Hiring a Lawyer for a Slip and Fall Case

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There are many types of personal injury cases that may not require the help of a slip and fall injury attorney. You may even be comfortable making a claim on your own following a minor accident, even when the other driver is at fault. However, even if you feel comfortable taking on this process alone, the majority of slip and fall cases are better suited for representation by an attorney. Your attorney will work to grab the attention of the defendant as well as the insurance company.

Establishing Fault

If you want to get your case positioned to come to reach a settlement or go to trial, your lawyer and yourself will have to be prepared to prove that the other person was negligent. Negligence has to be key in playing a role in causing your injury.

First, your attorney will want to investigate the events leading up to your injury. Since falls happen pretty fast, most people don’t know how they went from just walking down an aisle in the store to becoming injured in the blink of an eye.

For example, if you fell down a flight of steps, that is just the beginning of your injury claim. Maybe your foot missed a step, or maybe you were not wearing the proper shoes. Was your hand on the handrail while you were going down the steps? Were you carrying anything?

All of this information is crucial, even though it only makes out what caused your fall to occur. It is not the attorney’s job to determine how to hold the defendant responsible legally for your injury.

An experienced slip and fall attorney will check the scene out and discuss the possibilities with you. They will also want to discuss the events leading up to your fall. The investigation will also consist of a review of federal, local, and state laws to see if there were any property conditions that were violated.

Address all Losses

It is crucial that your attorney can prove the nature and extent of your injuries as well as any relevant damages. It is also important that both you and your attorney document any lost wages via employment records. Your attorney must receive and organize all of your medical documents and expenses. This is a process that can be difficult to navigate since your attorney has to build a clear picture of everything you lost as a result of your accident. Claiming pain and suffering is another component of such losses, and may also be presented depending on your own situation.

Costs

Many attorneys will work after receiving a contingency fee agreement from you. This means that your attorney will take this fee and use it for your representation out of any settlement or other award that you receive. If you don’t receive any compensation, your attorney will not receive anything either. You should make sure that you research more about the costs and use different resources to find the right personal injury lawyer.

It is in your best interest to find an attorney who has past success with previous slip and fall cases that are similar to yours. For example, if you fell down a flight of steps in a government building and suffered a head injury as a result, you may want to find a lawyer who has already won similar cases. Even though every case is unique, you should still exercise due diligence to make sure that the attorney you hire is more than likely a winner.