The Florida Slip and Fall Injury Guide was created by Victory Law Firm to help injured residents obtain maximum compensation. Call our lawyers for a review.
Having a slip and fall in public in the best times is just an embarrassing story. If you are here reading this page, however, your own slip and fall was likely something that caused you some serious pain and suffering. The number of serious injuries from trips or slips and falls on someone else’s property are astronomical. This happens way too often. Our Florida slip and fall lawyers want to be able to help you get the justice we’ve helped so many other people get. We hope that you give our office a call immediately after you’ve been seriously injured on someone else’s property. Set up your free, first consultation with us right away. You deserve to get the results that you are entitled to. Call today to get started on getting justice for your case.
Slip and Fall Case Process
You are likely looking for a better understanding of what you would be getting into if you filed a claim for your slip and fall case. Here’s what we want you to know:
Let’s say you were at a grocery store when you were walking down the aisle, turned the corner and slipped in a spilled jar of tomato sauce that no worker had cleaned up and no one had to put a caution sign next to. If it was there for several hours and management knew about it and knew that somebody could’ve gotten hurt slipping in it, then they are likely going to be liable for any injuries and damages that you have suffered. It is especially damning to this grocery store if someone had pointed out the spill well before you slipped on it. All of these things are going to be what we are investigating to find out what happened and who is responsible.
Let’s also say that you suffered broken bones and needed surgery to fix this injury. Also, when you slipped and fell, you broke your phone that you used for work. Those are two very important damages that we will look into to see how much they’ve impacted your life economically (as well as non-economically which we will discuss later.) Your Florida slip and fall lawyers will want to meet with you right away for your free consultation to learn about this event and help you discover what your rights are.
Once we can find out that, for instance, this grocery store was liable for the damages and injuries that you suffered because they saw that there was a spill but didn’t do anything to prevent someone from getting hurt, then we can file a claim against them.
We will then fight tirelessly against them to try to get a settlement award from them that we believe to be full and fair. If they cannot come back to us with a reasonable award then we may very well take them all the way to trial.
Value of Your Slip and Fall Accident Case
When you receive justice for your case it will be in the form of financial compensation. Mainly the two categories of this compensation will be your economic as well as non-economic damages.
If you went to the emergency room after your slip and fall accident, then the costs for that visit, as well as any ambulance ride or follow up treatment, physical therapy or surgeries, are all going to be considered in your compensation award. We need to know what the maximum medical recovery is for you so that we know how much money you are going to be spending on your physical recovery as well as how long that will take. If you’ve missed a lot of work and lost out on wages because of this accident, that is also very important to your case value.
Non-economic damages have more to do with how you personally suffered in your quality of life following your accident and what it did to you emotionally, mentally and physically. If you were in immense pain for a long time, that is going to be factored into your award. If you didn’t get to enjoy your hobbies like you used to because you were too hurt to do so then that should also be a strong factor in your compensation award. You need to make sure that your Florida slip and fall lawyers are going to fight for every little bit of non-economic damage that you’ve had to suffer through because they are very important.
Tips for a Successful Slip and Fall Injury Claim
If you are looking for some tips on how you should handle yourself after your case, here’s what you need to know:
You absolutely need to seek medical attention the very first chance that you get after your accident happens. Go to an emergency room or an urgent care facility or even your primary doctor if you can get in immediately. You need to get your injuries looked at and set up a treatment plan for them so you can avoid worsening these injuries and also get the relief that you want and need.
Do not wait to get to a doctor because you are going to have the greedy insurance companies waiting for you to do something wrong. If they notice on your medical records that you waited quite a while to actually get in front of a doctor to look at your injuries, they might say that you lied about how badly you were hurt. They might also say that you lied about where you got these injuries to begin with, which would also let them throw your case out. You don’t want to miss out on compensation simply because you raised the suspicions of the insurance company.
You absolutely need to reach out to our Florida slip and fall lawyers right away so that you are protected as soon as possible. You have four years from the date of your slip and fall to file a civil claim but we strongly suggest you don’t let that make you complacent so that you forget to call a lawyer altogether. It’s too easy to let time fly by and leave you without justice because you completely forgot about it.
