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A slip and fall accident can lead to excessive medical bills and chronic pain in the future. When someone else is at fall for your accident, you are entitled to receive compensation for your injuries. Proving a slip and fall accident requires evidence that the cause of the accident was someone else’s responsibility. To help you understand the intricacies of liability in a slip and fall case, we’ve compiled the following information.

 

Proving Liability

 

To prove someone else is liable or responsible for the accident you had and, therefore, the injuries you incurred, you will need to prove one of the following points:

 

1. Causation. You’ll need to prove the cause of the accident was external to the victim. A building owner, construction crew, a manufacturer, or an employee must be responsible for the faulty railing, the slippery floor, or other hazardous situation.

 

2. Previous knowledge. A person directly associated with the ownership or operation of an environment must have known about the hazard and done nothing to fix it.

 

3. Reasonable measures. A “reasonable” person would have identified and remedied the hazard by removal or repair. This criterion is the most common and most difficult to prove because of the challenge in defining what is and is not reasonable in a certain situation.

 

While what you have to prove is fairly straightforward and simple, collecting the evidence and making a successful case can be challenging. A successful case must also establish from the beginning that it was not the negligence or carelessness of the victim alone that caused the accident. In a situation where a person slips and falls on a slippery floor, but witnesses saw that the victim’s shoelaces were untied, it will be more difficult to prove that the surface of the floor was to blame for the fall.

 

To create the most solid case from the beginning, keep these crucial pieces of evidence in mind if you ever encounter a slip and fall accident yourself or if you witness a slip and fall accident.

 

What to do Immediately After a Slip and Fall Accident

 

1. Seek medical attention. Your wellbeing should be the first priority, and medical records can play a vital role in a slip and fall case. Explain your injury to your healthcare provider in detail to ensure it is accounted for in your medical records.

 

2. Record the situation. As soon as you are able, write down everything you remember about the accident, from what you were doing and who was around to physical descriptions of the environment.

 

3. Get the names and numbers of witnesses. Having this information will help your attorney build your case and understand from a number of different angles what happened during the accident.

 

4. Take pictures, if possible. If you are able, take pictures of your injury and the environment where the accident occurred.

 

5. Contact your attorney. Getting your attorney involved as soon as possible is a good idea. He or she can help you create a case and navigate discussions with various parties and insurance adjustors.

 

Remember this. If you are involved in a slip and fall accident and wish to seek compensation, never admit fault. Doing so can be presented during the course of your case and hurt your chances of success.