Slip and Fall Attorney in New York

It is only a few feet from a standing position to landing on the floor or ground. However, it only takes a few feet for a victim to sustain one or more serious injuries because of a slip and fall incident. The element of surprise makes it difficult to take measures to diminish the impact of a slip and fall. Moreover, certain highly vulnerable parts of your body can sustain severe damage.

After more than 35 years of handling slip and fall cases, our team of personal injury attorneys has determined three types of injuries are the most common injuries associated with slip and fall incidents.

Fractured Bone

Just about any bone in your body is at risk of sustaining a fracture as the result of a slip and fall incident. Nonetheless, the most vulnerable bones for sustaining a fracture are located in the arms, wrists, and collarbone. When you begin to lose your balance and head towards the floor or ground, the instinctive reaction is to use one or both arms to break the momentum of the fall. Although bracing yourself for an impact protects other parts of the body from damage, your arms, wrists, and collarbone become susceptible to sustaining one or more fractures.

Not all fractures are created equal, with a compound fracture requiring the longest recovery period and racking up the costliest medical bills.

Brain Trauma

Victims of a slip and fall that cannot brace themselves for the impact increase the risk of sustaining brain trauma. From falling head-first into a beverage counter to landing hard head-first on the floor, the result can be serious symptoms that include internal bleeding of the brain. Some brain injuries result in milder symptoms, such as the symptoms that develop after sustaining a concussion. The higher the velocity of a fall, the more serious the damage done to the brain.

Serious brain injuries can require several intensive surgical procedures to reduce swelling and the pressure placed on the brain.

Spinal Cord Damage

Another type of serious injury that develops after a slip and fall concerns damage done to the spinal cord. This is an especially common type of slip and fall injury for victims that cannot brace themselves for impact on the floor by landing on the seat of their pants. Landing on the seat of your pants can apply incredible pressure on the spinal column, which might result in one or more discs slipping out of position. Suffering from a slipped disc injury requires completing a lengthy rehabilitation process, as well as the ability to cope with bouts of tremendous pain.

Navigating the personal injury litigation and insurance claim process is difficult to do for someone who does not have a strong legal background. In addition to providing you with helpful legal advice, a New York slip and fall lawyer from Morgan and Morgan offers several other types of legal support.

Conducts a Detailed Investigation

Gathering and organizing physical evidence represents the heart of an insurance claim and a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages. A New York slip and fall lawyer from Morgan and Morgan works closely with a licensed, in-house investigator to obtain security camera footage of the area where you slipped and fell. Your attorney also reviews the formal incident report, as well as takes photographs of the area where you fell to determine whether negligence played a role in causing you harm.

Interviewing witnesses is another component of conducting a detailed investigation.

Interact With the Insurance Adjuster Processing Your Claim

When an insurance adjuster finds out you have retained the legal services of a New York slip and fall lawyer, your claim should receive the attention it deserves. Claimants who file claims without the legal support of an attorney often find their claims moving slowly through the processing system. The New York slip and fall lawyer that you hire from Morgan and Morgan interacts with the insurance adjuster processing your claim to ensure you receive a fair review of your case, as well as get your claim processed in a timely manner.

Calculate a Reasonable Value for Compensation

One of the most common reasons for denied insurance claims and unfavorable legal judgments stems from the submission of an unfair value for compensation. Your attorney must present a reasonable value of compensation, which starts by adding up all the tangible expenses, such as the cost associated with diagnostic tests and the use of an assistive device. Calculating a fair value for non-economic damages is when your New York slip and fall lawyer has to be careful not to overreach. Non-economic damages regard the costs connected with pain and suffering, which include the development of emotional distress symptoms like fear, anger, and anxiety.

Negotiate a Settlement

Although you might have a strong enough case to file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages, the fact remains that a majority of personal injury lawsuits never see the light inside a courtroom. Instead, both parties try to negotiate a settlement that avoids the costly and time-consuming litigation process. Your New York slip and fall lawyer submits a reasonable value for compensation, which the other party’s attorney can either accept or reject. If the other party rejects the initial offer, the lawyer might send back a counteroffer.

Several rounds of counteroffers can follow until both parties reach a settlement or decide to take the case to the trial phase of the litigation process.

Another important type of legal support provided by a New York slip and fall lawyer from Morgan and Morgan involves ensuring your file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages before the expiration of the statute of limitations. Each state has established a deadline for taking legal action, with most states granting plaintiffs between two and four years to initiate a lawsuit. However, a few states allow plaintiffs as long as six years and as short as one year to take legal action. New York gives plaintiffs three years to file a personal injury lawsuit. The clock typically starts to tick on filing a personal injury lawsuit on the day of a slip and fall incident. You might be able to receive an extension if you sustained one or more injuries that developed delayed symptoms.

Three years gives you plenty of time to take legal action against a defendant who committed one or more acts of negligence. Instead of waiting nearly three years, you should act with a sense of urgency and file a convincing civil lawsuit long before the deadline passes for taking legal action for two important reasons. First, your New York slip and fall lawyer must receive the most accurate witness accounts of what transpired before, during, and after the slip and fall incident. Witness accounts tend to be less accurate the longer they are provided after a personal injury incident. Second, acting with a sense of urgency helps you get paid much faster than if you wait to file a lawsuit close to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

If you fail to meet the deadline to file a personal injury lawsuit, expect the court clerk processing your case to remove it from the judicial docket.

Take a little time before you schedule a free case evaluation with a New York slip and fall lawyer from Morgan and Morgan to read the reviews left by our clients on sites such as Yelp and Google. You should discover that for more than three decades, we have provided our clients with the most effective legal services offered by any personal injury law firm in New York.