Slip and fall accidents can be insidious. One minute, you’re going about your day, and everything is fine. The next thing you know, you’ve slipped on something, and now you’re flat on your back. You might be hurt and in a lot of pain. Worse, your injuries could leave you unable to work, in chronic pain, or even permanently disabled. When this kind of situation occurs, you need the help of an Atlanta slip and fall lawyer to ensure your rights are protected and you’re able to get the compensation you deserve.
Ali Awad fights for clients in court and mediation. He also dispenses no-nonsense legal knowledge on Instagram. With over 1 million followers, he’s one of the first attorneys to bring accessible legal advice to the people.
If you or a loved one have been hurt in a slip and fall accident, the best way to understand your options is to call Ali Awad for a no-obligation consultation of your case. The CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm team works on a contingency basis, so they don’t get paid unless you do. You have nothing to lose by contacting us online or by calling (404) 777-8800 to go over your case and find out how you can secure compensation for your injuries.
How Do Slip and Fall or Trip and Fall Accidents Happen?
The short answer is that they occur very fast. Many people aren’t even sure what happened when they were injured. In most cases, the accident happens because something on the floor causes an unsuspecting person to slip or trip. If this happens, the property owner, whether an individual or a business, may be liable in the following situations:
- If the owner didn’t remove objects on the floor that led to tripping, like small toys, spilled jelly beans, nuts and bolts, or other objects that tripped you up
- When the owner didn’t repair defects on the property, like a loose tile on the floor
- When there was a failure in the design of the premises, or it wasn’t repaired as needed
- If the owner made no effort to warn you of a dangerous situation on the property
- If the owner failed to remove outdoor or weather hazards like ice, snow, or water
Common Injuries in Slip and Fall Accidents
There are many ways to get hurt when you slip and fall. You can strike almost any part of your body on a nearby object if you fall at the right angle. However, there are some common injuries we see in slip and fall or trip and fall cases:
- Broken bones, especially in the hips, arms, and legs.
- Soft tissue injuries like sprains, strains, or even tears in ligaments or tendons. These can be confusing as the pain may not appear immediately. If you start having pain a few days or even weeks after falling, you should still seek medical care at that time.
- Concussion or traumatic brain injury (TBI). Hitting your head can lead to devastating long-term issues in some situations. While many people recover after a few days or weeks, others may have chronic problems like headaches, memory or cognitive issues, sleep disturbances, mental health difficulties like depression or anxiety, and various neurological symptoms that may be difficult to diagnose at first.
- Back and spinal cord injuries. These can lead to chronic pain, and in extreme cases, spinal cord injuries may lead to permanent paralysis.
- Cuts or lacerations. It’s easy to cut yourself on shelves or other protruding objects when you take a fall. Deeper cuts may require stitches and, in some cases, may involve damages to tendons or muscles.
How Do You Prove Liability in a Slip and Fall Case?
This depends on the particulars of the accident. In many cases, your Atlanta slip and fall attorney will want to interview witnesses, go over photos from the scene, review security camera footage if there is any, and perform other investigative measures to find additional evidence. Here are some critical issues they will need to address in your case:
- How long did the dangerous condition exist before your accident? Did the owner or manager of the property have enough time to address it?
- Did the owner take steps to repair the property adequately?
- Did the plaintiff (in this case, you) contribute to the accident in any way?
Your case will be stronger if the owner had ample time to notice and address the dangerous situation and didn’t do so or didn’t do so sufficiently. Because of Georgia’s comparative negligence laws in personal injury cases, your claim may be worth less if your actions contributed to the incident in any way. For example, the property owner may claim that you saw the dangerous condition and had a chance to go around it but didn’t do it.
However, because Georgia has comparative negligence regulations, you may still be able to collect some damages if you’re found to have had some fault in the accident. As long as your fault is below 49 percent, you can still collect damages minus the percentage you were at fault.
