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Lakeland Slip and Fall Lawyer
Florida business and property owners have a duty to ensure their premises are reasonably safe. When they fail to do so, they may be liable for any accidents that occur as a result, including slip and falls.
If you were injured on another’s premises in Lakeland, whether it was a shopping mall, private residence or grocery store, our attorneys can help determine if the owner failed in his duty to keep you and other visitors safe. If so, we may be able to help you file a lawsuit. Through a premises liability lawsuit, you may be able to recover compensation from the negligent property owner for any losses stemming from the accident. These losses may include medical bills, pain and suffering, and lost wages.
Morgan & Morgan’s slip and fall attorneys have helped thousands of individuals throughout Florida obtain compensation for their injuries. To find out more information about how the attorneys in our Lakeland office may be able to help you, contact usfor a free consultation.
Do I Have a Case?
Not everyone who has been injured on another person’s property will be able to file a premises liability lawsuit. The property owner must have been negligent in maintaining the premises and this negligence must have directly caused your injuries.
In evaluating whether you have a case, your attorney will investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident to determine answers to the following questions:
Did a Dangerous Condition Exist?
A dangerous property condition is any hazard that presents an unreasonable risk of harm to the public. Examples of dangerous property conditions include:
- Unmarked wet or slippery floors
- Faulty or defective amusement park rides
- Uneven sidewalk or walkways
- Defective or unsafe balconies or terraces
- Torn or raised carpeting
- Potholes
- Negligently displayed merchandise
- Inadequate construction warnings
- Unsafe staircases
- Sudden dip or rise in floor level
- Inadequate lighting in a parking lot or stairway
- Malfunctioning doors or windows
- Structural defects
- Defective or improperly maintained escalators or elevators
You may also have a viable slip and fall lawsuit if a business or store manager failed to warn customers of a dangerous property condition. For example, if you slipped and fell on a wet floor in a grocery store that did not place a sign near the area to warn customers of the slippery floor, you may be able to sue to obtain compensation for your injuries.
Did the owner/manager know about the dangerous condition?
If the business or property owner knew that the dangerous condition existed and failed to fix it, he or she may be liable for any injuries caused by the unsafe condition.
Even if the property owner or manager did not know about the dangerous condition but should have known about it, you may still have legal recourse. For example, assume a shopping mall has had a broken or uneven sidewalk for several months. The company that owns the mall may be liable for any injuries caused by the unsafe property condition because a reasonably prudent mall manager should have known about the uneven sidewalk.
Did the property owner fail to exercise reasonable care in maintaining the property and did this lack of reasonable care lead to your injuries?
A business or property owner must exercise reasonable care in maintaining his or her property. Reasonable care includes regular maintenance of the property, as well as checking to ensure that the property is free from hazards that could hurt visitors. If a business or property owner fails to use reasonable care in maintaining the premises and you suffered an injury as a direct result, our Lakeland attorneys may be able to help you receive compensation for your injuries by filing a premises liability lawsuit.
What Will My Attorney Do to Help Me Recover Compensation?
Your attorney will gather evidence. Your attorney will need to prove that the owner of the property was negligent in maintaining the property. To do so, your slip and fall attorney may:
- Interview witnesses
- Visit the scene of the accident
- Take photographs of the dangerous property condition
- Review video surveillance to determine how long the unsafe condition existed
- Obtain copies of accident reports
- Review a store’s operational records and cleaning logs
- Collect and review all relevant medical records to evaluate the extent of your injuries
Your attorney will work with medical experts to help prove your case and determine the amount of compensation you will need to care for your injury. Your slip and fall attorney will need to prove that the negligently maintained property caused your injuries. He or she may work with medical experts who will evaluate the extent of your injuries and explain to the judge and jury how the negligently maintained property caused the accident. The medical expert may also be used to explain any future medical care that you will need as a result of the slip and fall accident.
