What to Do if You Are Injured in a Slip and Fall Accident
“Slip and fall accident” is a legal term used for a specific type of personal injury case when a person slips or trips and is injured on someone else’s property. Most famously, these types of cases have been paired with the constantly caricatured image of someone slipping and extravagantly falling on a banana peel.
However, these cases can cause serious injury and are certainly taken seriously by the courts.
After a slip and fall accident, it is most important that you take all the steps necessary to treat any injury and regain your health. Then, you might want to consider talking with a slip and fall accident lawyer about how your injury occurred and if you are eligible to receive compensation from a potentially negligent property owner.
What Caused You to Fall?
It is important to immediately note what may have caused you to fall. If you were in a store or business when you were injured, be sure to note anything out of the ordinary that might have led to your fall that could have been prevented. For example, if a liquid was spilled on the floor, and there was no caution sign to warn you of the danger, then the business or its employees could be held responsible for your injury.
Business owners owe a duty of care to all persons who visit their property. This duty includes proper inspection, repairs, warnings, and taking necessary precautions. If a business can adequately prove that it upheld this standard of care, then recovering damages for your injury might be more difficult.
If you slipped on someone’s private property, it is still equally important to take clear note of what caused your slip and fall accident. For a property owner to be found responsible, at least some of the following conditions must be apparent:
- The owner of the premises must have caused the dangerous surface or item in a place to cause you to fall;
- The property owner must have known about the dangerous situation and did not take steps to correct it;
- The owner should have reasonably known that space or item was dangerous because any “reasonable person” would have known.
What Evidence Should I Gather to Prove My Slip and Fall Accident Case?
As the person primarily affected by the situation that caused you to fall, it is most helpful for you to take note of the entire scene and any witnesses who might have seen you slip and fall.
Generally, eyewitnesses can verify what happened. If your slip and fall accident occurs inside a business, the other customers are likely your best witnesses. If possible, it could be beneficial to your claim to gather the contact information of all witnesses so that you can ask them to share what they saw with your slip and fall accident lawyer and ultimately with the court.
Contact a Lawyer For Your Slip and Fall Accident Case
The injury and accident attorneys at the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm are prepared to consult with you about your slip and fall claim and help you build a case that will result in the maximum amount of damages returned to you. Contact us today.