How much does a slip-and-fall case pay in Pennsylvania?
It is important to speak to an experienced personal injury attorney after a slip in fall that results in an injury. Contact a Pennsylvania slip and fall injury lawyer as soon as possible after a fall for advice including advice on getting expert medical attention to diagnose and treat injuries resulting form a slip and fall. Most slip and falls result in only minor injuries from the victim soon heals. Unfortunately, some falls result in devastating injuries such as broken bones, torn ligaments or head injuries. Hundreds of thousands of people are hospitalized each year for slips and falls and the medical bills cost billions of dollars.
Getting the Help You Need after a Slip and Fall Injury
Slip and falls often result in major injuries for senior citizens, who may suffer a permanent loss of mobility that could change their quality of life forever. According to the National Council on Aging, someone who is 65 years old or older is treated every 11 seconds at hospitals. A senior citizen dies from slip-and-fall injuries every 19 minutes. In the general population, falls result in almost three million emergency room visits annually.
If you were on someone else’s property and suffered a slip or fall injury due to unsafe conditions, you might have the right to sue the property owner for the damages you have suffered.
There are Two Important Issues To Consider
How much money you can recover from a personal injury lawsuit depends on several factors, including:
- Seriousness of your injury
- Whether the injury was directly caused by the property owner’s negligence
- The amount of insurance or assets the property owner has to pay for damages
Liability is a key issue. You must prove that the property owner is liable. Just because you slipped and fell on someone else’s property does not mean the property owner has to pay for your losses. However, you can hold the property owner responsible if you can prove:
- Can you prove the property owner caused the dangerous condition that led to your slip and fall? Did the owner know about the hazard before the accident, or should they have known that it could cause someone to hurt themselves in a slip or fall?
- Dangerous condition existed. Did the property owner (or someone who works for them) know, or should they have known, about the hazard? Could a reasonable person have been able to identify the issue and repair it? Was there enough time to make repairs before the accident happened?
Reasonable and prudent actions
Prudent and reasonable are terms you will hear in slip-and-fall cases. The two words are frequently used in these cases because it is necessary to prove the property owner or someone working for them did not act in a prudent or reasonable manner to prevent and correct the hazard before an accident happened.
As an example, if you slipped on the ice, it might depend on the conditions that lead to the icy conditions. If it is black ice, the owner might not have known about it. However, if the ice was caused by runoff from a downspout, the owner should have known and might be found liable.
Insurance companies do not pay for damages in slip-and-fall cases willingly. An experienced attorney can help you build the strongest possible case for compensation.
Your Recovery Will Be determined by the Facts of Your case
How much can be recovered after a slip and fall will be determined by several factors, including:
- Injury severity/long-term prognosis
- How injuries happened
- Liability
- How much you contributed to the injury
You might be able to collect a variety of damages, including:
Economic
- Lost wages
- Reduced earning capacity
- Drug costs
- Ambulance
Noneconomic
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional anguish
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium
- Scarring/disfigurement
It’s important to seek prompt medical attention and to continue your medical treatment until you reach maximum medical improvement for your injury. The insurance company will not believe that you are injured until you have medical records to prove it. An attorney can work with experts to document your losses so you can receive the fullest possible compensation.