Were you or a loved one injured from a fall and have questions? Check out these 3 slip and fall tips for guidance, then call our Southwest Florida attorneys.
Slip and Fall Case Going to Trial
We have folks come to us who have been involved in a slip and fall incident and tell us the last thing they ever want to do is go to trial, and that’s fine. Most of these cases never have to go to trial. We can settle some of these cases early on with the insurance company by sending a demand letter and negotiating settlement. The demand letter just says what your injuries are, how the accident happened, what your medical bills are, what your pain and suffering is, and then we can negotiate settlement within the first few months after an accident.
Sometimes, though, we have to file a lawsuit. A lawsuit just means that we file paperwork with the court and we proceed towards trial. Even when we do that, most of those cases settle before we go to trial. Why? Because the insurance company understands that our law firm is a trial firm, that we will try these cases, so that usually means we can maximize the value of the case before going to trial.
Insurance companies also know the attorneys that don’t try cases, so they’ll continue to lowball the client because they know the attorney will push the client to settle the case. That’s not what we do. We have four board-certified civil trial attorneys – which is the highest certification you can receive for civil trial – and that makes us personal injury trial experts, and we’re willing to try these cases for you. Because we’re willing to do that, most of these cases never have to go to trial; in fact, a very small percentage do.
Slip and Fall Pre-Existing Injury
If you have a slip and fall claim in Florida and you have a preexisting condition – say you have an arthritic knee – and then you get in this slip and fall accident and hurt that knee worse. While you had some pain in the knee before, you never needed surgery. After this accident, you need a surgery on the knee. The insurance company is going to say, “Well that was a preexisting condition, so we’re not going to pay you for that because it’s something that you would’ve had anyway.” This is a very common argument they make. Insurance companies hire defense doctors all the time, and those doctors will come up with these opinions. Those opinions oftentimes lack foundation because they do not take into account that you were hurt worse.
The law in Florida says if you have a preexisting condition and it’s aggravated because of an accident, then the insurance company is responsible for that aggravation and responsible for that knee surgery if that knee is aggravated. Don’t let it scare you off if you have some preexisting condition. If you’re hurt worse, the law says that you can recover for that.
You need a skilled attorney that’s able to make sure your treating physicians understand that you had this prior condition, that it got worse from the accident. Then the doctors can give appropriate opinions and we can recover appropriately for that aggravation of the preexisting condition. Please feel free to reach out to us if you have a preexisting condition and then you’re injured to where it’s made worse.
Suing the City for a Faulty Sidewalk Injury
If you have a trip and fall case in a municipality, city, or county on a curb or on a sidewalk, then you absolutely have a case. In Florida, there is this law that property owners have to keep their property in a reasonably safe condition, and that includes any city, county or municipality. They do have sovereign immunity, meaning that there is a cap on the damages that you can recover of $200,000, and there’s a cap on the attorney fees of 25%, but our firm doesn’t shy away from those cases because of that. We still handle them regularly.
If you have one of these sorts of injuries, please feel free to reach out to our law firm. We handle these cases regularly and we’d be happy to talk to you about your case.
Were you ore a loved one injured in a slip and fall accident in Florida due to the carelessness or negligence of someone else and have questions about these 3 slip and fall tips? Contact our experienced Southwest Florida slip and fall lawyers today for a free consultation and case evaluation.
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