Some of the main causes of personal injury are accidental slips and falls, often causing serious injuries, especially among older people. According to the National Floor Safety Institute, over 1 million hospital visits were caused by slip and fall accidents.
Ground-level falls onto hard surfaces are a leading cause of broken hips in elderly women and may cause other injuries, such as broken bones or sprains, that require medical attention and recovery time. Injuries, chronic pain, and disabilities from falling can lead to expensive medical treatments and reduced income from being unable to work as well as before the accident.
A Marietta slip and fall accident lawyer will help you determine whether you have the right to seek financial compensation for your losses. And when you need one, turn to ours at The CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm.
When your fall was the result of someone’s negligence, you have the right to a full financial recovery for your injuries. Attorney Ali Awad is our lead lawyer and is here for you.
Attorney Awad provides advice and tips on social media platforms to answer most of the questions people have about their personal injury cases.
Contact The CEO Lawyer for an experienced Marietta slip and fall accident attorney at (833) 254-2923 today. There is no risk to you because we offer free consultations and will not charge you anything until we win a favorable verdict or settlement agreement.
How Does a Marietta Slip and Fall Accident Attorney Know if I Have a Valid Case?
There is a high likelihood that you are eligible to receive compensation for your slip and fall accident as long as the fall was not your fault. You may have fallen in someone’s house, on a business property, or on public property.
You should discuss the circumstances of your fall with a Marietta slip and fall accident attorney before assuming that the accident was your fault.
You may feel like your fall was your fault because you were not paying attention to your surroundings, or perhaps you feel like you are just accident-prone, but you must not admit any fault to anyone aside from your Marietta slip and fall accident lawyer. Your lawyer will investigate your fall for evidence of negligence that caused your accident.
Obstacles and hazards are usually to blame for fall accidents; without these elements, your fall would not have occurred. This means that the law will place the blame for your fall onto the hazard and not on you.
For example, if you were shopping in a grocery store and it was raining outside, the store is required to have anti-slip mats in the entryways to keep water from getting on the floor. It is possible that these mats were forgotten or were too worn out to be effective, and rainwater got on the floor, which was a smooth surface.
The floor would be extremely slippery in this situation, and without a sign warning you about the wet floor or having the hazardous area closed off to the public, the store would be held liable for any slip-and-fall accidents in this area.
Without knowing that the floor was wet, you slipped and fell, resulting in a broken ankle. The law would say your accident and injury were caused by the negligence of the grocery store and were not your fault.
What Are Some Common Causes of Slip and Fall Accidents?
Common causes of slip and fall accidents include but are not limited to the following examples:
- Slipping on freshly mopped surfaces that had no warning signs of a wet floor
- Slipping on a product that had spilled in a store
- Tripping over a difficult-to-see object
- Stumbling over an uneven surface, such as an unexpected and unmarked step
- Slipping on icy surfaces in untreated entryways
- Tripping on poorly maintained pathways
- Falling up or down stairs with a faulty or nonexistent railing
The law would consider these examples to be premises liability cases in which the owner or manager had the legal duty to maintain a safe environment for employees and guests but failed. Their failure is seen as negligence on the part of the owner of the property, making them liable for any damages you have suffered as a result of your injury.
What Should I Do After a Slip and Fall Accident in Marietta?
If you have been hurt after a slip-and-fall accident, you need to protect yourself. It is important to know your rights and to officially document what happened right away before someone else can change the details.
Effective ways to help yourself include doing the following:
- Report your accident immediately. If you have fallen inside someone’s home, you must notify the owner right away. If a fall happens in a business or store, the owner or a manager must be told. You should get their contact information so you and your Marietta slip and fall accident attorney can contact them again.
- Get witness statements. If anyone saw what happened, ask them for their contact information and a statement of what they saw. Even people who only saw details before or after the fall may be helpful.
- Get medical attention. Seeking help from a medical provider not only protects you from serious complications, it provides official documentation of the accident and your subsequent injuries as well. Your injuries may be more serious than you initially believed, so you should always get a thorough medical assessment as soon as possible.
- Photograph everything. You want as much documentation as possible for your case, so take pictures of everything. You should include things like the area where you fell, any hazards that caused the fall, the lack of signage warning you of a hazard, and any other details that may be important. Take pictures of your injuries to show the severity of them before they begin to heal and fade. The more pictures, the better.
- Do not admit fault or downplay your injuries. Insurance companies will use anything you say against you. You never know when someone may be recording you or what you are saying. Only discuss your accident with your lawyer.
You will need as much evidence as possible to support your claim for damages. The insurance company will be looking for ways to reduce how much they pay out to you, so make sure you keep every document relating to your accident.
Even parking receipts will be added up and included in your claim. Consult with a Marietta slip and fall accident attorney to make sure you understand your rights and avoid making any costly mistakes.
What Should I Do if My Fall Happened in the Home of Someone I Love?
If you have been injured by a slip and fall accident, your claim for damages will be with an insurance company, not with your loved one. Filing a claim does not mean that your friend or family member is to blame for your injuries; it just gives you compensation for what you had to pay as a result of the fall.
You have the right to recover the financial damages from your accident, no matter the location.
How Long After the Accident Do I Have to File a Claim for Damages?
The statute of limitations for filing a personal injury claim is two years from the date of the accident, according to the National Legal Research Group. This date is set by Georgia state law to protect both the victim and the defendant.
You are protected by ensuring that your case and all evidence are fresh. The defendant is protected by not being perpetually responsible for your accident.
If you wait too long and miss the filing deadline, the court will refuse to hear your case. The insurance companies know this and will refuse to accept your claim for damages.
Consulting with a Marietta slip and fall accident attorney as soon as possible will prevent this costly mistake from occurring.
Consult With an Experienced Marietta Slip and Fall Accident Law Firm Today!
You do not have to get stuck with large medical bills from a slip and fall injury that was not your fault. The knowledgeable Marietta slip and fall attorneys at The CEO Lawyer will make sure you receive the full amount that you are entitled to.
Call us today at (404) 800-9235 for a free consultation to ask all your questions and make a plan to take action.
