Daniel Radcliffe, the English actor who rose to fame in the role of Harry Potter, once joked, “I’m not clumsy, I’m just accident prone!” But if you experience a slip and fall at work, from clumsiness or any other reason, then it is no joking matter for anyone.
According to the National Floor Safety Institute, over 1 million hospital emergency room visits are due to slips and falls. And when it comes to falls without slips being involved, that number rises to over 8 million trips to hospital emergency rooms.
When to Seek Legal Advice for Your Slip or Fall
Slip and fall lawsuits have increased dramatically over the past decade. If you are a victim of a slip and fall type of accident, then there is no reason for you to suffer because of someone else’s negligence. But how do you know you even have a case? Finding the right legal person can help.
When you choose the wrong legal counsel, it could be worse than not having any kind of legal ally at all. But first you will need to know whether or not you even have a case. Here are some points for you to consider as you making that decision.
- Lost Wages –
- Rresponsibility –
- Injuries –
Did your slip and fall accident cause you to miss work? Do you have mounting medical bills caused by someone else’s failure to provide a safe environment that could have prevented your accident in the first place? If so, then you might need a lawyer!
Who was responsible for your slip and fall? The people who manage retail stores, other commercial properties, and even your apartment building have a responsibility to provide people with a safe environment. When they fail to do this, it is other people who get hurt by it.
A slip and fall that results in bruised pride will likely never need a lawyer. But if your slip and fall results in torn ligaments, a head injury, broken bones, or anything else that prevents you from your daily activities such as work, perhaps it is time to seek legal advice.
What to Do After the Accident
If you have the unfortunate fate of suffering a slip or fall accident, the first thing to do is determine the cause. Was it a defective sidewalk or ice on the pavement? If indoors, was there some substance on the floor that caused you to slip and fall? Were signs posted to warn pedestrians of unsafe conditions?
Next you will want the names and contact information of anyone who saw the accident. This is extremely important if you need to seek legal advice because without witnesses, the entire situation turns into something that is little more than your word against the property owner’s word.
It is also important to notify the property owner or manager about the accident immediately and insist that a written accident report be filled out. This type of documentation will help insurance and legal representatives take your claim more seriously than if you only had your word as your evidence.
If possible snap a few pictures of the area on your cellphone. If a substance on the floor caused a slip and fall, try of get a sample of it so that your legal counsel can have an expert test it. This will all help prove that you were not responsible for your own accident.
Finally you will want to get medical treatment as soon as possible. Get to the emergency room or your family doctor at once because you could have internal injuries that are not yet evident due to your state of shock. Some people do not feel the pain from their accident until the next day.
Finding an Experienced Attorney
Once you determine that you have a case, then it is necessary to seek out legal counsel. You will want to consult with a personal injury attorney who has experience in these types of liability cases. Make sure this consultation takes place as soon as possible after you make that decision.
You will want to meet with an attorney as soon as possible because depending on where the accident took place, you may face a statute of limitations. The last thing you want to do is wait too long to receive the damages that you are entitled to due to someone else’s negligence.
Freelance writer Becky Muth is married to a firefighter/EMT who sees the hazards of slips and falls on a regular basis. Whenever she is faced with writing about this or any other legal matter, she visits sites like personal injury attorney www.travisblacklaw.com for the most up-to-date information. In her free time Becky enjoys knitting, reading bestselling novels, and walking with her new puppy, Gracie.