Those who have been injured in a slip and fall accident can get professional advice and representation from a qualified Dallas slip and fall accidents attorney in the Dallas, Texas area. These lawyers understand the criteria for slip and fall injury settlements and trial outcomes, as well as what to seek for a slip and fall injury, and how to proceed through local courts. Ask the Dallas premises liability attorneys at Marye Law about your slip and fall injury case.
What Qualifies as a Slip and Fall Injury?
A slip and fall injury typically involves a situation where someone loses their footing or their balance because of some condition or obstacle and gets injured as a result.
A core concept that applies to slip and fall cases is the issue of premises liability. That involves a professional slip and fall attorneys looking at whether a given party has responsibility for a property on which a slip and fall accident occurred.
It’s important to note that parties that do have liability, often businesses, carry specific insurance to cover slip and fall accidents and other kinds of personal injury that might happen on their premises.
Beyond that, a slip and fall case should have a clearly hazardous condition that caused an injury. If plaintiffs in a slip and fall accident case can prove a certain standard of negligence, that makes the slip and fall case more credible to the courts.
The law also uses the concept of different classifications of people who may be on a given property. For example, the law treats visitors differently than trespassers when it comes to a slip and fall injury happening on a property. If there are complex situations where someone is leasing a building, that can change the context of the slip and fall accident case as well.
Injuries from a Slip and Fall Accident
Certain kinds of minor injuries can happen from a slip and fall accident, but other more major or serious injuries can occur as well.
Some of these involve broken bones, or sprained joints and ligaments. Other more serious injuries include spinal cord injuries from body torsion, or even traumatic brain injuries if the head ends up hitting a hard surface, for example, a floor or a wall.
In other cases, where a joint is the part of the body that someone falls on, a slip and fall accident can result in a broken bone, for example, a broken hip, or damage to the knee joint. In these types of cases, for example, the costs of a hip replacement and all associated medical bills may apply.
For any of these kinds of injuries, costs can add up. There’s the cost of initial medical consultation and examination, the cost of diagnosis, and the cost of treatment. There’s missed time from work, lost wages, or loss of livelihood. All of these costs can be factored into a settlement for a slip and fall accident case.
How Much Money Can You Get from a Slip and Fall Accident?
The range of compensation from a slip and fall accident really depends on several major factors.
For reference, some courts see a general standard range for minor injuries awarding from $10,000-$15,000 on average. However, there have been more major slip and fall cases generating settlements in the millions of dollars.
The settlement award amount will involve three key individual amounts of money. The first is the concrete compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and similar expenses. There are also allowed or designated amounts to cover pain and suffering.
Then there is a whole an entirely different category of amounts for punitive damages — this is not to compensate the victim of the slip and fall injury, but meant to deter the defendant from continuing to be negligent in the future.
With that in mind, professional Dallas premises liability attorneys can help to calculate what’s likely to be a reasonable settlement in a given slip and fall case, but there is no single monetary amount that is standard.
For example, if someone sustains a major injury like a traumatic brain injury or a broken hip, estimating this cost is difficult prior to actual medical examination, care, and treatment.
What slip and fall accident injury victims can count on is that professional personal injury attorneys will work on their behalf to factor in all related costs and estimate settlements accordingly. That’s part of the advocacy that these lawyers do for a client as they build a particular case.
When Do I Call a Lawyer for a Slip and Fall Accident?
For those wondering when to call Dallas premises liability attorneys to ask about a slip and fall accident case, some general criteria apply.
If someone has been injured and suffered damages because of a slip and fall injury on someone else’s property, that’s a start. Where a hazardous condition can be identified, that adds to the legitimacy of a slip and fall accident case. Then, if the plaintiff can apply some kind of negligence, such as failure to control slippery items on a floor, or failure to provide adequate lighting, that gives the case its own additional dimensions.
If you have been injured due to a hazardous condition on public property or someone else’s private property, call the attorneys at Marye Law!
Are Slip and Fall Cases Hard to Win?
When slip and fall accident cases go to trial, winning them can be difficult and complex, although that’s not always the case.
