When you suffer a serious injury in a slip and fall accident, you might need to hire a Slip and Fall Lawyer to manage your claim. But what exactly does a Slip and Fall Lawyer do?
Many people understand that personal injury law firms can assist in securing compensation if you are injured in a car accident. However, slip and fall lawyers can help with various types of injury claims beyond vehicle accidents.
A Slip and Fall Lawyer represent victims across multiple practice areas within personal injury law. If you’ve been injured by someone else or a company, we encourage you to reach out to us for a free consultation.
How Skilled Lawyers Defend Your Right to Compensation in a Slip nad Fall Injury Cases
Whether you’re injured in a slip and fall, car accident, by a defective product, or any other incident, your primary focus should be on your recovery. As you seek emergency medical treatment and ongoing care, your slip and fall lawyer works to protect your legal rights. They act as a shield between you and anyone who might disrupt your recovery or peace of mind.
As your personal injury case moves forward, here’s what you can expect:
- As medical bills start to accumulate, hospital staff will be eager to know how you plan to cover the costs.
- If your injury involved a car accident, the investigating police officer will seek your account of the events.
- Your insurance company will request a statement to assess your eligibility for PIP benefits and determine their liability for the other driver’s damages.
- The other driver’s insurance provider will need your side of the story to see if they can avoid paying you.
- If your injury occurred on someone else’s property, their liability insurance company will want to understand the details.
- If the accident happened at work, your employer and HR department will likely have questions.
While you might manage these matters on your own, the stakes are high. In the stressful days following an accident, your Slip and Fall injury attorney steps in on your behalf. As your legal advocate, they handle all communications, allowing you to focus on your recovery. From the moment you choose to work with them until your case is resolved, your experienced attorney remains dedicated to protecting your interests.
Slip and Fall Injury Lawyers Develop Complex Legal Strategies
A Slip and Fall lawyer defends the legal rights of accident victims under applicable tort laws. While this might seem straightforward, it involves identifying and addressing potential legal challenges before they occur and stepping in to act on your behalf. For your Slip and Fall injury attorney, this means managing a series of ongoing tasks and applying a strategic mindset to your case.
Skilled Slip and Fall Lawyer Will Talk Through Your Accident and Outline Your Rights
For instance, if you were hurt in a car accident at an intersection, your slip and fall lawyer will inquire about relevant details such as traffic lights, speed limits, signs, and signals that regulate the flow of vehicles. In the case of a slip and fall accident, they will need to gather information about the conditions that led to your fall, including the lighting, the type of footwear you were wearing, any obstacles in your way, or other factors that might have contributed to the incident.
How Does a Slip and Fall Lawyer Build a Winning Claim?
Part of preparing for settlement negotiations or trial involves thoroughly investigating the case and conducting discovery. A Slip and Fall injury attorney will delve into the details of your case, which might include hiring expert witnesses and collecting all available evidence related to your accident. Some Slip and Fall lawyers prefer to conduct on-site and in-person investigations themselves, while others rely on independent investigators to handle this aspect.
An investigator may:
- Locate and interview witnesses
- Collect any existing photos, videos, or diagrams of the scene
- Obtain police reports and employer statements
- Take pictures of the vehicles involved
- Document hazardous conditions at the site of the injury. If no visual evidence exists, the lawyer may send someone to the accident location to capture photos of any remaining evidence, such as skid marks, debris, or other physical proof that can’t be removed.
Using Investigation Reports, Your Lawyer Will Assess Your Injury Claim
These tasks, along with others, help gather the evidence your Slip and Fall injury attorney needs to review and assess fault in your case. To secure the compensation you deserve, your lawyer will also require key documents such as your medical records and bills. If you have a pre-existing condition that slows down your healing process, like diabetes or an immune disorder, your attorney might need additional medical documentation.
These records can be crucial in showing that your recovery may take longer due to your underlying health issues or that your injuries from the accident have worsened your existing condition. Additionally, your Slip and Fall lawyer will draft interrogatories—written questions—for the opposing party. They may also request depositions, allowing them to question the other party under oath.
Dedicated Slip and Fall Lawyers Will Fight for Your Claim in Insurance Negotiations
If you’re involved in a car accident, both your auto insurance provider and the other driver’s liability insurer will want to speak with you. In cases of slip and fall or workplace injuries, general liability or workers’ compensation insurers will also seek information. They will typically request recorded statements.