It’s also important to remember that just because the other party claims something doesn’t mean they can prove it. A good slip and fall lawyer in Atlanta may be able to refute the other side’s assertion that you contributed to the incident. The sooner you seek legal advice, the better for your case.
Special Circumstances
In general, property owners have a duty of care to people who visit their property, whether business or private. If there is an unsafe situation on their property and they know about it, they should fix it or warn people (i.e., put up a sign). However, there are some exceptions where more or less care is expected.
For example, property owners usually have a lower duty of care to trespassers. If they’re not expecting people on the property, they can’t be expected to warn anyone about an unsafe situation, and fixing it may not be a priority. This sometimes applies to businesses if the building is open to the public, but certain areas are marked as off-limits to the public. So if you see an “Employees Only” sign and ignore it, march into the back room, trip on a pile of boxes, and get hurt, you may have a hard time proving you had no fault in the accident. This is also why stores frequently rope off ladders and have visible signs telling customers to ask for help instead of getting large items down by themselves. If you ignore these warnings, the court is unlikely to be sympathetic to your claim.
However, the court does make an exception to the trespassing rule for children, who may not be able to read or understand the dangers of ignoring signs. If your child was hurt in a slip and fall accident, speak with an Atlanta personal injury attorney to learn how to protect their compensation rights.
What If Your Slip and Fall Accident Happened At Work?
Typically, this is a case for worker’s compensation, but you may make a claim directly against your employer in some situations. There is an exception if you were at work, but the accident occurred on a property not owned by your employer. For example, if your boss sent you to inspect a building and you slipped and fell while you were there, you might have a case against the property owner. If you were injured on government or federal property, there are specific guidelines about filing a claim that should be taken into account. Because all these situations can be confusing, it’s best to consult an Atlanta lawyer for slip and fall accidents so they can help sort out the responsible parties in your claim.
Where Do You Start With Your Slip and Fall Claim?
The first step is getting a free consultation with an attorney who handles slip and fall accidents. If they agree you have a strong case, they will likely make a claim with the responsible party’s insurance as a first step. (This may be different if the responsible party doesn’t have insurance that covers this type of situation, or you’ve already made a claim and been denied.)
If you were injured in a public place like a business, someone who worked there likely contacted the appropriate insurance carrier right after your accident. Most retailers have policies for employees to follow if a guest is injured on the premises. This policy involves reporting the accident to the appropriate local authorities and someone in the corporate office, who will probably contact the company’s insurance carrier.
The insurance company will then assign an adjuster to investigate and review the case. This person will probably contact you very quickly to ask questions about the accident. Be very careful what you say to them. If you can avoid talking with them before you speak with an attorney, that would be preferable. There are two crucial things you need to remember about the insurance adjuster:
- They are not your friend, even if they come off as very friendly and personable. Their job is to save the insurance company money by paying as little as possible on your claim – or nothing at all.
- They’ve probably already heard the property owner’s side of the story. This is especially true if the property owner is a business because of the reporting policies mentioned earlier. However, an individual property owner may also contact their insurance company right away if an accident occurs. So now you’re speaking with someone who likely has already heard a story biased in favor of the property owner. If this story lines up with not paying your claim – for example, if the property owner painted the situation as entirely your fault – the insurance adjuster may be inclined to believe them over you simply because it saves them money.
For this reason, the insurance adjuster may take something you say out of context and use it as justification to deny your claim. If they realize it will be hard to claim you were at fault, they may go ahead and make you an offer – but it might not be enough to cover all your damages. If you hesitate to accept it, they may become very pushy. For all of these reasons, it’s a good idea to let your attorney handle the insurance company. They have the knowledge and experience to determine how much compensation you deserve and negotiate with the insurance company on your behalf.
Ali Awad, the “CEO lawyer,” knows the best methods for getting you the compensation you need after a slip and fall accident. Filing an injury claim isn’t something most people plan on doing, but you need someone who understands the numbers on your side when it happens. Contact the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm injury and accident attorneys online or call (404) 777-8800 for a free consultation on your case today.
