, is what keeps them from disappearing.

One deadline note

California generally allows 2 years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit — but if your fall involved government property, like a public sidewalk, an administrative claim may be due within just 6 months. This is general information, not legal advice; confirm the deadlines that apply to you.

Twenty minutes now, then one more step

Once your notes are written, take the step your notes can't do for you: getting the store's own records preserved. Use our free tool below to request the incident report and send a preservation letter for the camera footage today.