Southwest Ranches Slip and Fall Accident Attorney

When it comes to premises liability cases, one of the most common is slip and fall. In Southwest Ranches, even a low population of around 8,000 doesn’t prevent slip and fall cases in the town. If you’re involved in a slip and fall case like this, it’s important to know that you aren’t alone. With a Southwest Ranches slip and fall accident attorney, you have a chance to recuperate the compensation you deserve.

About Southwest Ranches

As mentioned, Southwest Ranches is now home to around 8,000 people. Since 2010, this number has grown from 7,300. Back at the beginning of the millennium, there was lots of talk about Pembroke Pines annexing the whole area. Soon enough, the locals made their voice heard and it was incorporated as a town instead.

Covering over 13 square miles, it’s a location where the residents are proud of the history and traditions. As a result, sidewalks are rare, and the locals will tell you about the lack of lighting. While this has many positives for residents, it also makes certain areas dangerous through the night. With poorly lit roads, it’s no surprise that car accidents take place perhaps at a higher rate here than other areas of Florida.

As well as personal injury car accidents, The Injury Firm has also seen its fair share of slip and fall accidents in Southwest Ranches. According to the National Floor Safety Institute, falls account for 8 million individual hospital visits every single year. In fact, one-fifth of all hospital visits are a result of falls.

When slip and fall accidents occur, we normally need time off work, and this causes billions in costs around the country. As we’re going to see in this guide, the problem with slip and fall accidents is that they can happen at any time and in any location. With this, most victims aren’t prepared and suffer serious injuries as a result.

Common Slip and Fall Accidents

In truth, slip and fall accidents occur in commercial buildings in addition to residential and public buildings. If we look at a restaurant as an example, we might slip over spilled food or drink. Alternatively, it might be a mopped floor (apportioning blame depends on how the staff treated this wet floor, whether they took precautions with signs, and other factors).

Inside a building, we’ve seen accidents with damaged stairs, broken/missing handrails, debris on the floor, exposed wiring, damaged carpets and mats, improper signage, and poor-quality fixtures. What people sometimes don’t realize is that landowners are often responsible for the safety of visitors outside of the building too. Sadly, accidents can stem from cracked pavements, damaged steps, poor lighting, or icy conditions.

Do you have a personal injury slip and fall claim, and can The Injury Firm help with aggressive representation? This all depends on the circumstances of your case, and we’ll discuss this in more detail later.

Slip and Fall Accident Injuries

If you’ve ever fallen or slipped, you’ll know that the extent of injuries depends on how we land. Naturally, some people throw out their arms to break the fall but even this can cause arm breaks and sprains. We’ve seen the following injuries after a slip and fall accident:

• Shoulder Damage - As we try to break the fall with our arm or hand, the force can travel up the arm and cause problems with our shoulders. Although it might not seem problematic at first, some shoulder injuries take years of physiotherapy. For some, they aren’t able to ever get their shoulder into the same healthy condition.

• Spinal Cord Damage - When falling from a great height or down a set of stairs, there’s always a risk of damaging the spine, back, or neck. As we all know, this is a delicate area and one that needs careful medical attention after an accident. With heavy-impact accidents, victims may struggle to walk, and their quality of life is never the same again. Spinal cord injuries include fractured vertebrae, whiplash, herniated discs, and soft tissue damage.

• Bone Breaks/Fractures - It sounds contradictory, but broken bones aren’t as bad as other injuries because they are fixable and there’s a high chance of resuming a high quality of life afterward. Of course, it’s the actual recovery stage that causes the most problems. Also, broken bones are more life-threatening to some than others. For instance, elderly people suffering a hip fracture face a serious recovery period.

• Head/Brain Damage - As scary as it sounds, traumatic brain injuries can occur from a fall (falling is actually second in a list of brain injury causes). These injuries can severely alter, if not take away, a life. Victims are forced away from work for a long period and they may never have the same earning potential ever again.

Filing a Premises Liability Claim

When communicating with a personal injury lawyer, they will assess the circumstances of your case and whether you’re in a position to file a premise liability claim. As a negligence lawsuit, the idea is to sue the property owner for negligence whether this is a commercial, residential, or another type of property.

In any type of negligence claim, there’s a process that a Southwest Ranches slip and fall accident attorney needs to follow. The first step is to prove a duty of care between the owner and the victim. In other words, did the property owner have a responsibility to keep the victim safe and secure while on the property?

At this point, it’s important to learn why the victim was on the premises in the first place. While some people are invited as a social guest, others are working on the property or are a customer of a business. When a victim trespasses and gets injured this way, it’s much harder to recover damages because they shouldn’t have been on the property in the first place. The property owner still needs to avoid creating an intentionally dangerous environment in this case. Florida law labels all visitors as either a licensee, invitee, or trespasser.

Once a duty of care is established, a slip and fall personal injury lawyer will have to prove that the property owner failed in this duty. A business must not only spot dangerous conditions but also react to them for the safety of all customers. With improper action, the legal team will prove that the victim was injured and that there was a link between negligence and these injuries.

Potential Damages - Working with a Southwest Ranches Slip and Fall Accident Attorney

After an accident, one of the best things you can do is seek legal representation. Not only will The Injury Firm protect your legal rights, our aggressive representation approach ensures that victims get the compensation they not only just deserve but also need. We have extensive experience with premises liability cases and the professional approach you need to succeed.

With this, you might ask what damages you’ll receive. Ultimately, this all depends on the circumstances of your slip and fall accident. As you can imagine, those with life-threatening and life-changing injuries receive more compensation than those with less severe injuries. However, the way that compensation is obtained is the same for all cases. For example, your Southwest Ranches slip and fall accident attorney may claim for:

Non-Economic Damages - These are damages that have no fiscal value but still occurred after your accident. This could include pain and suffering, emotional anguish, worsening of prior injuries, loss of enjoyment of activities, and more.

Economic Damages - The biggest examples of economic damages are lost wages, loss of earning ability, and medical bills. If the slip and fall accident could have been prevented and wasn’t your fault, you shouldn’t pay the medical bills (while also not working!).  

Punitive Damages - Though less common, some cases seek punitive damages, and this is normally when the negligent act was particularly shocking or even intentional.

In truth, one thing we’ve learned at The Injury Firm is that every case is unique, and therefore a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work. In some cases, we’ll file against multiple parties (a leasing company and a property owner, for example). Premises liability claims aren’t simple, but we have the knowledge and experience to help.

If you’ve been injured in a slip and fall accident, it could even be a result of negligent security, feel free to reach out for a free case evaluation today. We represent the good people of Southwest Ranches and are determined to get the compensation people deserve after experiencing a traumatic injury. Other cases with which we can help include medical malpractice, defective products, and hospital negligence.

Working on a contingency basis, you won’t pay anything until you receive a compensation package. Why not focus on recovery while we deal with the finer details of your Southwest Ranches slip and fall case? Don’t let a simple mistake limit compensation when you have a caring and sensitive legal team available at The Injury Firm. Call for a FREE CASE EVALUATION: 954-951-0000