We don’t want you to give the insurance company a recorded statement, either. They will reach out to you under the guise of resolving your case sooner, but sooner isn’t always better. They are trained to ask you questions during a recorded statement that would essentially ruin your case if you answer them in the way that they hope you do. You need to get in touch with a lawyer before you even consider talking to the insurance company. Most lawyers worth their salt are going to tell you to steer far away from any sort of statement with the insurance company at all because of the tactics they use to incriminate you in this accident, which would allow them to reduce what they are going to give you or allow them to throw out your case completely.
Getting Help Is Worth It
The first thing that you should think about after you have been hurt in a slip and fall is your physical recovery. Your health and well-being are extremely important after you’ve been injured, especially if you are going to be pursuing a case against the liable party. Our first priority is for you to recover from this accident but we also need to know what your recovery time is going to look like and how much that’s going to cost you financially, as well as in other aspects of your life. Our Florida slip and fall lawyers want to be able to take the stress of a case off of your shoulders so that you can focus on your health.
Most of the time when you file a personal injury case you have never had to do so before, which means that you have limited knowledge about the subject. Representing yourself can be scary and unrealistic. Having the help of someone who does this on a daily basis and is passionate about personal injury law is going to be so beneficial to you and your stress levels. An attorney handles all of the hard parts so you don’t have to think about it at all.
There is a lot of knowledge of the laws and statutes required for someone to become a successful litigator for slip and fall cases. That is something that we never want you to have to worry about. What you need to worry about is finding the lawyer who you believe is going to best represent your case and fight the hardest to make sure that your results in the end are fair for you.
Frequently Asked Slip and Fall Questions
After a Slip and Fall, Is It a Good Idea to Talk to Insurance Companies?
We had a client come in last week who was telling me that they had fallen at one of the local outlet malls, a shopping venue here in Orlando, Florida. They had told me that the insurance company for the facility or the business where they fell at was trying to contact them. They were trying to get a statement from them. They were trying to speak to them about what had happened at their client’s store. We advised that client, no, that is not a good idea to speak to the insurance company of the business where you were injured. The reason why is because many, if not all, of those insurance company representatives are especially trained to be able to gather certain evidence from injured parties. That evidence is used to not only fight the claim but to use it against you directly in the future prosecution of your claim.
Many times, we have clients that come in and they tell me, “I spoke to the insurance company. I gave a statement.” Then later that statement will come back and haunt them. They’ll have a recording of it or they’ll have it transcribed and they’ll come back and said, “On this day, you said this. Now you’re saying something different.” It really has nothing to do with the client’s ability to handle the claim or negotiate things on their own. It’s really a specialized tactic that these insurance companies use to protect themselves and to hurt you. At the end of the day, if you’re ever injured in a slip and fall case in Orlando, Florida, do not speak to the insurance company representatives as this will only hurt your case. If you have any other questions about slip and falls in Florida, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Can I Sue a City or County for My Injuries from a Sidewalk or Curb?
We’ve represented many clients, many of which who have been tourists or visiting the Orlando, Florida area who have fallen or tripped because of cracked sidewalks, raised sidewalks. Many times, we have visitors that come to the Orlando area. They don’t want to rent a car. What do they do? They walk. They walk around. They walk around downtown. They walk around the theme park areas. They have their families with them. They’re not familiar with these areas. They haven’t walked these areas before. Sometimes they’re walking them at night.
If you are experiencing this type of situation, and we’ve dealt with this in the past, yes, you will have a claim or you can have a claim against a county or a city or whoever is responsible for those sidewalks. It is their responsibility to ensure that those sidewalks are in reasonably safe conditions. We need to make sure that we hold them accountable for making sure that they are kept in compliance, make sure that they are maintained properly. We will tell you that if it is a sidewalk or a driveway that is owned and maintained by a government, municipality, a city, or a county, that they have different regulations. They have different laws that apply to them. They have certain limits on the amount of recovery that you can get in these cases. They are oftentimes fought tooth and nail by the city or the county.
