HELP I Have Fallen and I Can’t Get Up: Slip and Fall Law
As you are grocery shopping you suddenly feel your legs come out from underneath you, and the next thing you know you are on the ground. You notice there is a large amount of water on the floor that is coming from one of the freezers. What you do next is crucial to ensure your recovery for your personal injury case.
First, you should notify someone that works at the grocery store so you can file an incident report. Second, depending on the extent of your injuries, you should seek medical treatment to make sure you were not severely injured.
Premises Liability
Premises liability imposes a duty on a property owner and/or tenant to maintain a safe environment for those that visit his/her property. Under the legal principle premises liability, a property owner is liable for any damage that a victim incurs on his/her property so long as the accident was preventable.
In Tennessee a property owner is liable for a slip and fall accident in the following situations:
If a dangerous surface is present such as a broken sidewalk, a wet/slippery surface, or defective flooring causing injury and the dangerous nature of the surface existed because the owner failed to correct the dangerous condition within a reasonable time period
If the property owner or its agents left an object in a place that it should not have been causing injury
The property was not well lit which caused you to slip and fall
The property owner failed to implement regular inspections and maintenance on the property which would have revealed a dangerous condition present on the property and that dangerous condition led you to injure yourself
The property owner failed to create a barrier or place a warning sign around the dangerous condition
A key factor in determining recovery in a premises personal injury claim is liability. Liability is determined by assessing which party was liable for the accident. In Tennessee if you are 50 percent or more at-fault for the accident then you will not recover any damages (compensation) for your injuries. There are cases where a jury or Judge can determine both parties are liable, thus neither party will recover.
When determining if you will recover compensation for your premises personal injury case it is important to determine whether the property owner had notice of the dangerous/defective condition on his/her property. Notice means the property owner had prior knowledge of the defect and ample time to remedy the dangerous condition.
An example of a premises liability case where a property owner may not have notice would be if a customer exits a grocery store and in doing so spills a drink out on the sidewalk. The customer fails to notify the property owner or any agents acting on behalf of the property owner (employees) of the spilled drink. Five minutes later another customer slips and falls on the spilled drink resulting in an injury. An argument can be made that the property owner and its agents lacked proper notice of the dangerous condition and therefore cannot be held liable for the accident.
Pursuing a Personal Injury Claim
Another key factor in pursuing your premises personal injury claim is receiving medical treatment for your injuries. The main evidence that is used to establish that an injury did in fact result from a slip and fall is medical treatment. Without receiving medical treatment, you have no real evidence of an injury. It is important to seek medical treatment as soon as possible. More often than not, I speak with someone that slipped and fell at a store but failed to seek medical treatment within the first two weeks. If you wait to seek medical treatment you can substantially hurt your case. While you may have initially thought that you were slightly “banged up” and that you would be fine, that is typically not the case.
Failing to receive treatment for more than two weeks following a slip and fall can communicate to the insurance company that you were not injured in the fall. If you wait two weeks, the insurance company can and will make the argument that your injury could be due to some other accident that may have occurred between the date of the accident and the date of treatment or due to some medical condition that you may have.
When pursuing a personal injury claim for a slip and fall you can seek damages for medical treatment obtained, lost wages for any time missed from work due to your injuries, prescriptions, medical equipment purchased, fuel to travel to and from medical treatment, pain and suffering, future loss of income, future pain and suffering…etc.
Do You Need a Lawyer?
It is common practice for the insurance company and its agents to save the insurance company money, as such they are going to do everything in their power to make sure you get the least amount of compensation if they offer anything at all. The insurance company will try to turn all of the facts and circumstances in its favor.
Hiring an attorney can ensure you receive the full and fair compensation you deserve. At Cotter Law it is our priority to take on the fight with the insurance company while you focus on recovering from your slip and fall accident. Fill out the form below or call Cotter Law today to schedule your FREE consultation at (865) 888-7155 to speak with an experienced attorney.
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