If you were injured in a slip and fall in Florida, read our 5 frequently asked slip and fall questions. Then, contact our Florida lawyers now.
1) How Do I Select a Slip and Fall Attorney?
To select the best slip and fall attorney in Florida, you really need to find an attorney that understands the intricacies of a slip and fall case, and our firm does that. You want to hire an attorney, in Florida, in a slip and fall case who understands the whole case, understands how to build your case appropriately, understands there’s evidence that needs to be preserved, and understands the right depositions to take to make sure they can build your case.
2) What Should I Do If I Slip and Fall on Residential Property?
If you slip and fall at a residential property in Florida, you should contact an attorney right away. You want to make sure that, first of all, you preserve whatever the evidence was, whether it be a liquid on the floor, a defect in a walking surface such as a cracked walking surface, a raised walking surface, or some other defect. Then get an attorney involved. Let the attorney do an appropriate investigation. Make sure you get an attorney that knows how to do that appropriate investigation and has the resources to do that, and our law firm has that. We’ve been around for almost 60 years. We handle a lot of slip and fall cases.
Ask that attorney whether they’re willing to go to litigation or go to trial for you in a slip and fall case because oftentimes what we see is attorneys really won’t want to litigate a slip and fall case, but our firm does. We often do. We take those cases to trial. We end up trying multiple slip and fall cases a year. Reach out to the attorney. Let the attorney do the heavy lifting for you, which will prevent you from saying or doing anything that could prejudice the value of your case down the road.
3) What are the Common Mistakes After a Slip and Fall Claim?
A common mistake that someone may make with a slip and fall injury claim in Florida is not contacting an attorney immediately. If you hire an attorney right away, that attorney can then put the restaurant or premises on notice, and then they can get any evidence that exists, such as a video, potentially an incident report and witness statements. Those things can help ultimately maximize the value of your case. Try to hire an attorney right away. We have four board-certified civil trial attorneys at our law firm, which means we’re experts in the area of personal injury, and we understand how to handle slip and fall cases and help clients navigate through those.
4) Will my Slip and Fall Case Go To Trial?
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.
5) What if I Have a 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.
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? After reading our 5 frequently asked slip and fall questions, contact our experienced Southwest Florida slip and fall lawyers today for a free consultation and case evaluation.
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