What we recommend is if you ever have a slip and fall because of a sidewalk or a driveway that is maintained by a governmental organization such as a city or a county in the Orlando, Florida area, that you hire an attorney that’s familiar with dealing with these specific types of cases so that they can explain to you what may be different than falling at a sidewalk or a driveway or a location that is not owned or maintained by a city or a municipality because these can affect your case and it can affect the ultimate outcome of the case. If you have any other questions about slip and fall in Orlando, Florida, don’t hesitate to contact our firm.
How Do I Determine the Value of My Slip and Fall Claim?
We were talking with a client who came in not so long ago. They had slipped and fallen at one of the local theme parks here in Orlando, Florida. The question that they had asked me was what the value of this type of case is. What compensation should I expect to get for the injuries that I’ve sustained in this case? We advised our client that it really depends. It depends on several different factors, but for the most part, one of the most important factors that it does depend on is the severity and the nature of your injury.
If it is a mild injury, your case may be less valuable, but at the end of the day, we’re more worried about your health and whether you are able to function as opposed to the actual value in terms of monetary compensation that you can get. Many of our clients who are less injured are fine with that type of valuation. They understand that their injuries may not be as severe as others. It really depends first and foremost on the nature of the severity of the injuries and what other things you may not have lost.
In other more serious cases where the injury was severe and the client has received lengthy treatment process and they are disabled or their range of motion and things like that are affected, their daily lives are affected, then the compensation and the value can go up. Though we can’t put a dollar amount on it, as attorneys experienced in slip and falls and dealing with these types of cases, we can tell you that we will gather all the evidence to make sure that your claim and the compensation that you get is the most that is possible for your particular type of claim. We have medical costs. We have the nature of the injury. We also have other items such as pain and suffering or the loss of enjoyment of life that we can use to come up with evaluation in your case.
Again, all of these things depend on the particular and unique facts and circumstances of your case. What we recommend is that you sit down with an attorney that’s experienced in handling slip and fall cases in Orlando, Florida, that way you can get the most information and know exactly where your case may be headed in terms of length of resolution and ultimate compensation that you may receive. If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to contact our firm.
How Do I Select the Best Slip and Fall Attorney?
We had a client come in last week who was here visiting from out of state. They were seriously injured when they slipped and fell at one of the local shopping venues. The client had asked me what kind of attorney they needed to help with this type of case. Our answer to him was you need to find an attorney that is knowledgeable of these types of cases here in the Orlando, Florida area. Orlando, Florida is unique because we have many venues where slip and fall can occur. We have outdoor shopping venues. We have theme parks. We have other places where many of the locals spend their time. We have a lot of tourists that come in from out of state or from out of the country.
Having dealt with these types of cases, specifically in this area, is very important for the attorney to have that kind of knowledge. Also, Florida is unique in the sense that they have specialized laws regarding slip and falls. An attorney has to be knowledgeable about those specific laws as they may affect your particular slip and fall case. Only speaking with and hiring someone who’s knowledgeable with those types of laws is going to ensure that you have someone who will make sure that you can receive the compensation that you deserve. If you have any other questions about slip and falls in Orlando, Florida, please don’t hesitate to contact our office.
How Does a Warning Sign Affect a Slip and Fall Claim?
We had a client come in the other day. We were was talking with him about his slip and fall case. He had slipped and fallen at one of the local theme parks. While we were discussing the unique facts and circumstances of his case, he had indicated to me that he had taken some photographs of the area. We were going through those photographs and we saw that there were some warning wet floor signs that were in that area where the incident occurred. The way that a warning sign may or may not affect your case in Orlando, Florida is really depending on the facts and circumstances of your case.
If, for example, the warning sign is nowhere near where you fell, then it may not have any effect on your case. Also the most important thing is in Florida we follow this particular set of rules that even though there is a warning sign and the injured party our client may have been in that area and may have seen it, that doesn’t really let the business off the hook. That’s simply a warning. They’re still responsible for making sure that the area is reasonably safe condition because there are different circumstances where the patrons to that area may not see the sign. Maybe they don’t speak the language that the sign is in. Maybe the sign is not adequately colored or enough to be recognized. All of these things come into play that could affect your case.
