If someone else’s negligence caused your fall, Indiana law entitles you to compensation for your pain and suffering, medical bills, and lost income. If you’re unsure about your case, a FREE consultation with an Indianapolis slip and fall attorney can provide you with peace of mind. I will personally ensure that you understand your rights, your options, and the legal consequences of your decisions before proceeding. I am firmly committed to obtaining the best possible settlement for you.
Although most of these injuries occur on business properties, such as at hotels or motels, grocery stores, amusement parks, or department stores, you may also bring a claim if you fell on private property at someone’s home or apartment.
Immediately seek medical attention for your injuries and take photographs of what caused your fall. In this type of case, the property owner or insurer usually will try to blame you—or make you sign papers saying they will pay your medical bills if you release them from any liability for your pain and suffering and other damages.
Premises liability is the legal term for a claim where slipping, tripping, and falling on someone else’s property causes injuries. Generally speaking, both business owners and residence owners have a duty to keep their properties safe for visitors. These cases present special legal difficulties because you must prove either that the owners knew or should have known that the hazard existed before your injuries, contact Indianapolis personal injury attorney Merry Fountain to guide you with your claim.
More than one-million Americans suffer slip or fall injuries every year. More than 17,000 people die annually from slip and fall accidents, according to 2012 statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Slip and fall injuries constitute about 15 percent of all work-related injuries, and are the second most common cause of workplace fatalities.
Nearly 1,800 people die in the United States every year from falls and fall-related injuries in nursing homes alone.
Slip and fall accidents cause more serious injuries than you may imagine. Serious injuries that may result from a slip and fall include:
Many factors can cause a person to slip and fall, including overworn and slippery shoes or poor balance. In other situations, though, people may fall due to no fault of their own. Instead, they slip and fall because of a hazard that existed at a store or business.
Stores have the legal duty to inspect their premises for dangerous conditions and to rectify those situations as soon as they can. If for some reason they cannot fix hazards in timely ways, stores have the duty to provide adequate warnings to customers about the potential injury risks so customers can use appropriate caution.
Unfortunately, stores often breach this duty and negligently allow hazardous conditions to persist, leading to slips, falls, and other accidents. Common causes of slips and falls include:
If a business owner or management knew or should have known about any of the above hazards, those who slip and fall can hold the business owner or management responsible for their injuries.
While risks are often more pronounced through the first couple of snowfalls, as everyone is adjusting to the change in conditions, the cause to be extra careful is present anytime temperatures are around or below freezing.
Slip and fall injuries fall under the general category of negligence. Property owners or management companies are required to exercise reasonable care to ensure that those who enter the property are safe from harm. Whether cleaning up spills, melting sidewalk ice, or marking dangerous areas, it is important that commercial and residential owners take appropriate care of property to prevent accidents, including falls.
While many slip and fall cases involve commercial properties, private property owners may also be held liable in the event of slip and fall or other accidents if they have failed to address a defect in a reasonable amount of time or warn of potential danger.
Juries will consider several different steps to determine whether a property acted reasonably to prevent an accident. To prove knowledge or reasonable care, a victim may present video or surveillance evidence, pictures, or witness statements. The longer that a property owner knows of a deficiency without addressing it, the more likely it is they will be held liable for negligence.
Slip and fall accidents can result in severe and permanent injury, and in rare cases, accidental death. Victims may be entitled to compensation for medical expenses, long-term care, pain and suffering, lost wages, and additional costs related to the accident and injury.
If you believe that your own clumsiness did not cause your slip and fall, discuss the circumstances of your injury with an Indianapolis slip and fall lawyer who can identify any negligence on the part of a store or business. Merry Fountain has the resources to investigate the cause of your fall and advise you of any legal rights to compensation.
The next step in a slip and fall case is generally to calculate the value of your claim. You can seek different types of damages after a slip and fall, depending on the severity of your injuries, including;
Cases involving permanent injuries may involve complex calculations that reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars due to lifelong harm and limitations caused by injuries. Other cases may only involve damages for emergency department bills, physical therapy, and a few days off work. No matter how much your claim is worth, however, seek compensation if someone else caused your injuries.
Businesses should carry liability insurance policies to cover the costs of any injuries that take place on their premises. This does not mean that such an insurance policy will automatically cover your fall-related losses, however, because all insurance companies will try to avoid liability whenever possible. You will need to prove the business was negligent and should therefore pay for your injuries and losses.
In addition to proving negligence, you will need to prove the damages that you seek. In some cases, insurance companies will admit liability on the part of a policyholder but will challenge the amount of your claim. An insurance company will commonly offer you a settlement for far less than the losses you suffered. Without proper legal representation, too many people believe that accepting this offer is their only option. By doing so, they miss out on substantial compensation that they truly deserve. Accepting payment also waives the right to take any further legal actions regarding your fall.
With the help of an experienced Indianapolis injury lawyer, you can rest assured that you will always know whether an insurance company offered you an adequate settlement. The Fountain Law Firm will negotiate with the insurer to try to obtain the full amount you need to cover your losses.
Sometimes, an insurance company will not offer acceptable compensation or a policy is too small to cover your losses. Indianapolis slip and fall lawyer Merry Fountain can identify when to file a claim in civil court for personal injuries. Slip and fall claims come under the purview of premises liability law, which requires that you prove a negligent business or property owner failed to maintain a premises. As mentioned before, such negligence can include allowing many different hazards on a property and failing to warn about dangers.
You need a lawyer representing you who understands how to gather the necessary evidence of negligence and use it to build a strong case in your favor. You can then use such evidence in settlement negotiations to obtain a favorable offer from the defendant or to prove your claims at trial, if necessary. You want the assistance of an attorney who will explore every option to ensure you receive full compensation in your case.
If you sustained serious injuries in a slip and fall accident in or around Indianapolis, look no further than the Fountain Law Firm. Merry Fountain has protected the rights of many injured clients and brings the same commitment and determination to every case. Never take slip and fall accidents and injuries lightly. The law gives victims the right to seek payment for their many losses. Please do not hesitate to schedule a free consultation to discuss your case with an Indianapolis slip and fall attorney. Call toll free number (888) 242-HURT (4878) or contact the office online for help.