Any time you enter someone else’s property (private, public, or government-owned) legally, you have every lawful right to expect that the party responsible for the property maintenance has taken all possible measures to ensure that your visit will be safe from injury. This means addressing any hazards on the premise, taking appropriate steps to warn you of hazards that are not able to be repaired before or during your visit, and generally ensuring that their premise is safe for visitors.
In the event that you are injured on someone else’s property, it will be important to look at the factors that contributed to your injury in order to determine if and what legal recourse you have in order to seek compensation from the property manager or owner for their negligence, as they failed to maintain their property appropriately to keep you safe from harm.
Find a Slip and Fall Accident Attorney in Boca Raton Today
When you are injured on someone else’s property, you will likely be able to file a claim with their homeowner’s insurance, premise liability insurance, or general liability insurance, depending on the arrangement. However, having the ability to file a claim is not a certainty that you will be able to get the money that you actually deserve. In order to give yourself a solid chance of a fair settlement, hiring a lawyer should be one of the first steps that you take. You can be almost positive that the defendant will hire legal counsel, and their insurance company has had decades to hone their practices for limiting settlements paid out for claims they handle.
1-800-Injured is an attorney and medical referral service. In the days after an injury, the idea of finding an attorney to take your case can seem like too much to handle, especially since filing an insurance claim is fairly straightforward. The reality, though, is that an insurance claim is only simple when you let the insurance company pay what they want, and not what you deserve.
Common Causes of Slip and Fall Accidents in Boca Raton
Wet Floors
We are all familiar with the ubiquitous yellow “WET FLOOR” sign that is so common in public restrooms and grocery aisles, but the reason for this sign is as much for your safety as it is to protect the property owner or manager from liability in the event that someone slips and falls. However, there are many times that simply putting out a sign is not enough and the injured party may have options for compensation, but it is important that the liable party does take some sort of action to ensure the safety of their visitors.
Faulty Stairs and Handrails
When you are walking up or down a flight of stairs, one of the last things on your mind should be whether or not the treads will give way, or if the handrail will support you using it for support. Unfortunately, there are situations every day in the United States where a negligent property manager fails to acknowledge a hazard like this example, and visitors are injured as a result.
Code Violations
Building codes are there to protect people from injuries due to faulty construction practices such as bad wiring, improper ramps, dangerous handicap accessibility options, and more. We move through the world each day without paying too much attention to how we interact with much of the building features around us, and this is because there is a standard set of codes that all builders must follow to keep buildings uniform.
Construction Site Hazards
When a construction company takes a government contract to replace a sidewalk, walkway, handicap ramp, or some other public area, they are protected by a surety bond guaranteeing an injured party a certain amount of compensation in the event that they are injured due to a safety failure.
Determining Fault After a Slip and Fall Accident in Boca Raton
As with all personal injury cases, determining who is responsible for the accident, and therefore liable for paying damages, is one of the most important questions to be answered. By working closely with your attorney, you will be able to gather evidence that supports your claim that you are the victim in this premise liability case, which will entitle you to compensation for a range of damages that will be discussed in the following section.
Proving fault early in the process is essential to ensure that you get the money that you deserve. Insurance companies will use Florida’s “pure comparative negligence” rule as a way to limit their own financial obligations, whether or not the victim truly contributed to the accident.
Calculating Damages After a Slip and Fall Accident in Boca Raton
At the same time that you and your attorney are working to reach an agreement about levels of fault for the accident, your lawyer will also be taking on an investigation process in order to calculate the amount of money that you deserve as the victim. Insurance companies are notorious with trying to limit the amount of money they pay out for an accident, regardless of whether or not the victim clearly deserves more than they are offering.
Economic Damages
Economic damages are the foundation of your claim and seek compensation for things like your medical bills and lost wages. Essentially, an economic damage is anything with a measurable dollar value attached to it.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages are more difficult to calculate but are just as important as your economic damages. They seek compensation for issues that do not have dollar values, such as the pain and suffering of your injuries, the emotional impacts of your accident, and more. Insurance companies are more likely to push back on these damages, but an experienced slip and fall lawyer will know how to properly negotiate these into a fair settlement.