In general, trying a case involves quite a bit of legal work and court time. There’s also somewhat of a high bar in some senses for slip and fall accident injury standards, as the court wants to prevent frivolous lawsuits and protect property owners to a reasonable standard.
If, on the other hand, the hazardous condition is clearly documented and the negligence can be proven, a slip and fall accident injury case can be much easier to win.
Can I Settle My Slip and Fall Claim?
Injury victims can, of course, settle their slip and fall accident injury claims. However, this choice is very dependent on the context and the facts around the case.
First, if the injury victim has sought out impartial and qualified medical advice and shown they have an actual injury, they are moving forward on more solid ground.
As mentioned above, if they can point to a clearly hazardous condition and some type of negligence, they have a case that is much more substantial and would either generate a larger settlement or proceed to trial.
One situation where clients may want to proceed to trial is where they see the defendant as lowballing the settlement claim. It’s not unusual for insurance companies and other parties to offer insultingly low amounts of money for a personal injury case, including a slip and fall accident situation. The defendant wants to limit their cost, and may not believe that the plaintiff has a very good case, regardless of the fact of the matter.
In this case, it may be in your best interest to go to trial. In other types of situations, slip and fall accident injury victims may want to settle and take a lump sum offered by the defendant according to their consultation with counsel.
How Can a Slip and Fall Lawyer Help Me?
A Dallas slip and fall accidents attorney can help accident injury victims in some very important ways.
First of all, these professionals can listen to someone’s story, and help them to figure out what kind of case they have.
The professional slip and fall accident lawyer can also work with the client to calculate what their injuries have cost them — in terms of medical bills, including transportation costs and time off from work, for example.
As they look at medical records and other types of documentation, slip and fall accident injury attorneys will be involved in general fact-finding work. That might even involve depositions or other means, to try to help put a case together and document the negligence that may have led to the client’s injury.
Throughout all of that, they will be assessing criteria that local courts use to determine what kind of responsibility a defendant has with premises liability.
Reach Out to Mayre Law to See if You Have a Case
If any of the above situations describe what you’re facing after a slip and fall injury, contact the attorneys at Marye Law, who can advise you on all of the above aspects of your case. They will listen to your story, helping you to take advantage of your rights under the law.
FAQs
What are some causes and examples of slip and fall accidents?
Some of the most common types of slip and fall accidents include:
- Wet floors without proper warning signage
- Uneven or slick areas with insufficient lighting
- Ice or sleet buildup that has not been dealt with by a property owner
- Oil or grease, or other slippery substances, that are not dealt with in an industrial setting
- Broken stairs or other infrastructure that a property owner or business has failed to fix
How much do you get for a slip and fall settlement?
The amount that you may get awarded for a slip and fall accident injury is based on many complicated factors.
There is not one common settlement amount that lawyers can identify for any slip and fall case. Amounts are determined by things like out-of-pocket expenses, and amounts awarded for pain and suffering.
How long after a slip and fall accident can you sue?
Courts have a very general statute of limitations for some slip and fall accident cases that ranges up to two years. That’s not to say that you should wait close to two years before filing a claim. The quicker someone files a slip and fall accident case, the better, as long as they have the right documentation in hand. Getting impartial and qualified medical consultation early is important.
What needs to be proved in a slip and fall case?
Simply speaking, the plaintiff has to prove that there was a hazardous condition, that it led to an injury, that the injury caused damages, and that there was negligence or responsibility on the part of some third party.
Can I include supplementary amounts for pain and suffering?
It may be possible in a wide variety of slip and fall accident cases to add in amounts for pain and suffering in calculating a final settlement. Some may also be able to apply loss of consortium for a spouse. Talk to a professional slip and fall accident injury attorney about the facts in your own case to determine whether these apply.
Why is it important to get impartial medical evaluation?
In some cases, defendant parties or related parties, including insurance companies, will suggest that you use a particular doctor. Later, a slip and fall accident injury victim may find out that that medical office has a relationship with the insurance company or other party in question.