Should You Hire a Lawyer for a Slip and Fall Injury Case?
Slip and fall accidents occur most commonly on icy parking lots, unsteady sidewalks and on slippery floors and stairs. These falls can result in serious injuries. If you have been a victim of a slip and fall accident, it is essential to seek legal representation. A skilled and experienced slip and fall injury lawyer can review your case and help you receive compensation for your injuries, including medical expenses and lost income. Any personal injury case has the potential need for services of a lawyer but even more so if it is a slip and fall case. A slip and fall case is quite different from other cases, like a minor car accident case, where liability is fairly easy to prove. Insurers in slip and fall cases will rarely acknowledge liability to a person who is not represented by a lawyer.
How can a slip and fall injury lawyer help?
- He can be the line of communication between you and the insurer.
- He will identify the positive and negative factors affecting liability and damages.
- He has the expertise and knowledge to determine if the defendant’s carelessness was the cause of the fall.
- Slip and fall cases are not clear-cut, and you need to lean on the experience of a lawyer to go to trial and fight your case.
- After understanding how you feel, he will review the applicable state, federal, and local laws to determine if the condition of the premises violated any of those laws
- To prove damages, your slip and fall injury attorney have to document your lost income after going through your employer’s pay records and tax forms and tax returns. He can also help by getting and organizing your medical bills from the busy health professional caring for your injury.
- If the medical records are not legally sufficient to prove the accident caused your resulting medical condition, your lawyer will contact your doctor for a medical report or letter specifically addressing causal relationship.
So a lawyer can help:
Prove legal responsibility: An experienced slip and fall injury attorney will review and examine the case to find the necessary proof that the defendant’s negligence resulted in damage to you.
In handling insurance companies: An experienced attorney will negotiate with the insurance company to help you obtain the best possible outcome.
In filing a lawsuit: If your claim cannot be settled, your lawyer will help you through the trial process and work to make sure you receive maximum compensation.
The Cost Impact
You could keep all the settlement money if you handled the slip and fall claim yourself, but you may be missing out on a much larger settlement that an attorney would be able to negotiate.