Your attorney will make sure any proposed settlement offers are appropriate when compared to the extent of your injuries. Your slip and fall attorney will review the terms of any proposed settlement offers to determine if the offer is proportionate to the injuries you have suffered. Your attorney may negotiate directly with the insurance company for a higher settlement amount if the offer is too low. If these negotiations do not produce an acceptable settlement offer, your lawyer will prepare your case for trial.
Your attorney can prepare your case for trial. During the trial, your lawyer may present opening and closing statements, question witnesses and cross-examine any witnesses offered by the defense.
Can I Sue If I Was the Victim of a Violent Crime?
Property owners have a duty to ensure that their premises are safe. This duty may have been broken if a business or property owner knew an area was dangerous and failed to take steps to minimize the risk of violent crime occurring.
Therefore, you may be able to file a premises liability lawsuit if you were the victim of an assault at a business or private property that had a history of violent crime, yet the owner of the business or property failed to take appropriate security measures to protect the public.
In a negligent security lawsuit, our Lakeland attorneys may work with security experts to review the security systems that were in place on the property when you were assaulted. Using the findings of the security expert, your attorney can prove that the assault or violent crime could have been prevented if appropriate security measures had been in place.
Negligent security lawsuits often involve the failure to hire security guards, insufficient lighting, and broken or missing locks. Our Lakeland attorneys handle negligent security lawsuits involving:
- Restaurants, bars, and nightclubs
- Shopping malls
- Convenience stores
- Apartment complexes
- Parking lots and parking garages
- Hospitals and nursing homes
- Banks and ATM kiosks
- College campuses and dorm room security
How Much Does a Lawyer Cost?
At Morgan & Morgan, our slip and fall attorneys work on a contingency-fee basis. Under this arrangement, you only pay a fee if your attorney is able to obtain compensation for your injuries.
If you have been hurt in a slip and fall accident or have been the victim of a violent crime, complete our case review form today to learn how the premises liability attorneys in our Lakeland office may be able to help you receive compensation for your injuries.
Get answers to commonly asked questions about our legal services and learn how we may assist you with your case.
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What Is a Slip and Fall Accident?
You can’t sue after every fall. In premises liability terms, slip and fall accidents are when a person slips or trips and sustains an injury on a third party’s property because of a hazard created by improper maintenance or general carelessness. The victim must have sustained an injury from the fall, and the property owner must have failed to respond within a “reasonable amount of time.” This time frame varies from case to case and is often the most contested portion of the litigation, so it’s important to retrieve evidence that backs up this claim.
Slip and fall accidents can occur on any property you don’t own where the property owner negligently maintains the premises. Here are a few common locations of slip and fall accidents:
- Grocery stores
- Apartment complexes
- Department stores
- Walkways outside storefronts
- Workplaces
- Parking lots
If left unkempt, any location can become dangerous and injure an innocent person. Anyone that finds themselves injured in Lakland should seek out trusted legal representation, and there is no better ally in your fight than Morgan and Morgan.
What Should I Do After a Slip and Fall Lawsuit?
The most important thing after any fall is your health and well-being, so make sure to seek medical attention as soon as you can after an accident of any caliber.
It’s not always possible, but if you can remove yourself from the scene of the fall under your own power, you should take pictures or videos of the hazard that caused your fall from multiple angles and perspectives. Speak with eyewitnesses, too, and write down their testimony for future use. If you’re unable to take pictures of the situation for any reason—don’t worry. You’re Lakeland slip and fall attorneys will help you gather evidence after you’ve received the proper treatment for your pain.
What Kind of Injuries Result from a Slip and Fall Accident?
Fall accidents are sneakily dangerous. Even minor falls, like ones where you catch yourself and assume you are safe, can cause severe injuries that limit your ability to work and go about your normal life. Not all accidents are this life-changing, of course, but if the accident wasn’t your fault, why should you have to pay for the damage?
Injuries vary from accident to accident, but here are a few of the most common.