The simple fact is that a warning sign does not mean that you do not have a case. It’s just simply something that you’re going to have to deal with in prosecuting your slip and fall case. Again, it’s important to hire an attorney that’s knowledgeable with slip and fall cases in Orlando, Florida because they’ll be able to develop your case in a way where a warning sign will not have any effect or little effect in getting you the compensation that you deserve. If you have any other questions about slip and fall cases in Orlando, don’t hesitate to contact us.
How Long Is It Going to Take to Resolve My Slip and Fall Injury Claim?
We were was just discussing this with a client last week. They had been injured at an outdoor venue here in Florida. They had asked me how long is this case going to take. They had slipped and fallen and they had injured themselves. That is one of the questions We get the most with these types of injury cases. We told our client it really depends. It depends on several things. One of the things it depends on is the length and nature of your medical treatment and your injuries. If your injuries are less severe, then it’s going to take less time to resolve the case. If your injuries are more severe, it may take more time to resolve your case.
Also a key factor is the insurance companies themselves. The insurance companies are the ones that are going to defend the venue or the shopping center or the theme park where the incident happened. In our experience, you have some insurers or some companies that are willing to work with the injured party in getting this case resolved in a short amount of time. We have other situations where the insurance company or the company where the incident occurred, they want to take a different view and they want to fight the case and they don’t want to be reasonable and they don’t want to help the injured client. In those situations, we will have to go from negotiation to litigation to eventually maybe going to a jury trial. In that case, that’s going to take a lot longer than if the insurer is going to work with us and we can get that resolved in a short period of time. It really depends on those some of the most important factors in resolving a slip and fall case here in Orlando, Florida. If you have any other questions about your particular slip and fall case, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
I Slipped and Fell Due to Faulty Steps. Do I Have a Case?
We have many clients who have come in and talk to me about a slip and fall case that they have had in one of the local venues throughout Orlando, Florida. One in particular is we have many hotels and motels here in Orlando, Florida. We have them as part of the theme parks. Many times, we’ll have clients that come in, they’ve fallen on the steps or the stairs that are in the hotels and throughout these facilities. It really depends on the unique facts and circumstances of each particular case, but getting a lawyer involved in your case that is familiar with these types of venues and familiar with these types of cases is going to be critical in getting you the compensation that you deserve and determining whether you even have a case.
In our experience, cases can be made out of the fact that some of the stairways and the steps have faulty construction. They have not been maintained properly. Many times, they’re just simply out of code. There’s a building code that dictates how things such as steps should be built and constructed throughout the state of Florida. This also applies to venues such as hotels and motels as they have the obligation and duty to follow these certain codes. Getting an attorney who’s experienced in this type of slip and fall situation will get you a team of experts and people who are familiar with this involved. We can hire an expert. They can go in there and they can analyze the steps. They can examine the steps, make sure that they’re in full compliance with state laws and ensure that the material that is used to make the steps is what’s required.
There are many different things that go into that. Making sure that you get an attorney involved right away who has handled these types of cases will ensure your success in a situation where you have slipped and fallen on steps here in Orlando, Florida. If you have any other questions about slip and falls, don’t hesitate to contact us.
What Are Common Mistakes People Make If They Have Been Injured in a Slip and Fall?
Some common mistakes that we see when clients come in after they have fallen at a local venue in Orlando, Florida, such as a theme park or shopping center, is that oftentimes there’s a failure to preserve evidence. In these slip and fall cases, oftentimes there’s a certain element that has caused this slip and fall to occur. For example, if you’re at a local shopping or food venue, there may be some type of liquid or other item on the floor that caused the fall. This item may be removed or it may be discarded after you have left the scene. After that, that could become an important and contentious issue in your case.
What we recommend is to avoid those problems is to make sure that, if you can, if you’re physically able to or if someone nearby is physically able to, is make sure to document that scene as detailed as possible. If you have your cellphone or if you have a camera, take pictures of the area. Take pictures of your injury. Take pictures of the employees. Get names so you can recognize the people that were there or the employees that were there and attended to you because many people get surprised when they try to go back and get this information, maybe those employees are no longer working there, the scene will be cleaned or that material that may have caused you to fall will be long gone by that time. Very important in those types of cases is to make sure that you document the scene, what may or may not have caused you to fall, and your injuries.
