Businesses, office buildings, and other places that invite the public to enter must keep the premises reasonably safe. If you fall and hurt yourself, a property owner could be liable for your damages. Slip and fall accidents could produce injuries that range from moderate to severe. In all cases, an owner who failed to prevent an accident could be responsible for all your losses.
Ask an Inverness slip and fall lawyer to review your case immediately after tripping. If there is evidence that a property owner’s negligence contributed to your fall, a personal injury attorney could help you start a claim.
Steps to Take After You Fall
Falling could be embarrassing, and sometimes people want to get back on their feet, leave the area, and deal with their injuries privately. That response is understandable, but it could reduce a person’s chances of obtaining a reasonable settlement for their injuries. A property owner’s insurance company might argue that an individual was uninjured if they left the scene under their own power soon after a fall.
Anyone who falls in a store, restaurant, office, or public place should avoid moving. Ask a property owner or manager to call an ambulance if they have not already done so, and if an ambulance offers transport to an emergency room, accept. An individual should seek medical care as soon as possible, even if they are not currently experiencing symptoms. A medical record generated quickly after a slip and fall provides critical evidence that a lawyer in Inverness could use to support a claim.
If possible, a fall victim should take pictures of the area where an incident occurred. They also could record essential information like the place, date, time, names, and contact information of any witnesses, and a description of what happened in their own words.
Common Slip and Fall Injuries
Injuries from falls can be severe. In fact, falls cause 60 percent of spinal cord injuries among older adults. Thankfully, most falls do not result in significant permanent harm but could cause many debilitating and painful injuries. Common injuries resulting from a fall include:
- Soft tissue injuries like sprains and strains
- Fractures, especially of the arm, wrist, and collarbone
- Whiplash
- Facial trauma
- Internal injuries
- Head trauma, including skull fractures and traumatic brain injury
Injuries from a fall require medical treatment and could prevent a claimant from working or engaging in their usual activities for weeks or months while recovering. In addition, a victim suffers physical pain, inconvenience, embarrassment, and emotional trauma. A property owner could be responsible for paying monetary compensation for all the effects of a fall. A seasoned attorney in Inverness could help you hold an owner accountable through a slip and fall suit.
Laws Surrounding Property Owner Obligation
Property owners ensure the safety of the people they invite onto their premises to do business or patronize their facilities. They must frequently inspect a property to identify hazards and repair them as quickly as possible. If an immediate repair is not feasible, the owner must post warnings to protect visitors.
When an injured person brings a lawsuit after a fall, owners often suggest that the accident happened before they had an opportunity to discover the hazard. Alternatively, they might argue that the danger was so obvious that an injured person is at fault for not noticing it.
A skilled trip and fall attorney in Inverness has heard these arguments before and knows not to be intimidated. Furthermore, even if an injured person should have been paying closer attention, Florida Statutes §768.81 allows them to collect compensation. A property owner must keep the premises safe for visitors, and a seasoned legal professional will hold them to that standard.
Rely on an Inverness Slip and Fall Attorney to Handle a Claim
When you fall in a public place, do not assume that your injuries are too minor to merit an injury claim. Talk with an Inverness slip and fall lawyer about your options for pursuing a lawsuit. If you decide to seek compensation for your losses, you have a limited time to act. Schedule a consultation as soon as possible after your accident.
