Your Guide to Filing a Slip and Fall Claim

When we slip and then catch ourselves before falling to the ground, the only injury sustained is a feeling of slight embarrassment that fades away within a short period. However, many slip and fall incidents cause serious harm to the victim. From sustaining a fractured wrist to dealing with a severe spinal cord injury, a slip and fall can lead to thousands of dollars in medical bills and an extended hiatus from the workplace. According to the National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI), slip and fall cases account for more than one million visits each year to hospital emergency rooms.

A slip and fall can happen at just about any type of public venue, but most cases involve slipping on a wet floor at a business such as a restaurant or a grocery store. If you slipped and fell and the incident caused you harm, you should meet with an experienced personal injury attorney who specializes in handling slip and fall cases. Your lawyer conducts a detailed investigation that includes collecting evidence such as the security camera footage shot at the venue where you sustained your injuries. The primary goal of a personal injury attorney is to recover your financial losses in the form of an approved insurance claim and possibly monetary damages awarded as part of a civil lawsuit.

To file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages, your personal attorney must prove the existence of the four elements of negligence. Without proof of negligence, you do not have a strong enough case to assign fault for the slip and fall that caused your injuries. As of now, at Morgan and Morgan, we have litigated numerous slip and fall cases, building on our extensive experience from previous years.

For more than 35 years, our personal injury lawyers have represented clients who sustained one or more injuries due to a slip and fall at a place of business. To date, we have recovered over $20 billion in monetary damages for personal injury cases, with a significant percentage of this compensation coming from the successful outcomes of slip and fall lawsuits.

Schedule a free case evaluation with a Morgan and Morgan personal injury attorney to determine the best course of legal action.

What Venues Report the Most Slip and Fall Incidents?

Although you can slip and fall at any type of public venue, some establishments report more slip and fall incidents than other establishments.

Restaurants

Restaurants represent one of the most common venues that experience a high rate of slip and fall incidents. Customers can slip and fall on wet floors located in bathrooms. Beverage stations located throughout a restaurant present numerous opportunities throughout a shift for a vendor, customer, and/or employee to take a tumble because of a wet floor. Workers that slip and fall while on the job file a workers’ compensation claim. Whether you need a workers’ compensation or personal injury lawyer, Morgan and Morgan can provide you with the type of legal support that matches the criteria of your case.

Convenience Stores

Most convenience stores include a large island beverage station that experiences an incredible amount of activity throughout each day. From the failure to wipe dry a spilled beverage to not noticing a leaky valve, convenience stores experience a high number of slip and fall incidents. If you slipped and fell at a convenience store, your personal injury attorney requests the footage shot by the store security camera at the time of the incident. Convenience stores also must contend with slip and fall incidents that occur outside during winter weather.

Arenas/Stadiums

When you pack 20,000 fans into an arena or 50,000 fans into a stadium, the chances are high that the venue experiences several slip and fall incidents during a concert or a sporting event. The sheer volume of sales that each stand generates makes it difficult for employees to keep up with calls for mopping dry a wet floor. The owners of arenas and stadiums purchase liability insurance to pay claims, but in many cases, the offers submitted do not cover the entire value of the financial losses suffered by a victim. Several slip and fall cases in 2022 that Morgan and Morgan worked on involved incidents that unfolded at arenas and stadiums.

How Do I Address a Slip and Fall Incident?

How you handle the aftermath of a slip and fall incident determines not only whether you deserve compensation, but also how much you should receive to recover financial losses. It is important to follow each step in sequential order.

Inform Management

Whether you are an employee filing a workers’ compensation claim or a customer filing an insurance claim to recover financial losses, the first step after a slip and fall incident involves notifying management about the incident. The owner or operator of the business where you slipped and fell must complete an incident report that provides details of what transpired before, during, and after you slipped and fell. Failing to notify management in a timely manner can lead to the denial of an insurance claim.

