Slip and fall accidents can happen anywhere, whether you fall at a privately owned grocery store or on municipal streets. Property owners have a legal responsibility to keep their spaces safe for people to walk on. This includes cleaning up spills, maintaining clear walkways, and using the right materials on walkways, such as skid-resistant flooring.
A slip and fall accident can be much more serious than simply falling down on the ground. You could sustain more significant injuries, including fractures, broken bones, sprains, and brain injuries. If the owner of a property is found liable, they will be responsible to compensate you for your pain, suffering, medical bills, and lost wages.
The only way you will know for sure if you have a legal case is by calling an experienced New Port Richey slip and fall lawyer. The diligent team of injury attorneys at Distasio Law Firm has years of experience helping victims of slips and falls to settle and try their cases in court. Call now to schedule an appointment to discuss the specifics of your case and to see how we can help you recover lost wages and pay for medical bills related to your slip and fall.
How Common Are Slip and Fall Injuries?
Unfortunately, slip and fall accidents are very common, especially in the workplace. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), slips and falls represent at least 25% of all reported workplace injuries. The agency acknowledges that most of the workplace slip and falls that are reported could be prevented with better worker training, equipment, and safety precautions.
You don’t need to be at your workplace to experience a slip and fall accident. Many slips and falls happen in homes and living facilities such as nursing homes. Falls are the number one cause of death in seniors aged 65 years or older. Taking the necessary precautions to reduce someone’s fall risk is essential.
How to Build a Slip and Fall Claim
Building an effective slip and fall accident case in New Port Richey requires diligence and documentation. If you experience a slip and fall, it can be overwhelming to figure out what steps to take next. Here is the general process of how to build a slip and fall legal case.
Seek Immediate Medical Attention
Before doing anything, seek immediate medical attention. Your health and safety are of the utmost importance. If you’re in urgent danger or severely injured, call 9-1-1 first or request the people around you to make the call. The hospital records could serve as important evidence in your slip and fall case.
Report Accident to Property Owner
In a slip and fall case, the property owner can be held liable for the accident. However, many properties are not managed directly by the owner, so the owner may not know about it. After the accident, inform the property owner to ensure that he or she has the chance to investigate and respond properly. This could resolve your case before it goes to court if you can work out a reasonable resolution with the property owner. In many cases, slip and fall cases go to court because a reasonable resolution isn’t reached.
Request Contact Information for Property Owner
To ensure that you can inform the property owner, request his or her contact information. This will help you get in contact directly with the property owner rather than relying on other people o relay information. If you reach out to the property owner and don’t get a reasonable response, consult a slip and fall attorney.
Document the Situation
Document the situation as best you can with pictures and any other documentation that you have. You want to create a record of it as close to the event as possible to preserve any possible evidence. This will also help you keep key information, like times and dates, accurate as you wait for a court date.
Write Down Details
As you make your documentation, write down the details that you need for later. Accurate details are the key to building a credible case and determining liability. You will need sufficient details to win your case.
Keep Clothing in Sealed Bag
After the slip and fall, keep your clothing in a sealed bag. Your clothes often hide evidence, such as liquids that are on the floor or little pieces of debris from broken floors. Sealing them away in a bag ensures that you can use them as evidence later in the case. In some cases, evidence found on clothes can be the deciding factor in the case. Contact a New Port Richey slip and fall attorney to ensure that you have everything that you need for your case.
Florida’s Law About Transitory Foreign Substances
In accordance with Florida Statute 768 Section 0755, property owners cannot be held responsible for a spill that they did not reasonably know about. For instance, if a customer spills a coffee in the aisle of a popular big box store and you slip on the coffee only a few seconds later. The store did not have time to know about the spill or clean it up before you walked into the coffee spill.
However, rarely are cases so cut and dry. Was the spill something that regularly occurred, such as near a coffee station or by the sinks in the bathroom? Should the business have policies in place to monitor and prevent accidents from occurring? Would a carpeted floor mat have prevented the fall? A proactive lawyer from Distasio Law Firm could investigate the circumstances surrounding a slip and fall case in New Port Richey in order to determine liability.
Discuss Your Case with a New Port Richey Slip and Fall Attorney
Each slip and fall accident case is unique. You never know whether you can gather enough evidence to win a slip and fall lawsuit without the help of an experienced personal injury attorney. Call Distasio Law Firm to schedule an appointment with a New Port Richey slip and fall lawyer.
