A sudden slip or fall can change your life for the worse in a fraction of a second. Whether the accident occurs in the workplace or on residential property, the results can leave you unable to earn a living, provide for your loved ones, and pay for much-needed medical care. In these situations, you might need to file a personal injury lawsuit.
The more you understand about slip and fall lawsuits—from the harm they can do and the ways they can occur to the fine points of liability and damages—the more easily you can discuss your predicament with an experienced attorney to build an effective case. The following questions and answers can help you get your bearings on this complicated matter.
What Problems Can a Slip or Fall Cause?
Slips and falls can cause a wide range of injuries. Strains, sprains, dislocations, and fractures can leave you functionally immobile for an extended period. Some fractures, notably broken hips, can prove especially difficult to recover from. A slip or fall can also create deep lacerations, broken teeth, and eye injuries.
Slip and fall accidents that damage the nervous system can have devastating effects on your quality of life. Examples may include traumatic brain injuries such as concussions, crushed nerves that produce extreme pain or cause limbs to lose function, and spinal cord injuries that may cause partial or total paralysis.
Injuries don’t count as the only kind of damage you might suffer from a slip or fall, nor do they provide the sole reason for filing a lawsuit. For example, you might suffer financial losses due to medical bills or taking unpaid sick days from your job to recover. Even if you don’t sustain a physical injury, the fall might destroy a priceless or irreplaceable possession of yours. A lawsuit might award you compensation when other measures cannot.
Where and How Do Slips and Falls Occur?
Some slips and falls may occur purely due to an individual’s clumsiness or lack of caution, while others stem from environmental factors that make ordinary standing or walking unusually hazardous. Examples include carelessly strewn cables, broken handrails, unbalanced ladders, substandard lighting, and leaky plumbing pipes.
You might have no way of knowing about the conditions that promote slips and falls at first glance. For instance, a transparent sheet of ice on stairs or a puddle of water on a floor can disappear into its surroundings, especially if no warning sign or barrier alerts you to the danger.
Who Shoulders Liability for Your Injury?
Liability in a slip and fall incident depends on which party’s negligence, if anyone’s, actually caused the incident. A homeowner or custodian who leaves a cable where people can trip on it may hold liability for a slip and fall if that person recognized, or should’ve recognized, that the obstacle could cause an injury.
Even if a worker or property owner didn’t create the danger, that person may still hold liability if their negligence allowed an obvious danger such as an unfilled pothole or unstable stair to go unrepaired. In these scenarios, however, the court would expect that a reasonable person would recognize the threat.
When Should You File Your Lawsuit?
Different U.S. states have their own statutes regarding the time requirements for filing a slip and fall or other personal injury lawsuit. New York gives you a maximum of three years from the date of the injury to file your lawsuit with the state’s civil court. If you try to file past that deadline, the court probably won’t hear your case.
You may not have to file a slip and fall lawsuit at all if the responsible party’s insurance company agrees to pay damages. However, insurers can sometimes refuse to pay damages or offer far too little compensation to suit your needs. For this reason, you should go ahead and prepare your case so you can file it on time.
How Do Courts Award Damages in These Cases?
You might assume that a strong slip and fall case would automatically lead to an award of full damages. However, since New York follows a rule known as comparative negligence, you may not receive that full award if the defense can demonstrate that you carry some of the blame for the incident.
In comparative liability, each party holds responsibility for a specific percentage of the damages caused by the accident. For instance, if the court finds that both you and the other party hold equal responsibility for what happened, you may expect to receive no more than one-half of the total compensation you seek.
No one may hold liability if the property owner or manager couldn’t have reasonably known about or corrected the hazard in time to prevent your slip and fall injury. For instance, if you slipped on a spill that someone else had made seconds before, you may have trouble presenting a convincing case for the other party’s liability.
If a recent slip or fall has left you incapacitated or suffering from chronic pain, you need counsel and representation from a skilled, experienced personal injury legal team. The legal team at Siben & Siben LLP knows how to help you make the strongest possible case for your slip and fall lawsuit. Contact our law office to request a free consultation and receive quality representation in the Long Island, NY, area.