Tamarac Florida Slip and Fall Accident Attorney

A slip and fall accident in Tamarac, Florida, can often be very minor, but what happens in those cases when they are more severe? That’s when you need the help of a slip and fall lawyer to ensure that you receive the compensation to which you are entitled. Slip and fall accidents happen and understanding your rights can ensure that you don’t end up suffering more than you have to. These types of accidents can be financially, emotionally, and physically devastating depending on how severe your slip and fall injuries are. By reading on, you can learn about why you need the right team on your side after your slip and fall accident or some other personal injury case.

What is Comparative Negligence in Slip and Fall Accidents?

Whenever there is a slip and fall accident claim, the defense often uses the term “comparative negligence”. The principle of this term is that the victim shares some portion of the blame in a slip and fall accident, therefore the defendant isn’t responsible to cover all of your requested damages. If the defense can prove comparative negligence, you will lose out on a significant portion of your damages.

Some examples of comparative negligence include:

• If the dangerous obstacle was obvious to you and you ignored it.
• You were wearing footwear that could be considered inappropriate or unsafe for your specific situation.
• You were in a place that visitors aren’t usually or aren’t supposed to be.
• You weren’t paying attention to the area you were walking, such as texting or talking on the phone rather than paying attention to any potential obstacles.
• The defendant took reasonable measures to block off the area or had signage warning visitors of obstacles, but you ignored their measures.

If you end up in court, the defense will likely argue comparative negligence. If they do, according to “pure comparative negligence” any damages that the plaintiff receives can be reduced by a certain percentage depending on what the court determines their comparative negligence amounts to. To put this into numbers, this means that if you win damages of $10,000, but the court finds that you share comparative negligence of 15%, you can only expect to receive about $8,500 for your claim. This rule is also considered when you are settling out of court.

Comparative negligence rules make it especially important that you prove your liability case. With strong evidence, you can show that

Types of Damages You Can Collect After a Slip and Fall Accident

If you were in a Tamarac slip and fall accident, you can be entitled to compensation for your damages. These damages include:

• Current and future medical bills, including hospital bills, emergency care, medications, follow-up visits, ongoing rehabilitation, and assistive equipment.
• Loss of current and future wages, including loss of potential earning capacity
• Loss of fringe benefits, promotions, and job perks.
• Cost of in-home care
• Mental health care bills due to treatments as a result of trauma caused by your slip and fall accident.
• Emotional distress
• Costs associated with renovating your home or vehicle to accommodate a disability caused by the accident

A personal injury attorney will take a close look at your case and your damages to come up with a fair value for your damages. Lawyers have specific calculations that they use to determine fair damages so that you know what your damages are valued so that you can better gauge a reasonable settlement offer.

Statute of Limitations on Personal Injury Claims

There are statutes of limitations that are associated with personal injury claims. If you were injured in a slip and fall accident in Tamara, Florida, you must file a lawsuit within 4 years of the accident. This statute of limitations is applied to practically every personal injury claim in the state of Florida, including slip and fall accidents. This same statute of limitations applies to any property damage that was caused by the slip and fall, such as a replacement for your glasses or jewelry that broke as a result of the fall.

There may be exceptions to the statutes of limitations, which a slip and fall personal injury lawyer can help you better understand. Getting a lawyer involved as soon as possible after a personal injury claim can allow you to make sure that your claim is filed prior to this statute of limitations deadline. If you miss this deadline, you won’t be able to file a claim unless your case fits into an exemption law. However, it’s just a good idea to get this process started as soon as possible to ensure that you do not miss this deadline otherwise you miss out on the compensation that you deserve.

Determining Liability

There can sometimes be multiple parties that are liable for your slip and fall accident, which can make determining liability more complicated. A store that is owned and managed by a single person is clearer cut, whereas a place like a shopping mall may have multiple responsible parties. In some cases, you may get better results if you include all liable parties in your claim, making it more likely that you get all of the damages as requested.

According to Florida law, there is a level of duty that is owed to every visitor or customer on the premises. If a person has a right to be on the property, they are an invitee that is offered the most amount of protection in these types of cases when compared to trespassers or social guests. These areas must be free of obstacles and hazards that can interfere with the safety of the guests. You need to prove that the people responsible for the property did not take proper care or reasonable measures to remedy a situation. For instance, if you are at a restaurant and a drink gets spilled and you immediately slip on it, that was not a reasonable amount of time for the beverage to be cleaned up. This means that you won’t have a case. However, if that drink remained on the floor for a long time despite being advised of the spill, they would be liable for your injuries.

It is your burden to prove liability. You need to prove 3 things to the court:

• The property owner or business owed you a duty of care on the property. If you were invited in to shop or purchase their food or beverages, they owe you a safe place to come into.
• The property owner or business did not remedy a hazard in a reasonable amount of time or take the necessary measures to maintain the property. This means that they work to resolving the hazard or put up signage and blockades to protect people from those hazards.
• Due to the lack of reasonable care by the defendant, you were injured.

What a Tamarac Slip and Fall Accident Attorney Can Do to Help

As soon as you have a slip and fall accident, you need to attract the attention of a staff member or any potential witnesses of the accident. You should try to take as many pictures of the hazard and your injuries as possible to start collecting evidence of your accident. Be sure to answer questions from the staff as they fill out the accident report, without apologizing or taking any blame for the incident. They will take note of that. It’s also important that you get a copy of this accident report as soon as possible.

If offered medical care, take it even if you don’t think that you need it. By refusing medical treatment on-site, this will be noted by the manager and they could argue that you weren’t as injured as you say.

You should get a Tamarac slip and fall accident attorney involved as soon as possible in this process. This will not only ensure that you won’t hit the deadline for the statute of limitations, but it will help ensure the best outcomes for your personal injury claim. They will get started as soon as possible on your case, letting you know whether or not you have a viable claim. Then they will take a look at your evidence and try to gather more to strengthen your case. The lawyer will walk you through this process so that you know what to expect every step of the way. The sooner that you get a slip and fall personal injury lawyer involved in your case, the sooner that you can receive compensation.

Contact Us Today

The Injury Law firm is the premier team to fight for our clients and their personal injury claims. It’s important that you get an experienced and knowledgeable team on your case as soon as possible to ensure the best possible outcomes for your case. Our top priority is the best interests of our clients, so we are always fighting for them with that in mind. We can help you with your slip and fall accident as well as any other personal injury claim that you may have. Contact us today to learn more about how our team will fight for you to get the compensation that you deserve: 954-951-0000