Slip-and-Fall Settlements
Slip-and-fall accidents may seem insignificant, but they are actually the leading cause of hospital visits. A slip-and-fall accident can cause broken limbs, dislocated joints, and brain trauma. These injuries can leave you with medical debt and lost days at work. This will often mean having to fight insurance companies to cover your damages. Sometimes it’s necessary to take insurance companies to court, but not every person can wait the length of a trial to receive their due compensation. If this is the case, your lawyer may advise you to seek a settlement. With an experienced attorney, settlements on average are three times higher than when people fight alone.
What Is a Settlement?
A trial is a time-consuming endeavor for everyone involved. The legal system has developed a way to negotiate that allows parties to come to an agreement without the full process of a trial. These agreements, called settlements, are more common than bringing cases to court. With a competent attorney, taking a slip-and-fall settlement may be an attractive option, depending on your situation.
How Long Do Settlements Take?
Whether you can persuade a liable party to offer a reasonable settlement is unpredictable. Several factors will impact when you will be offered a settlement and how much, including the cooperativeness of the other party, the strength of your case, and the willingness on your part to accept an offer. Depending on your case, you may be eligible to receive your money either as one lump sum or in periodic increments as a structured settlement.
How Much Do You Stand to Receive?
What you can recover in a typical slip-and-fall settlement will depend on numerous variables. When it comes to slip-and-fall injuries, there are often unforeseen expenses that an attorney can warn you about. These may include compensation for medical bills, money for lost hours at work, and job retraining costs. Some elements that may impact the size of your settlement include:
- Monetary expenses you’ve already needed to pay
- Policy limits on the defendant’s insurance
- Monetary resources of the defendant
- Whether you can return to work
The court will issue a court order when you agree to a settlement that stipulates the deal’s final terms, which may be changed by the judge.
How to Claim a Slip-and-Fall Settlement
In order to claim a slip-and-fall settlement, your injuries must be the responsibility of another party. If you were injured at work, this is your employer. If your slip-and-fall was in a private business or residence, the owner, if negligent, is responsible. To get started on the path to winning a settlement, you must first file a civil suit, or tort. From here, the defendant or defendants would need to be willing to negotiate a settlement. There are many reasons a defendant, particularly a business, would want to avoid trial, since it may expose matters to the public court record that the business would rather keep hidden.
If your injury was due to a persistent safety hazard that others may have been affected by, you may be eligible to collect on a preexisting settlement. When many people are injured in the same way and the responsibility is with the same party, the injured parties may constitute a class. As a class, injured parties can collectively file suit with a team of lawyers who take legal action on behalf of the class. If a class action suit has already been won or has ended in a negotiated settlement, you may be eligible to collect a predetermined sum as part of the class.
File Your Claim Today
If you or a loved one has been injured in a slip-and-fall accident, ClassAction.com is here to work for you. We are national award-winning lawyers who have won our clients over $5 billion in damages over three decades. Our team will work diligently to get you compensation for medical bills, lost wages, job retraining, and more. A slip-and-fall injury can completely upend your life, but with an experienced lawyer on your side, you can recover the money necessary for what is often an expensive recovery. To determine what your legal options are in your slip-and-fall case, fill out a free evaluation.
