Should I Hire an Attorney After a Slip and Fall Accident in an Airport?

One of the first questions our slip and fall airport lawyers ask concerns the cause of an incident. Knowing the cause helps us determine fault, especially when it involves the most common causes of slip and fall incidents at airports.

Slick Floor

Airports are home to dozens of businesses that sell beverages. From large restaurants to standalone self-serve kiosks, many passengers carry some form of beverage throughout an airport. Add passengers moving at a quick pace and you have the perfect recipe for spilled beverages. The sheer number of beverage spills makes it difficult for airport staff to stay on top of removing moisture from slick floors.

If you slipped and fell on a slick floor, you might be able to prove airport staff failed to place a “Wet Floor” sign on the floor. The attorney we assign to your case might collect enough evidence that demonstrates poorly maintained equipment caused a slick floor.

Uneven Walking Surface

From an airplane ramp to a loose floorboard, airports present a high risk of causing a slip and fall incident. Loose mats, defective sidewalks, and cluttered floors can cause a trip and fall. Airport maintenance employees are responsible for fixing uneven surfaces as quickly as possible. If you suffer from injuries caused by a slip and fall over an uneven surface, you might have a strong enough case to file a civil lawsuit against the airport.

Electrical Cords

To dry slick services, airport maintenance crews often run high-powered machines that blow air over the slick surfaces. Although the machines remove moisture quickly, the cords running from the machines to the nearest electrical outlet pose a danger for passengers moving hurriedly through an airport. Proving negligence for an electrical cord causing a trip and fall incident is tricky because some of the blame might rest on the shoulders of the injured passenger for not paying attention while moving through the airport.

What do the three most common causes of airport slip and fall have in common? Airport personnel should have prevented the personal injury incidents if they had received better training. Poor training of airport personnel might be grounds for proving negligence in a slip and fall airport incident.

The best slip and fall airport lawyers provide top-rated legal support, without charging any upfront legal fees. When you search for a personal injury, you want to work with one who charges on a contingency fee basis. This means your lawyer gets paid when you get paid. You pay nothing upfront to receive the best legal services from one of the slip and fall airport lawyers at Morgan & Morgan.

Provides Legal Advice

You can expect to make several decisions when navigating a slip and fall case. Your personal injury attorney helps you make the tough decisions, such as deciding whether to file a lawsuit, and if you file one, how much you should ask for in monetary damages. A slip and fall lawyer also guides you through the complex legal process, from the day you file an insurance claim to the day you walk out of a civil courtroom with a judgment in your favor.

Establishes Negligence

When you file an insurance claim, you do not have to prove negligence on the part of the airport. However, you must demonstrate negligence if you want to win a civil judgment for monetary damages. Experienced slip and fall airport lawyers know how to prove negligence by referring to physical evidence and witness accounts of the slip and fall incident. If your lawyer can prove negligence, the airport might be willing to negotiate a settlement.

Calculates Monetary Damages

The primary reason you hire one of the best slip and fall airport lawyers is to receive compensation for your injuries. Your personal injury lawyer calculates an amount for monetary damages based on three factors. The key is to calculate a reasonable value for monetary damages that encourages the other party to negotiate a settlement. Submitting an unreasonably valued amount for monetary damages might motivate the airport to fight your allegations during a civil lawsuit.

Negotiate a Settlement

Negotiating a settlement allows you to avoid the costly and time-consuming litigation process. A civil trial does not cost you any money except court and legal fees. Personal injury lawyers usually cover the costs of court and legal fees, which they recover after clients win a judgment for monetary damages. What a civil trial costs is the time you miss from work, which lowers your income. The best slip and fall airport lawyers understand how to negotiate favorable settlements for clients. If your personal injury attorney can prove negligence, getting the other party to agree to your proposed settlement should be relatively easy.

Prepare You for Trial

If your case goes to trial, your slip and fall lawyer prepares you for questioning, as well as describes the litigation process. Legal counsel is critical when the time comes to argue your case in front of a judge or jury. Representing yourself during a civil trial pits you against the powerful team of litigators working for the airport. An experienced personal injury lawyer evens the legal playing field inside a civil courtroom.

Your attorney considers three categories when calculating the value of monetary damages: Special compensatory, general compensatory, and punitive.

Special Compensatory Damages

By far the easiest type of monetary damages to calculate a value, special compensatory damages represent the economic losses you have suffered because of the injuries sustained by an airport slip and fall incident. Medical expenses make up the largest slice of the special compensatory pie. You have the right to receive compensation for the costs of diagnostic tests, treatment programs, and physical therapy sessions. Your attorney should ask for money to recover the costs of assistive devices and prescription medications.

A slip and fall incident can cause one or more serious injuries that prevent you from working. Special compensatory damages cover lost wages to help you pay for economic costs. If a slip and fall caused property damages, you should ask for monetary damages to pay for repairs or the price of a new product. Damage to Smartphones represents a common property damage claim filed with a civil lawsuit.

General Compensatory Damages

As a type of non-economic damages, general compensatory damages address pain and suffering that includes mental anguish and acute anxiety. The best slip and fall airport lawyers calculate general compensatory damages based on a formula that involves the value of special compensatory damages. Your attorney boosts your chances of receiving a favorable judgment for general compensatory damages by putting you under oath and asking you about the mental and emotional harm you have experienced.

Punitive Damages

Judges and juries award punitive damages to plaintiffs that suffered injuries that were caused by one or more acts of negligence. For a slip and fall case, negligence can include failing to remove the remnants of a beverage spill in a timely manner. For intentional acts of negligence, judges and juries typically award more for punitive damages than the compensation awarded for an unintentional act of negligence.

Now that you understand the importance of hiring a slip and fall attorney, the next step in the process involves learning what you should look for in the best slip and fall airport lawyers.

Specializes in Slip and Fall Cases

Since personal injury law covers a wide variety of categories, you want to work with legal counsel that specializes in litigating slip and fall cases. The attorney you select should have experience litigating airport slip and fall cases as well. Experience measured by the number of years is not as important as the number of cases a personal injury lawyer has won for slip and fall incidents.

Represents You the Entire Time

Some personal injury attorneys meet with clients for a free case evaluation, only to disappear for the remainder of the legal process. One of the most important questions to ask during a free case evaluation is, “Will you represent me from start to finish?” You do not want to work with a personal injury lawyer who delegates most of the legal responsibilities to a paralegal or less experienced litigator.

Responsive Communication

You should never have to wait more than 24 hours to hear back from a personal injury lawyer. At Morgan & Morgan, you have access to an attorney during business hours. If you need specific information about your case after business hours, the personal injury attorney representing you must promptly respond to your questions and concerns the next day. You can learn a lot about a lawyer’s communication style during the free case evaluation.

You have a limited amount of time to file a slip and fall lawsuit against an airport. Act with a sense of urgency today by scheduling a free case evaluation with one of the slip and fall airport lawyers at Morgan & Morgan.