Slip and fall (滑倒, 滑って落ちる, 미끄러져 넘어지다)

"Slip and fall" is another term of art that only English and specifically America has usage for, it doesn't really make sense in Asian languages because they don't have that giant segment of the law, so the translatino would just be "slipped down" without anyone in Asia knowing that we're talking about an area of the law. In America you say "slip and fall" and I think most people would know you're talking about accidents that might require lawsuits; it's a litigious society and lawyers rely on it being that way. Today at Costco of all places I was witness to a typical Slip and fall accident, when someone loses their footing due to dangerous conditions on the floor resulting in injury. This type of accident is so common in the world and contributes to so much of the workload for personal injury attorneys that there's a special segment of the law for it, called "slip and falls." I remember my first semester of law school torts class dedicated a large part of the curriculum to negligence, the theory of the law that covers slip and falls and who is at fault, what kind of causation can be drawn (direct cause and proximate cause), the reasonable man standard, eggshell plaintiffs, and strict liability statutes. I caught myself thinking too much like a lawyer and didn't like that I could only think about law school while someone got injured, but there was nothing else I could do; it was a big store with lots of people, and the Costco staff attended to the situation. Law school also teaches future lawyers, unfortunately, not to help if you're not sure you can provide adequate support because you would then take on a "duty" as a care provider and that opens you up to liability if someone else goes wrong. A bystander who does nothing, conversely, assumes no duty, just a moral kick in the butt for not doing anything. I wasn't paying close attention to the fall, but the Costco patron apparently got bumped by another customer (happens often on weekends at Costco just due to the sheer mass of people who crowd into their warehoues looking for deals and free samples), slipped on something (she didn't look like she was wearing the most comfortable shoes), and the fell down on her back, possibly the back of her head on the pavement. She stayed down for the entire time after that and didn't get until an ambulance called. She also didn't speak much English; her husband spoke Chinese to her when she was struggling on the ground. Just a surreal situation; could have happened to my parents, they definitely go to Costco too. A more enterprising personal injury attorney might have introduced myself to the husband and todl them about what remedy they might seek from a huge corporation like Costco, but I find that sort of business unsavory, and I hope never to have to stoop to that level; I try to make as much money as I can now at my job to make sure I don't have to do work I'm not good at (there are so many jobs I wouldn't be good at, like mechanic, computer engineering, doctor) but also also jobs that I might be good at but involve being shameless and openly making people spend money they really didn't have to, like what salespeople do or personal injury attorneys do (sue everyone!) Having people spend money on things they don't need is what keeps the American economy booming like it has, but doesn't mean I have to conribute to it unless I have to, I arguably eceive paychecks from law firms that do that by proximity already, so I don't want to double-dip on the money-grabbing. I do wonder sometimes, though, about personal injury cases and they day-to-day grind of dealing with multiple cases at a time, explaining to clients why their case won't be as lucrative as they thought, hearing about people's injuries and misfortunes. There are a LOT of lawsuits out there people don't care about, don't know about, it's the underbelly of society that doesn't show up in the news or on true crime podcasts or Netflix special like the Amber Heard v. Johnny Depp case (high profile cases like the P-Diddy case are what people tune in for, but there are millions of regular cases for that one special case). I used to go to the Los Angeles Superior Court civil division and there are whole halls of courtrooms filled with people suing for civil cases, then more floors upstairs with criminal cases, etc. I know it's useless turning a blind eye to these and digging my head in the sand like an ostrich, but I feel a profound level of sadness at all the time and energy going into some of these disputes when the world is just passing by. I guess me being a risk averse peron who's never been in a physical confrontation nor a legal confrontation, nor even really a verbal confrontation (although I have gotten angry at some folks on the sidewalk, and MJ has shown some darkness against bad actors) I just let it go and move on with my life, never even getting anywhere close to being involved in a lawsuit. I just wish there was a better way to resolve disputes rather than go through a long drawn out process full of legal fees, paperwork, talking to lawyers, negotiating, getting health checks (in the case of personal injury, getting a doctor to check you injuries is the first thing to happen), going to court, I personally would just try to avoid all of that if I possibly could, even if it meant gettig less money or paying a little more money. For the couple today at Costco, they might be able to pursue some sort of legal remedy depending on the customer's injuries, but going against a big corporation that has experience handling slip and fall cases would be tough, with an army of attorneys working for them and drowning you in a storm of paperwork. I just hope she gets better and avoided a concussion, and left with just a headache.