Slip and Fall Settlements

Table of Contents

5 Most Common Personal Injury Questions

1. What are Slip and Fall Settlements?

If you are injured on another person’s property, then you may be entitled to slip and fall settlements. This is done by
filing a lawsuit against the property owner.

All property owners are legally required to maintain a safe environment for their visitors at all times.
This includes both commercial properties (such as grocery stores, gyms, restaurants etc) and residential properties
(such as homes and apartments).

If you are injured, then you maybe entitled to a slip and fall claim settlement to compensate you for your medical costs,
out of pocket expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

2. How are Slip and Fall Settlements Evaluated?

When it all boils down to it your accident claim will be first evaluated by asking the big question: Who is at fault? You or the property owner?

In order to determine fault, a judge/jury will consider several questions about your claim.

See how you would answer these questions:

Was the property owner negligent?

Was the owner aware of the dangerous situation?

Did the owner have enough time to fix the hazardous area?

Did the property owner alert people about the unsafe conditions by making announcements or posting warning signs?

Could you have easily avoided the hazardous area?

Were you unnecessarily reckless?

Were your injuries a direct result of the property owner’s negligence? Or were they from another incident?

Answering these basic questions regarding fault can help you asses who deserves the blame for your injuries.

If the blame falls primarily on the property owner, then you have a legitimate case for a slip and fall accident claim.

3. Who is the Slip and Fall Accident Claim filed against?

Most slip and fall settlements are filed against the property owners insurance company. For example, most businesses are required to purchase property liability insurance (also known as “premises liability” insurance).

The premise liability insurance handles all the insurance claims against a property owner.

Similarly to how an auto insurance company handles the accident claims against one of their insured drivers.

In order to receive slip and fall settlements you must first file your accident claim with the owner’s insurance company.

So make sure you get the name and contact information of the property owner’s insurance company.

4. How likely is that I will get a large settlement?

To be honest, most people don’t receive a high (or any) slip and fall settlements. Typically, slip and fall injuries are not that serious. Most of the injuries are soft tissue injuries like a sprain or pulled muscle.

These are not severe as “hard” injuries like broken bones, torn ligaments, head injuries etc.

As I talked about in Personal Injury : Which Injuries Pay the Highest Settlements , most soft tissue injuries don’t settle for a lot of money.

In addition, the medical bills for most soft tissue injuries are quite low. Using the personal injury calculator, you can see that these type of cases (even if they do settle) don’t usually have a high cash payout.

Another reason you might not get a settlement is due to a lack of evidence. Accident claims require proof of liability. You must show the property owner caused your injuries by being negligent.

This can be tough to do if you don’t document your injuries or have any witnesses.

Despite these reasons, everyone’s case is different. So the best strategy could be to get a free consultation from an attorney and see if you really do have a case.

The final question most people have is….

5. How can I get a large injury settlement?

The best way to get a high injury claim is simple:

a) Have CLEAR evidence that the property owner was responsible for your injuries and
b) Show a direct link between your accident and your injuries.

Too many people have a sense of entitlement when it comes to their accident claim. They feel that just because they were injured they deserve a high settlement.

Unfortunately it does not work that way. No one, especially an insurance company, is going to give you a large claim settlement just because you were hurt.

If you are injured, then the burden of proof is on YOU. You must show clear evidence that your injuries were a direct consequence of the other party’s negligence.

Read Slip and Fall Lawsuit: 5 Ways to Prove Fault and Win Your Injury Settlement

In addition, you must show that your injuries stem from your slip and fall and not some other incident. You can do this by speaking with a doctor and providing your medical report as evidence of the cause of your injuries.

You must start thinking like a detective that needs to gather evidence in order to show who is the guilty party.

The stronger your evidence, the stronger your chances of getting a high slip and fall settlements.