Each year, millions of Americans are injured in falls. Although some of these accidents occur in your own home, many happen when you are outside of your residence. In that event, there may be a third party who was responsible for your injuries. When you can prove that they were negligent, you may be entitled to substantial financial compensation. However, you should take nothing for granted in a slip and fall case. One of the first steps that you should take is hiring an experienced slip and fall lawyer to represent you in the legal process.
Fall accidents may be common, but the injuries that you suffer could be anything but. Anytime that your body suffers either trauma or a violent and unnatural movement, you can suffer one or more serious injuries. Many fall victims are never the same again after their accident injuries.
Common slip and fall accident injuries include:
The best thing that you can do for both your health and your legal case is to seek immediate medical attention. You may be more seriously hurt than you realize, although it is your responsibility to ensure that you get the medical care you need to preserve your right to full compensation.
Before the insurance company is willing to accept liability in your slip and fall case, they need to see proof that their policyholder was to blame for the accident. The key legal requirement that you must meet is proving that the property owner was negligent in the circumstances surrounding your fall accident.
It may be difficult to get the evidence that you need to win your case, especially because you were dealing with your own injuries at the scene of the accident. However, you have a limited amount of time to collect proof that you need to show liability. A slip and fall accident lawyer can gather the following to present as part of your claim or lawsuit:
You may be able to obtain additional information that is in the hands of the defendant if you file a lawsuit. For example, the defendant may have maintenance logs that show whether and when the property was inspected. There could also be security camera footage that captured your fall, which the defendant must preserve after being directed by your attorney.
The property owner is the most common defendant in a slip and fall case. However, the property owner may not always have been the one who was in control of the circumstances when you were hurt. For example, a store owner may have been leasing their property from another. Then, your lawsuit would be against the owner of the store because they were legally responsible for the dangerous circumstance that injured you.
Depending on the circumstances, you may also be able to file a lawsuit against a third party who was the cause of a dangerous condition. Finally, if your injury occurred on government-owned property, you may be able to sue the government, although your lawsuit would be subject to different rules.
Slip and fall claims are among the most common types of actions that insurance companies see. Falls happen all the time, but insurance companies take a skeptical view of these cases because admitting liability costs them money. The insurance company may take a stringent view of when you are entitled to compensation and deny your claim.
Insurance companies are also known to minimize injuries associated with slip and fall accidents. They may see your medical reports, but it is in their financial interest not to admit that you are as injured as you say. You may be forced to fight to prove the full extent of your injuries in your case.
Finally, insurance companies often take a “blame the victim” approach to slip and fall cases. They do this because they know that they can reduce the amount of money that they need to pay you if they can prove that you are partially at fault. If you were more than 51% to blame, under Vermont law, you would be denied compensation entirely. It is vital that you fight back and present evidence that absolves you if you are accused of wrongdoing in the circumstances leading to your accident.
If the insurance company denies your slip and fall case, it is not the end of the legal road for you. The insurance company does not get the final word in any case because it is not the ultimate arbiter of your legal rights. A court of law performs that role. If your slip and fall claim is denied by the insurance company, you have the ability to file a lawsuit against the responsible party in court. Although you may not want to be forced to litigate your case, you may also be able to gain additional evidence that you can use through the discovery process. Further, a jury could order the insurance company to pay more money than they would have offered you in a settlement agreement.
Vermont has a three-year statute of limitations for personal injury cases. If you missed this deadline, you would lose the right to file a lawsuit. Just because the law gives you three years to bring your case, that does not mean that you should take that long. If you contact a lawyer after too much time has passed, you may have difficulty finding someone who would be willing to represent you. By that point, you may lose much of the evidence that you need to win.
Simply stated, the insurance company is never going to take you seriously if you approach them on your own. They continuously get the better of individual claimants who approach them without the help of a slip and fall accident attorney.
You need both a voice and an advocate, and that is exactly what you get when you hire a slip and fall lawyer. Your attorney will make the insurance company listen because the alternative is that they will face a lawsuit in court. Although many accident victims think that they can save money by handling their own case, they are costing themselves far more than they realize. You will likely end up with more money in your pocket if you hire a lawyer, even after sharing a portion of your settlement with your attorney.
If you have been injured on the property of another, speak to the Vermont slip and fall accident lawyers at Kramer Law, P.C., as the first step towards taking legal action against the responsible party. Call us today at 802-257-2221 or fill out the online form for a free consultation. With offices located in Brattleboro, VT, we proudly serve all clients statewide.