Another thing that we see that can affect a slip and fall case in Orlando, Florida is the failure to get an incident report or have the store file an incident report. Many times when we have clients come in and we ask for that incident report, they tell me that one wasn’t offered to them or they weren’t given a copy of the one that they filled out. These are things that could affect your case in the future. One, make sure that an incident report gets filled out. Then number two, get a copy of that incident report. After all, it is our incident and it’s your name or your signature most likely on that document. That’s something that you should be able to get from those companies or those businesses. That will help you in the future.
The other thing is to make sure that you get with an attorney that has handled slip and fall cases in Orlando, Florida. That’s a mistake that we often see some clients make. We get clients that come in oftentimes that they’ve been represented by other attorneys who are not familiar with this specific type of case and we have to take over the case and then we can go forward and help them with that. These are some of the things that can help you in your slip and fall case. If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to contact our office.
What Should I Do If I Fall Due to a Faulty Handrail?
If someone was to come into our office and tell me that they were injured by a faulty handrail, which could be anywhere, it could be at one of the local theme parks. It could be at one of the shopping venues. Then we would advise them, absolutely, they do have a claim. First and foremost, you need to find an attorney who’s experienced with this type of incident because they are going to be able to gather all the evidence and get those involved and particular experts that are going to be able to analyze the scene and be able to find the particular facts and circumstances that are going to help your case. In terms of faulty handrailing, there are many different things that an expert hired by our firm is going to take a look at. They’re going to take a look at whether the construction was done properly, whether the facility or that area was maintained properly, whether there were any code violations.
Any of these things need to be documented and need to be examined thoroughly to ensure that you can get the best resolution for your case. Many times in these types of slip and fall cases, if it’s the fault of some type of faulty material or building item, then oftentimes that is fixed after the incident. If that’s fixed and it’s not documented prior to that, that could adversely affect your case. It’s very important to make sure to get someone involved in your case right away who has experience in dealing with these types of cases and that will ensure that you will have a claim if you are ever injured by a faulty handrail in Orlando, Florida. If you have any other questions about slip and fall or premises cases in Orlando, Florida, don’t hesitate to contact our office.
What Should I Do If I Was Injured on Residential Property?
What should you do if you’re injured in a slip and fall at a residence in Orlando, Florida? We get asked this question often by clients who are injured if they are at someone’s home, maybe they’re visiting a friend or maybe they are at a coworker’s home, maybe they are invited to a common friend’s home for a get together or some type of party. This type of incident happens. Throughout central Florida, homes are insured by homeowners’ insurance so oftentimes there is coverage for these types of claims.
What we would tell clients who are injured while at someone’s home is to make sure that first and foremost, they let the homeowner know what was happened. Again, document, document, document, make sure that you or someone that you know takes photographs and documents the scene and what may have caused you to fall. This is going to be very important because oftentimes in slip and fall cases, whether it’s at a residence or at a business, the particular thing that made you fall, that will go away. Sometimes it gets cleaned up, sometimes people will bring in companies to fix whatever issue it is, and that will disappear. Later on, if you don’t have that documented, that could affect your case because that is the one thing that we’re going to be telling the jury and the insurance company caused you to fall. First and foremost, if you physically can, make sure you document the scene. Make sure you take note of what may have caused you to fall.
The second most important thing is to make sure that you get your medical treatment right away. If you’re injured and you are feeling some kind of pain, you need to make sure that you report that either to the authorities, to 911, or make sure you go to the emergency room or follow up with a physician later on. Documenting your injuries from this type of slip and fall is going to be critical in getting you the compensation that you deserve. If you have any other questions about slip and fall cases, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Call Our Florida Slip and Fall Lawyers Today
If you’ve been seriously injured in a slip and fall or a trip and fall on someone else’s property and you believe that it was caused by negligence and carelessness, please get in touch with our Florida slip and fall lawyers as soon as you possibly can to hold the liable party responsible for the damages and injuries that you’ve had to suffer through. You deserve to get dependable and tireless representation in your fight to get the justice you are entitled to. We are waiting to set up your free, first consultation today.