Mistakes Victims Make After Slip and Fall Accidents

When people fall inside of a property, and injure themselves, the first priority is getting medical attention, and taking care of themselves. The hope is that fall victims will eventually get legal help, and that their personal injury attorney will handle all the details of compensation for them, while they focus on getting better, and getting back to work.

But there are things that fall victims do that can jeopardize their ability to get compensation for their accident. No, you don’t have to be a legal expert to avoid these mistakes, and certainly at the scene of a skip and fall, the last thing on your mind is what you should or should not do, in order to hold the property owner responsible for your fall.

Still, it is worth reviewing, and looking at things that fall victims often do (or don’t do) that threatens their ability to get full compensation or their injuries.

Not reporting the fall – This is probably the number one mistake that people in slip and fall accidents make. If you are seriously injured, and people come to your aid, the property owner will almost certainly know you’re there, and they will make a report.

But sometimes, people fall, and they are able to get up, and they walk out of the property, never reporting the fall to the property owner. This can cause a number of problems.

The first problem is that later, if you try to make a claim for your injuries or damages, the property owner will almost certainly question whether you indeed did fall or not, given you never told anybody there at the time of your fall.

Any evidence that could have helped prove your case—witness names and interviews, video surveillance or other information—may be gone, the property owner being completely unaware that there was any evidence to preserve. Documents and items may have been fixed, cleaned, or repaired, making it much harder to prove your case.

Throwing out what you were wearing – Your clothes and shoes have information on them—the substance that you may have fallen on, the location of dirt or blood showing how you fell, or tears showing how you fell.

Clothes, and shoes, not only help your attorney, but they are evidence, and if you throw them away, the other side could accuse you of destroying evidence.

Settling too soon – Don’t be surprised if the property or insurance for the property makes you a quick offer to settle your case. They may offer a small amount of money, or offer to pay your medical expenses.

On the surface, this seems like a nice gesture, but it’s really an attempt to get you to settle your case for less than what it is worth. If you do take money or this kind of offer, you won’t be able to get more compensation later, if your injuries or damages turn out to be worse than you initially thought.

Don’t go it alone after a slip and fall accident. Call our Boston personal injury lawyers at The Law Office of Joseph Linnehan, Jr. today at 617-275-4200 for help handling your case, to help get you what you need to recover.

Sources:

findlaw.com/legalblogs/personal-injury/physical-evidence-to-keep-for-a-slip-and-fall-case/

content.next.westlaw.com/practical-law/document/I0fa034abef0811e28578f7ccc38dcbee/Spoliation?viewType=FullText&transitionType=De