- Bruises
- Broken bones
- Whiplash
- Spinal injuries
- Pulled muscles
- Torn ligaments
- Head injuries
A fall can land you in a situation where you, for example, land on your wrist and have limited mobility afterward. This can prevent you from working if your job is labor intensive, making compensation for your accident that much more important. Fortunately, there are hundreds of talented Lakeland slip and fall attorneys in the community, but only one can give you the best possible chance of recovering every penny of what you’re entitled to—Morgan and Morgan.
What’s the Average Payout for a Slip and Fall in Florida?
Slip and fall compensation depends on many factors, but most cases range from $10,000 to $850,000. Larger compensation is awarded to more serious situations where the property owner’s negligence is significant, and the injury to the victim is severe. However, minor slip and fall cases can still yield six-figure payouts if the financial or emotional damage from the accident is serious and provable.
The bottom line? You should recover monetary compensation that equates to the damage you sustained as a result of the at-fault party’s negligence. It’s not always easy to determine the dollar figure on a single instance of that harm, but the difficulty of the process shouldn’t stand in between victims and their rightful compensation. At Morgan and Morgan, we firmly believe that no one should walk away from an accident that wasn’t their fault without the money they’re entitled to, so we staff all our Lakeland Slip and Fall attorneys with the resources they need to reach the finish line successfully.
How Long Do You Have to Sue for a Slip and Fall in Florida?
Florida law requires you to file a claim after a slip and fall accident within four years of the accident itself, although it’s advised to do so sooner rather than later. This is because the evidence collection process is much easier right after the accident. Pictures, videos, eyewitness testimony, and any other proof that the hazard existed and you were injured should all be collected and documented as soon as you’re able to. If you wait, you might miss out on a piece of evidence that was crucial to proving your claim, and you could be forced to accept compensation that’s less than what you deserve.
How Do You Win a Slip and Fall Case in Florida?
There are a few things you’ll have to prove to reach the finish line of a slip and fall case successfully. Let’s break down the four main burdens of proof you’ll have to meet.
Duty of Care
First, you’ll have to establish that the at-fault party had a legal “duty of care” over the area where your injury occurred. In other words, you’ll have to prove that they were responsible for ensuring the location was safe for anyone who traversed through the area.
Breach of Duty
Once you’ve shown that the at-fault party had a legal duty of care, you’ll have to prove that they breached that duty of care by knowingly providing an unsafe environment for those within the area. This involves proving that the at-fault party knew of the hazard and failed to respond within a reasonable amount of time, which can vary from case to case.
Causation
This is where you show that if the property owner had acted responsibly, the hazard would not have existed, and you wouldn’t have sustained an injury. The “reasonable amount of time” provision comes into play here as well, so make sure to have evidence to support that claim at both stages of the process.
Damages
Finally, you’ll display the damages you sustained as a result of the injury and advocate for compensation equal to that value. Some damages, like hospitalization costs, come with a physical receipt, but others are a bit more difficult to evaluate. Pain and suffering damages, for example, are difficult to determine because the majority of the damage is internal, so make sure to prioritize law firms with a proven track record of recovering this type of damage in your search for Lakeland slip and fall attorneys.
The most important factor in reaching a successful outcome after a slip and fall accident that wasn’t your fault is the attorney that represents you. Lakeland slip and fall attorneys come in all shapes and sizes, but Morgan and Morgan has the experience, resources, and lack of upfront costs to put us a cut above the rest.
Contact Morgan and Morgan’s Lakeland Slip and Fall Attorneys After an Accident That Wasn’t Your Fault
In the most difficult moments of your life, Morgan and Morgan has your back. There’s no reason to foot the bill after any accident you didn’t cause, especially one that could have been prevented with a little proactive action by a property owner. With $20 billion recovered, the resources of a corporate giant, and decades of experience behind us, our Lakeland slip and fall attorneys are uniquely capable of recovering every penny you deserve after a slip and fall accident on someone else’s property.
Complete our free, no-risk case evaluation to get started.
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