Flagstaff Slip & Fall Lawyer

Flagstaff Slip & Fall Attorney

Suffering an injury from a slip and fall accident can significantly disrupt the quality of your life in both the short and long term. It can cause a great deal of physical pain and emotional distress while leading to hefty medical bills and lost wages that can make it difficult to satisfy your financial responsibilities. Dealing with the aftermath of these accidents can be simplified with the assistance of a Flagstaff slip & fall lawyer.

At The Kaiser Law Group, we have years of experience advocating for victims who have suffered injuries from slip and fall accidents that were not their fault. This led us to better understand the complexities of personal injury law and how to leverage that knowledge to help our clients receive a fair and just trial. If you have found yourself injured from a slip and fall accident and are unsure where to turn, give us a call for guidance and support on what to do next.

Key Elements in Slip and Fall Cases

While each slip and fall case has its own unique aspects, there are core elements that arise in many different cases. Experienced injury attorneys keep these items in mind to ensure they are well-prepared to build a high-quality legal case to earn their clients the compensation they deserve. These elements include:

Negligence: Establishing Liability

One of the most essential components of a slip and fall case is proving which party was negligent. This is often the property owner who inherits the responsibility to keep their premises safe for visitors as a condition of their property ownership.

Any breach of this responsibility could put the property owner in a vulnerable position to a lawsuit. Examples of failing to keep their property in a safe condition could include wet floors without a sign, inadequate lighting to see hazards, or even debris left on a walkway.

To determine negligence, an attorney can take time to analyze the exact circumstances that led to the slip and fall. This includes a look into maintenance records, surveillance footage, witness testimony, and any other evidence available that can help link the property owner’s negligent behavior as a contributing factor to their client’s injury.

Injury Assessment: Determining the Full Impact

It’s important to understand the extent of your injuries. This is not only helpful to your own physical well-being and recovery but also to help build a compelling legal case with your slip and fall attorney. This involves working closely with a team of medical professionals who will evaluate your condition after the incident and make a determination on the immediate and long-term consequences of the injury on your quality of life.

In some severe slip and fall cases, the injuries can have a debilitating influence on your long-term health. This can include chronic pain, a reduction in mobility, and an ongoing need for medical treatment. An attorney can work to ensure that the extent of your injuries is communicated within their legal case to maximize the compensation. This could involve consulting medical professionals, obtaining testimony, and sharing your medical records.

Property Conditions: Investigating Hazards

Another common aspect of slip and fall cases is the condition of the property where the incident happened. This requires a deep investigation to help identify exactly what component of the hazard contributed to the accident. Whether the accident happened from wet floors or an uneven surface that was left ignored, this will need to be clearly communicated to the court.

To make this point clear, an attorney can gather evidence related to the condition of the property at that time. This could include photographs of the scene, the accident report generated by law enforcement officers, or pointing out a gap in the property owner’s maintenance records. If there is any indication that the property owner has a history of neglecting their premises or has faced similar lawsuits before, it can also be used as a piece of evidence to strengthen the victim’s case.

Causation: Establishing a Direct Link

Slip and fall lawyers know that their role involves more than just establishing negligence and communicating the condition of an accident scene. They also need to clearly demonstrate a direct link between the hazardous conditions on the property and its relationship to their client’s injuries.

This involves a deep analysis of the chronological events that happened leading up to the accident. All evidence collected needs to leave no room for ambiguity, as this can open an opportunity for the defense to raise doubts that the plaintiff’s injuries could have been caused by other factors.

By connecting the dots within the court, a slip and fall attorney can help ensure their clients receive as much compensation as they require to fully recover from an incident they didn’t try to put themself into.

Damages: Calculating Losses

To request a specific amount of compensation, an attorney needs to understand the extent of the damages suffered. This requires a careful calculation of exactly how this injury has impacted their client’s life. This can include:

• Medical expenses: Any medical cost generated from the accident can be used as leverage for a higher compensation package. This can include the cost of hospital stays, surgeries, medications, and even rehabilitation sessions. If there is any need for ongoing treatment in the future, this can also be laid out for consideration.
• Lost wages: Sometimes, injuries keep an individual from being able to work during their recovery. Depending on the length of recovery, it could prevent them from generating the income they would still have if they had not been injured. An attorney can calculate this financial loss and seek reimbursement in the final compensation amount.
• Pain and suffering: Physical injuries from a slip and fall accident can also lead to emotional pain and suffering. This can include debilitating mental health issues that would not have arisen if the individual had not been in the accident. This is an important calculation that can drive up the total compensation.
• Future rehabilitation costs: If there is evidence to suggest a client needs ongoing treatment to restore their physical or mental function to their pre-accident condition, the client has the right to have the responsible party pay for these costs as well. This can include expenses from physical therapy, counseling sessions, or any special equipment that was purchased to do personal recovery exercises at home.

FAQs About Flagstaff, AZ Slip & Fall Laws

How Do I Know if I Have a Valid Slip and Fall Injury Claim?

The most obvious indication of an individual having a valid slip and fall claim is if there is enough evidence to prove the property owner was negligent in maintaining the quality of their premises. In addition to establishing this negligence, there also needs to be a clear link between the chain of events that led to the injury and how the condition of the premises caused the accident to happen.

A slip and fall attorney can help validate this claim by legally collecting evidence such as photographs, witness statements, and medical reports to make the connection between the premises’ conditions and their impact on the client. If you are questioning if your experience would qualify for a slip and fall claim, share your story with injury attorneys as soon as you can.

What Should I Do if I Slip and Fall on a Public Sidewalk?

You can still have a valid slip and fall claim for public sidewalk incidents even though there is not a single property owner to hold responsible, but the process can be much more difficult. This is because Arizona has legal protections known as statutory immunity that prevent an individual from suing a county or municipality.

However, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t connect with an attorney and still try to find someone liable for the incident. Continue to document the scene by taking photographs, just as you would in any other slip and fall incident. Your attorney can help notify the appropriate municipal authority or agency about what happened and see if any options exist for compensation.

What Happens if My Slip and Fall Injury Happened at Work?

If your slip and fall injury happened while at work, you may be eligible to pursue a workers’ compensation claim. This is a separate avenue for collecting reimbursement for any medical expenses or lost wages incurred as a result of your employer’s negligence.

In some cases, you may also have grounds to pursue a third-party liability claim against another entity responsible for the hazardous condition, such as a maintenance company. To ensure you are acting on every possible avenue that can provide compensation for your injuries, provide all of these details to your personal injury attorney to help them provide comprehensive recommendations.

What if I Contributed to My Slip and Fall Accident?

There may still be room to recover damages for your slip and fall accident if you played a role in the accident. This is due to a concept called comparative negligence. It means that the total compensation an individual can recover will be based on the level of responsibility they had for the accident. For example, if you were 20% responsible for the accident for being somewhere you weren’t supposed to be, you still could recoup 80% of possible compensation.

Contact The Kaiser Law Group Today

If you have been involved in a slip and fall accident in Flagstaff, AZ, contact our personal injury attorneys today. We would be honored to serve as a critical component of your case to ensure you receive as much compensation as possible to support your full recovery.