Where Can I Find the Best Slip and Fall Attorney in Pittsburgh?

Slip and fall incidents can happen anywhere, but some locations experience the most slip and fall incidents.

Convenience Stores

Convenience stores that include a large beverage station experience one of the highest rates of slip and fall incidents. From customer spilling drinks to a machine malfunctioning, wet floors can cause a customer to slip and fall. Convenience store owners are responsible for training their employees, but sometimes they fail to provide adequate training to create the safest environment.

Grocery Stores

You probably have heard at some point a voice over a grocery store intercom system requesting a “clean-up in aisle nine.” Almost every grocery store aisle holds some type of product that when hitting the floor, instantly creates a hazard for customers. Slip and fall incidents are especially common in the beverage aisle, as well as the aisle devoted to stocking alcohol products.

Bars and Restaurants

“Accidents happen” should be the motto for the bar and restaurant industry. Sit in a booth at a restaurant on a busy Saturday night and count the number of times you hear a glass crash onto the floor. Restaurant operators are supposed to train their staff to act quickly to a food and beverage spill. However, because of the high volume of business, eliminating a hazard is sometimes delayed.

Shopping Mall

Shopping malls that have food courts experience the same type of slip and fall incidents that plague bars and restaurants. Shoppers that bring their drinks along with them when they shop pose a problem as well. A spill can happen anywhere in a shopping mall, including inside of each store.

Parking Lots

Parking lots add another element to a slip and fall incident; it is called trip and fall. Holes and cracks in the asphalt present a health risk for anyone walking over the defective asphalt. Parking lots also present a danger in winter if the owner of a property does not remove ice and snow promptly.

Learning about the most common types of slip and fall injuries can help you communicate your injuries with a slip and fall attorney in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Fractures

What is your instinctive reaction when you begin to fall? That is right, you extend at least one arm to brace yourself from the impact of falling on the ground. However, your arm or arms absorb the impact, which can result in a fractured hand, wrist, and/or arm.

Damaged Knee Ligaments

If you twist your body during a fall, you place a considerable amount of pressure on the knees. This can lead to a torn ACL or MCL. In addition to ligament damage, you also might dislocate your patella.

Brain Trauma

Sometimes the velocity of a fall is so fast that we do not have time to brace ourselves for impact. Without the support of our arms, we can hit or head on an object while falling or hit the ground with our heads. From a concussion to major damage, the brain is highly vulnerable during a slip and fall incident.

A Pittsburgh slip and fall lawyer provides a variety of legal services that help you recover the money lost because of your injuries from a slip and fall. One service that does receive enough attention concerns an attorney representing you against an insurance company that refuses to pay a legitimate claim.

Your lawyer will also provide the following legal services.

Establish Liability

Establishing liability is the key to winning a personal injury lawsuit. It also matters when you file a claim with the other party’s insurance company. Many slip and fall cases unfold inside businesses that operate security cameras. Footage shot before, during, and after the incident can help your attorney determine whether the other party was negligent in causing your injuries. Interviewing witnesses can support the evidence gathered to prove liability. 

Negotiate a Favorable Settlement

The primary goal of your lawyer is to get the compensation you deserve for your injuries. This does not always require the filing of a civil lawsuit. Before filing a lawsuit, your attorney might try to negotiate a settlement with the other party. You also can settle your case during a civil trial, as long as it occurs before the judge or jury issues a decision.

Provide Legal Support During a Trial

Some businesses have deep pockets and because of their strong financial position, prefer to litigate a personal injury case instead of settling it. If that happens with your case, one of our Pittsburgh slip and fall lawyers will provide you with legal support during every phase of the trial. This includes presenting persuasive evidence and calling expert witnesses to the stand for testimony.

Before you choose a Pittsburgh slip and fall attorney, you first have to conduct extensive research to determine which one is the best fit for your case.

Proven Record of Success

When you meet with a personal injury attorney from Morgan & Morgan, you will learn about our more than 30 years of winning personal injury cases for our clients. We list the results of individual cases on our website that go back several years. 

Experience matters when selecting a personal injury attorney, but only if the experience translates in the favorable conclusion to a civil lawsuit.

Representation

The attorney you meet with during the free case evaluation might not be the lead lawyer for your case. Many personal injury attorneys delegate some, most, or all of the responsibilities involved with a slip and fall case either to a less experienced lawyer in the firm or to a clerk or paralegal if the attorney runs a solo practice. You want the best slip and fall lawyer to work with you every step of the way.

Responsive Communication

Although it will appear at times that a slip and fall case moves along about as fast as a large tortoise, you can expect times during the process when things pick up plenty of steam. You want responsive legal counsel that keeps you informed in a timely manner. You should never have to wait for a response to a question for more than one day before a trial and just a couple of hours during the trial phase of your case.

Fee Arrangement

Hiring a Pittsburgh slip and fall lawyer on an hourly basis can quickly run your legal bill into thousands of dollars. Instead, you want to hire a lawyer who charges on a contingency fee basis. In other words, you want to work with legal counsel that gets paid when you get paid. Legal counsel that operates on a contingency fee basis should be more motivated to get you the compensation that you deserve.

With the Yellow Pages no longer around to promote lawyers, which resources should you turn to for help in choosing the best Pittsburgh slip and fall lawyer?

People You Know

Old-school networking remains a highly effective strategy for choosing the best attorney. Ask friends and family members for recommendations and if they fail to prove you with any leads, expand your network to include neighbors and professional colleagues. Getting a recommendation from someone you trust can dramatically shorten the amount of time you need to find the right attorney for your case.

Reach Out to Lawyers

If you know a reputable personal injury attorney, then you are done with the search process. However, you might not know a personal injury lawyer, but that does not mean you are done with networking. You can seek suggestions for legal counsel from attorneys that practice other areas of law. For example, an estate planning lawyer you know might connect you with a Pittsburgh slip and fall attorney.

Pennsylvania Bar Association

The Pennsylvania Bar Association maintains a vast database of attorneys that practice law in the Keystone State. Access the Find a Lawyer web page from the Pennsylvania Bar Association website and use the search tool to access a list of state-licensed slip and fall lawyers.

Receiving a recommendation for a Pittsburgh slip and fall lawyer does not mean your search is over. You still have to conduct thorough research to ensure the lawyer meets all the criteria for finding the best legal representation.

Put Morgan & Morgan on your shortlist of candidates by scheduling a free case evaluation with one of our Pittsburgh slip and fall lawyers.