Were you seriously injured in an accident? Read these 4 ways to get ahead on your slip and fall case, then contact our Atlanta lawyer today.
1. How Warning Signs Impact Slip and Fall Claims
When a premises owner is aware of a dangerous condition on their property, they have the obligation to warn people who are on their property, for legitimate purposes, of that potential danger. That is the purpose of putting out a warning sign in the area where a business, such as a grocery store, has water or some kind of liquid on the floor— to alert the customers that there is a potential danger there.
Having a warning sign out makes a much more difficult case to pursue than if there has been no indication. However, there are situations in which a recovery can still be made when there was a sign out. If the sign was not obvious enough or was hidden in some way so that the person couldn’t see it before they reached the dangerous condition, that can negate the fact that the sign was out in the first place. It also could be an issue if the sign is out, but it’s not clear what type of danger it addresses.
The most important thing to do if you’ve encountered this type of situation is to quickly hire an attorney who is experienced with these types of matters so that we can investigate these types of claims and preserve all evidence. In these types of claims with businesses, there’s often video footage of the incident. It’s important to make sure you have that footage preserved to show exactly what happened.
2. Recorded Statement
While you should speak with the manager on duty to make an incident report immediately after your fall, don’t ever speak to the insurance company on your own without an attorney.
While you may think you are helping your claim, what you are doing is the exact opposite. Insurance companies use trained claims examiners to ask questions in a way that will lead to misleading answers and make it much more difficult for you to prove your claim going forward. There’s nothing to be gained from this process. You have no obligation to give such a statement.
3. Medical Bills
While there are some cases that have very significant injuries and minor medical expenses, those are the exception and not the rule. When looking at a slip and fall claim, you need to have an injury that’s pretty substantial to warrant pursuing one of those cases.
The reason for that is because these types of cases are so fact and expert-intensive. They’re expensive to work up. No one wants to spend their time going through a case where the value of the injury is $15,000, but you have to spend $20,000 on the case to make that recovery. In order to pursue one of these cases, you generally need to have a situation where someone has a significant injury such as a broken bone, or an injury requiring surgery, in order to justify the claim.
4. Settlement Timeline
They can vary greatly depending on the severity of the injuries and how strong the evidence is. Slip and fall cases are very evidence-intensive because you have to prove the liability of the premises owner where the slip and fall occurred. That often involves receiving video evidence that the store may have, internal reports, questioning workers that were there, and trying to figure out if these types of injuries had happened previously. In a slip and fall, it’s very rare for the case to resolve prior to filing a lawsuit. With car wreck cases, you’re often able to resolve them quickly because the liability of the at-fault driver is clear. That’s usually not the case in a premises liability claim.
You can usually expect from the time the lawsuit is filed that it will take 18 months to three years before you can expect to get a resolution in a slip and fall case. Generally, we’re not able to file those lawsuits until the injured party has finished treating for his or her injuries because we need to know the full extent of the damages suffered.
Were you or a loved one seriously injured in an accident in Georgia and have questions about these 4 ways to get ahead on your slip and fall case?
Contact the experienced Atlanta slip and fall lawyer at Gunnels Injury Law today to arrange a free consultation and case evaluation.
Let our experience work for you.
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