Your Slip and Fall lawyer will:
- Decline the liability carriers’ attempts to control the information flow that could weaken your claim
- Organize and oversee your statement, or provide guidance on what you should avoid saying
- Communicate further with your insurance company to advocate for coverage of your medical expenses and vehicle repairs
Your Injury Attorney Will Promptly Advise Insurers and Opposing Parties of Your Representation
To prevent any direct contact with you, your Slip and Fall lawyer will notify all involved parties that they are representing you. They will inform everyone that any future communication or inquiries should be directed to their law firm. This approach allows your attorney to manage insurance communications, monitor claim progress, keep track of your medical treatment and bills, and handle other vital information related to your case.
Sending Official Letters of Representation
After initially reaching out via phone or email, Slip and Fall
injury attorneys typically follow up with a formal letter of representation. This letter is sent to all relevant parties, such as other drivers involved in a car accident, employers of injured workers, manufacturers of defective products, insurance companies, and any other individuals or entities that may attempt to contact their client regarding the incident.
Your Slip and Fall Lawyer Will Carefully Analyze Insurance Policies and Subrogation Entitlements
Your Slip and Fall lawyer will often request copies of your auto insurance policy or other pertinent policies from the insurers involved. Once they have these documents, they’ll assess your coverage, addressing any concerns related to PIP benefits, liability, medical payments, Uninsured Motorist (UM), Underinsured Motorist (UIM) coverage, and your health insurance benefits.
A comprehensive Slip and Fall lawyer will also scrutinize any subrogation terms within your health and auto insurance policies. They will outline your responsibility to uphold the insurer’s subrogation rights and ensure that your insurance providers are considered in any legal actions. As your advocate, it’s crucial for your lawyer to understand the insurer’s entitlement to reclaim funds they’ve disbursed. Whether negotiating a settlement or filing a lawsuit, your attorney will also safeguard your insurance company’s stake in the matter.
You Might Need to Pursue a Personal Injury Lawsuit to Recover Damages
When your accident lawyer files a personal injury lawsuit, it marks the start of a new phase in their representation of your case. This process involves formalizing legal theories, claims, and details about the damages sought. The parties involved lose some degree of control as a judge often steps in to encourage a settlement. As litigation progresses, both sides, along with their insurance companies, start to accumulate legal costs and fees, which can sometimes prompt the defendants to settle to avoid further expenses.
If your case includes a workers’ compensation claim, your attorney will guide you through the necessary reporting and form submissions. Should the insurance company deny your claim, your Slip and Fall lawyer will support you in filing a petition for benefits. They will also represent you in any required hearings and work to secure any lump sum settlements you may be entitled to receive.
Dedicated Slip and Fall Lawyers Should Be Ready for Trial
Since most of the work on your case is completed during the investigation and discovery phases, once your attorney is prepared for settlement talks, they are also nearly ready for trial. At this stage, they need to file the lawsuit and ensure that all evidence is properly organized and ready for presentation in court. Your Slip and Fall lawyer must also make sure that the defendant (the party being sued) receives copies of all evidence that will be used at trial.
The defendant is required to share any evidence they intend to present with your Slip and Fall injury attorney as well. If your lawyer believes that expert witnesses are necessary to explain certain aspects of your case, such as future medical expenses, they will arrange for those experts on your behalf. Once everything is in place for the trial, and if a fair settlement from the insurance company has not been reached, the lawyer will set a trial date with the court.
What to Expect in Terms of Slip and Fall Lawyer Costs?
Although hiring a Slip and Fall injury attorney offers many advantages, some people remain reluctant to seek legal help. This hesitation is often due to concerns about the cost of legal fees, especially for those recovering from serious injuries. To address this concern, many Slip and Fall lawyers operate on a contingency fee basis, which means they do not require significant upfront payments.
With a contingency fee arrangement, the lawyer’s payment comes from the compensation you receive, whether through a settlement or a court award. Typically, this fee is a percentage, often around 33%, though it can vary based on the lawyer and the specifics of the case. This fee is deducted from the total amount of compensation you are awarded. This arrangement aligns the lawyer’s interests with yours, as their payment depends on securing the highest possible compensation for you. Essentially, if your Slip and Fall injury attorney does not win compensation for you, they do not get paid.