What Should You Do After Meeting with A Slip and Fall Accident?

Since by law, all premises, including buildings, parking lots, and walkways must be maintained in a safe condition, you can be eligible to receive compensation for serious injury resulting from a slip and fall accident. According to Huffington Post, slip and fall accidents are one of the main reasons for injury on both commercial and residential property. Typically, the accident may be due to weather conditions making the surface difficult to walk on, or you may have encountered a loose floorboard, torn carpeting, a slippery floor, potholes in parking lots, badly constructed staircases, and more. The compensation will generally take into account the cost of medical treatment, lost wages, and pain and suffering. You should be aware of what to do when you do meet with an unfortunate accident.

Seek Medical Attention 

If you have met with a slip and fall accident, your priority should be to seek medical treatment to prevent the injury from escalating. Visiting a doctor will also allow you to document your injuries and the recommended course of treatment that can be important to establish a claim for personal injury compensation by a slip and fall lawyer, should you so decide.

Report the Accident 

Regardless of where the accident has taken place, you must at the earliest possible report it to the manager or owner of the premises in writing. Be sure to obtain a copy of the report with the acknowledgment of receipt before leaving. Merely reporting the accident verbally will not be sufficient for claiming compensation.

Document All Relevant Details

You must take photos of the location of the accident as well as any apparent cause of the accident like torn carpeting, broken staircases, icy or oily patches, potholes, etc. so that you can easily prove why you slipped and fell. They will enable you to establish how the premises liability can be invoked. Also, write down the exact time and date of the accident together with details of what you were doing or where you were going at the time of the accident. Collect the clothes and shoes you were wearing at that time and keep them safe as it could be valuable evidence in proving the severity of the fall. Record the name, addresses, and contacts of people who witnessed your accident.

Refuse to Give Statements

It is important to remain calm and restrict your communication only to the person managing or owning the property. Do not give any statements to the press or post anything on social media. Do not say anything to the insurance company unless you have consulted your personal injury lawyer. Do not take any blame or ascribe any blame for the accident.

Conclusion 

The first thing you should do after seeking medical treatment is to appoint a personal injury lawyer if you are considering taking legal action. Your lawyer will not only scrutinize all the details of the accident, inform you if you can take file a compensation claim, and what the likely amount will be. Allowing your lawyer to take charge is helpful as he can bring to the table a lot of experience leaving you free to recover from the accident.