Experienced Slip & Fall Injury Lawyers Serving Biloxi, Mississippi
Injuries from a slip and fall accident are bad enough but when it was due to another party’s negligence, it hurts even more.
In cases of serious injury, it’s often necessary to pursue a compensation claim against the negligent party. For instance, if you slipped, fell, and injured yourself because a hazard wasn’t flagged by someone whose responsibility it was to keep the area safe.
Claiming fair compensation can, however, be challenging. Multiple parties may be involved (property owners, a municipality, a business owner, etc.), the negligent party may contest fault, and proving liability may not be straightforward.
The experienced personal injury attorneys at Rushing & Guice, PLLC can help you recover the compensation you deserve if you’re in the Biloxi area of Mississippi.
How can a slip and fall injury lawyer help you?
Proving liability in slip and fall cases can be challenging. Legal assistance from a seasoned personal injury lawyer can help on many fronts:
- Advocating for if you were injured on someone else’s property
- Protecting your rights and providing support at a difficult time
- Managing all communications with the insurance company and any other party or parties involved
- Investigating precisely what happened during the slip and fall accident
- Preserving and organizing evidence, obtaining statements from witnesses, and building a strong case
- Filing a lawsuit to bolster the compensation claim
- Protecting your interests with health insurance companies/medical providers
- Negotiating medical bills to reduce expenses
- Recovering the maximum compensation that you are entitled to by law
- Negotiating with insurance companies for a fair settlement
- Ensuring that all legal standards and procedures are closely followed
How do you prove negligence in a slip and fall case?
Receiving compensation for slip and fall injuries centers on the ability to prove negligence from a third party.
To be successful, your slip and fall injury lawyer will need to prove that the liable party had a duty of care to you, that this duty was breached and the breach resulted in injuries and losses.
Let’s take a closer look at the key components:
- Duty of care: you must prove that the property owner had a duty of care to you. Sometimes, this is relatively straightforward, like in public places such as shops, where the shop owner must make the premises safe for anyone there legally.
- Breach of duty of care: did the property owner breach the duty of care? In the case of the shop owner, if he/she failed to mop up a wet floor from spillage or put a sign up to inform shoppers of the hazard, this might be a clear breach of the duty of care.
- Injuries: if you suffered injuries due to a slip and fall, your lawyer must be able to prove that these were a direct result of the accident.
- Losses: you must also prove that you suffered physical, financial, and/or emotional losses as a result of your injuries — usually through a combination of financial receipts, medical and employment records, and witness testimony.
What are the most common types of slip and fall accidents?
The National Floor Safety Institute estimates that over one million hospital emergency room visits in the U.S. are due to slip and fall accidents.
These can result in serious injuries, such as traumatic brain injuries, spinal injuries, and broken bones (hips, legs, arms, etc.). Some of these accidents can even be fatal, especially for elderly people.
Most commonly, we see the following types of slip and fall accidents in the Biloxi area:
- Wet or uneven floors: a pool of water on the floor may seem innocuous enough but wet or uneven floors account for more than half of slip and fall injuries in homes, businesses, and public areas nationwide. Uneven or wet surfaces may be due to recently mopped floors, the failure to clean up a spill or a leak, unnecessary clutter, poorly constructed flooring, potholes, loose mats or loose floorboards.
- Poor lighting: workplaces and other public areas must be well-lit so that employees and members of the public can walk safely, especially at night. Otherwise, slip and fall accidents can occur on walkways, sidewalks, and staircases, leading to injury and a potential lawsuit for negligence.
- Poor safety in bathrooms and stair areas: stairways and bathrooms are other common places for slip and fall injuries to occur. Poor lighting or a badly constructed stairway may be the reason — or absent or broken handrails that might have prevented injury.
- Nursing home neglect: as age increases and balance becomes less reliable, so does the likelihood of serious slip and fall injuries occurring. Many elderly people live in nursing homes to prevent illness and injury so when avoidable slip and fall accidents occur, the nursing home can often be held liable.
- Rain, ice, and snow: winter snow may be a rarity in Biloxi but when it does occur, building owners have a responsibility to maintain safe conditions on their premises by clearing sidewalks of ice, salting walkways, and reducing potential weather-based hazards.
- Inadequate employee training: if a slip and fall accident occurs in a high-risk environment, such as a construction site or healthcare facility — or even in a public area like a restaurant or shopping mall — the business owner may be held liable if employee negligence from a lack of health and safety training contributed to the accident.
Common mistakes made in slip and fall injury claims
Slip and fall injury claims are often complex and it’s easy to fall into a few common traps when pursuing compensation for your injuries. Here are the most common errors to avoid when making a claim:
Providing a statement to the insurance company
After your accident, the insurance company of the negligent party may reach out to you to make a recorded statement. It’s best to refer the matter to your personal injury lawyer and avoid answering any questions or saying much at all as it may be used to deflect liability from their client.
The insurance company is not your friend in this matter and its agents are trained to seek ways to settle for the least possible compensation. That’s in direct competition to your interests.
Not getting a medical assessment
If you’re injured in a slip and fall injury and want to claim compensation, you need to prove that you were injured as a direct result of the accident and that the injuries impacted your life.
The best way to do this is to get medical documentation. Even if you think your injuries are minor and you can “struggle through”, get back to work and start supporting your family again, make sure your injuries are on your medical record and that you follow any medical advice recommended by your doctor.
Waiting too long to claim
It’s best to start the personal injury claims process as soon as possible after you suffer an injury. This way, evidence can be preserved, which is helpful when building your case.
Claiming early also ensures that you fall within the statute of limitations, which is usually three years from the date of the injury — but only one year if a public entity like a school or county/city government is involved.
Not consulting a personal injury attorney
When claiming, make sure you get what your injuries are worth. An experienced personal injury lawyer knows how to recover the maximum allowable under the laws in Mississippi and will fight for your interests.
Doing that alone is extremely challenging, especially when trying to recover from injuries.
Act quickly if you’re in the Biloxi area of Mississippi and you’ve been injured in a slip and fall accident that could have been avoided. Contact a slip and fall injury attorney at Rushing & Guice, PLLC for legal advice and assistance with pursuing a claim.
