Miami Slip & Fall Lawyer

Miami property owners and/or managers have a responsibility to ensure hazards don’t threaten the safety or lives of people on their property. This is the basis of premises liability. Millions of Americans incur injuries every year due to property owners failing to take this responsibility seriously. The consequences of such injuries can range from minor medical bills to substantial changes to one’s quality of life. In some instances, these accidents can even result in death.

Slip and fall accidents can cause serious injuries that require expensive life-long medical treatment, such as spinal cord or traumatic brain injuries. So it’s essential for slip and fall accident victims in Miami to explore all options for recovery under Florida law to ensure they get the compensation they need.

Miami slip and fall lawyer Brian L. Elstein, Esq., can help if you have injuries after a slip and fall accident due to an unsafe condition on a property. At Elstein Legal, we are passionate about providing personalized and high-quality legal representation for all accident victims in Miami.

What to Do After a Miami Slip and Fall Accident

Winning a slip and fall case is much easier if you not only choose the right premises liability law firm in Miami, FL, but also take the proper steps immediately after the incident. They include:

Documenting the Scene

If you’ve sustained serious injuries that require immediate medical attention, it’s important to address these first. Your health is your top priority. However, if you can justify documenting the scene first, you may want to do so, as property owners will often try to address a hazard after slip and fall accidents to weaken a victim’s case. Take pictures and video of the scene and your injuries.

File a Report

You need an official report of the incident to more effectively pursue compensation later. Thus, you should file such a report with property management right away.

Talk to Witnesses

Identify any witnesses and get their contact information. If you can, interview them at the scene as well, and ask if you can record these interviews. You want to get their statements when the incident is still fresh in their memories. You should also draft your own narrative of what happened as soon as possible.

Get Medical Attention

Unless your injuries are severe enough to require immediate medical care, you should seek out medical attention after documenting the scene, filing a report, and talking to witnesses. Keep in mind it’s important to see a doctor even if you don’t believe your injuries are very severe. What may appear to be a minor injury can develop into something much worse if left unaddressed. Additionally, medical records will typically be used as evidence in these types of cases.

Save Your Shoes

This may sound like an odd tip, but it’s actually quite important. The shoes you wore will be important evidence in your case. For example, if you continue wearing your shoes for a long time before the case starts moving forward, by the time they become evidence, they could be worn down to such a degree that a property owner might argue you slipped because you didn’t wear shoes with proper traction. As soon as possible, remove your shoes, store them safely in a bag, and don’t wear them again.

Keep in mind that establishing liability in these cases is often a complex process. This is one of the main reasons it helps to work with an experienced slip and fall attorney in Miami, FL. They understand what steps are necessary to determine who is at fault for your injuries, and to prove that your injuries were a direct result of their negligence. An attorney will also understand how to calculate the total damages you deserve. If you try to work directly with an insurance company, you likely won’t get what you are owed. After all, insurance companies are prepared to defend themselves in these types of cases. It’s difficult to counter their defenses when you don’t have the proper legal experience.

What To Consider if You’ve Been Injured in a Slip and Fall Accident

Consulting with a qualified slip and fall lawyer in Miami offers many benefits. Understanding whether you have a strong case is one of them. There are instances when a property owner may not actually be liable for your injuries. Factors to consider include the following:

Reasonable Steps

A property owner in Miami must take reasonable action to protect those on their property from hazards. An example of this may involve a store owner putting up signs letting customers know when a floor is wet. Thus, if the property owner took the necessary action, but a customer injured themselves anyway because they ignored the signs, the property owner may not be liable.

Where the Accident Happened

Sometimes, the victim of a Miami slip and fall accident sustains injuries in an area of a property that was clearly marked as off-limits. This is another instance in which finding a property owner liable could be difficult.

Timing

While it is a property owner’s responsibility to address hazards, it’s important to remember that they’re only human, and can’t necessarily address a hazard the exact moment it arises. For example, if you injured yourself because you tripped over an item the very moment it fell onto the floor, the property owner could reasonably argue that they didn’t have an opportunity to remove the hazard before the accident occurred.

The Nature of the Hazard

There are also cases when a property owner may not be liable if the injured party was involved in an accident because they ignored what should have been an obvious hazard (and may thus not have genuinely qualified as a hazard at all). For instance, in one case, a woman tried to sue a grocery store after tripping over a concrete wheel stop in the parking lot. However, the complaint was eventually dismissed because the defendants successfully argued that the wheel stop was too obvious to reasonably overlook, and it didn’t pose any inherent danger.

This isn’t to suggest you shouldn’t consider taking legal action after a slip and fall injury. On the contrary, it’s smart to work with an experienced personal injury lawyer in Miami, Florida, in order to better determine if legal action is justified.