Get Medical Attention

Receiving medical care is the key to filing a persuasive insurance claim and a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages. Without copies of medical bills and records, you cannot expect to receive the compensation you deserve to recover financial losses. If you sustained a serious injury such as head trauma, you should seek immediate medical care and let someone else inform management about the slip and fall incident. On the other hand, if you feel healthy enough to remain at the accident scene, you move on to the next step which involves gathering and organizing physical evidence. 

Gather Physical Evidence

The insurance adjuster working your case wants to see evidence that you sustained one or more injuries as a result of a slip and fall incident. You start by taking photographs of the injuries sustained and the area where you slipped and fell. For example, if you slipped and fell in a restaurant bathroom, taking photos of the accident scene might demonstrate the restaurant should be held legally liable for committing an act of negligence. Obtaining video footage from a business security camera system can show the business did not act with a sense of urgency by putting a Wet Floor sign at the spot where you slipped and fell.

Contact a Personal Injury Attorney at Morgan and Morgan

If you do not receive legal support after a slip and fall incident, the business where you slipped and fell and/or the insurance company reviewing your claim might try to take advantage of you. The insurance company might deny a valid claim or approve a claim for a value that is much less than what you deserve. You also might have difficulty getting the public venue where you fell to release physical evidence that proves the venue committed at least one act of negligence.

Do You Have Examples of Slip and Fall Cases in 2022?

With offices located around the United States, Morgan and Morgan is the preeminent personal injury law firm in the country. Because of our proven record of success, we have handled a large number of slip and fall cases in 2022. The following two examples should provide you with insight into the type of slip and fall cases that our accomplished team of personal injury attorneys handles.

Case Study #1

Like most casual-themed restaurant chains, Outback Steakhouse dedicates an area of each restaurant for takeout business. A customer places a to-go order and then picks it up by going through a separate entrance. The high volume of customer traffic means the to-go section of Outback Steakhouse is a prime location for slip and fall incidents to occur.

Morgan and Morgan represented a client in 2022 who slipped and fell at the to-go entrance/exit door of an Outback Steakhouse. The client told the Morgan and Morgan personal injury attorneys assigned to the case that the texture of the floor felt slippery. The slip and fall resulted in a fractured shoulder that generated a substantial value in medical bills. Outback Steakhouse presented a pre-trial offer for compensation of $135,000. The team of personal injury lawyers from Morgan and Morgan won a judgment of $759.252.

Case Study #2

Although wet floors represent the leading cause of slip and fall incidents, you also can trip and fall over an object. This is what happened to a client who fractured a foot as a result of tripping over loose wiring at a municipal convention center.

The key to proving the convention center committed an act of negligence by allowing loose wiring to cause a visitor harm was to first prove the convention center had a duty of care to protect all visitors from harm. The team of personal injury attorneys from Morgan and Morgan proved the convention center owed our client a duty of care. Next, our client’s lawyer proved the convention center violated the duty of care doctrine by not addressing the potentially dangerous loose wiring. We were able to prove the maintenance team knew about the loose wiring but did nothing to remove the obstacle from harm’s way. The maintenance department should have either removed the loose wiring or taped the loose wiring snugly to the floor.

At the end of the civil trial, our team of personal injury attorneys helped our client receive monetary damages valued at $5,584,546.

What Is the Deadline for Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit?

Each state has established a deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit. Also referred to as the statute of limitations, the deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit in a vast majority of states is between two and four years. However, a few states have set the deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit as short as one year or as high as six years. The personal injury attorney assigned to your case ensures you file your civil lawsuit long before the expiration of the statute of limitations.

The clock starts ticking on the date when you sustained your injuries as a result of a slip and fall incident. The only exception to this rule is if you sustained delayed symptoms, such as the delayed symptoms that sometimes develop for injuries such as whiplash and a concussion. Your personal injury lawyer wants to act with a sense of urgency to get you the compensation to pay for costly medical bills, as well as to obtain the most accurate version of events from each witness.

If you fail to meet the deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit, you can expect the court clerk processing your case to remove it from the judicial docket.

Learn more about the slip and fall cases in 2022 Morgan and Morgan has handled by scheduling a free case evaluation today with one of our experienced personal injury attorneys.