Queens Slip and Fall Accident

What Should I Do After a Slip and Fall Accident?

Get Medical Attention, Stay Calm, and Call a Queens Slip and Fall Attorney

Your actions immediately after a slip and fall accident are crucial to your health and the strength of any personal injury claim you may have. A Queens personal injury lawyer can help guide you through the process, but first and foremost, your health is the most important factor in a slip and fall case.

If you have fallen, then make sure to take your time in assessing your injuries, or even moving. Making one wrong turn or putting pressure on an injured body part could exacerbate your injuries and lead to future disability.

Do Your Best to Stay Calm

You may be hurt, and it’s okay to cry, but try to avoid yelling and blaming the first person you see. You also should avoid making comments about your fall that imply it was somehow your fault. Anything you say after a slip and fall accident can be used to disprove your case.

Get Medical Attention

Slip and fall injuries should be assessed by medical professionals as soon as possible. First responders, such as emergency medical technicians (EMT), should be the professionals tending to your injuries if they are extensive. However, not all slip and fall accidents in Queens require a call to 911.

Regardless of whether or not you need immediate help, you will need to seek medical attention at some point to prevent your injuries from getting worse and to preserve your personal injury claim. Head injuries, for example, may not seem serious at first, but later can progress to be quite serious. A medical report on the nature and extent of your injuries is essential to a slip and fall personal injury claim.

If you do not get an exam, there will be no official record of your injuries. Consequently, you will not be able to seek damages. Additionally, you should get this medical evaluation as soon after the accident as possible, or your claim may suffer.

Insurance companies and defense attorneys have one job: diminish or disqualify your claim. One of the first things they attack is the seriousness of your injury. If they can prove that you may have received your injuries after the slip and fall accident in Queens or that you exacerbated your injuries, then you will either get significantly lower compensation or none at all.

Document Your Condition and the Scene of the Slip and Fall Accident

The moments immediately following a slip and fall accident are the best time to gather evidence. If you are injured, however, you need to make sure your injuries are stabilized before even thinking about documenting the evidence.

Once you are in a position to do so, start snapping photos with your phone. Try to get shots from as many angles as possible. Doing so will help your Queens slip and fall attorney process the facts of the case and build their strategy.

Additionally, talk to witnesses and get their contact information. Remember that witness testimony gets more unreliable as time goes on. It thus benefits you to capture witness statements as official evidence as soon as possible. Pass this information on to your slip and fall attorney in Queens, and they will begin to work at preserving your case.

If the slip and fall took place at a business or on government property, then you may also be able to get a supervisor or manager to file an official report. When you speak about the case, remember that anything you say can be used later to disprove or diminish your claim. Thus, do not admit to fault. A Queens work injury lawyer can help ensure your accident is properly documented and handled. Just try to get the accident on some sort of record.

Contact a Reliable Queens Slip and Fall Lawyer

The quicker you contact our slip and fall attorney in Queens, the better chance we’ll have to gather evidence to help solidify your claim for damages and medical care. You can reach our team at (212) 563-1900.

Am I at Fault for a Slip and Fall?

To establish negligence on the part of the New York property owner for public or private property, and therefore substantiate liability for your accident and subsequent injuries, your Queens slip and fall lawyer will have to prove three things:

• The property owner caused the dangerous conditions that led to your fall.
• They knew about hazardous conditions and opted not to fix them.
• They should have known about the dangerous conditions because a reasonable person would have noticed and fixed them.

A few other factors determine slip and fall liability. How long the location was potentially dangerous is one. For instance, it can be hard for a property owner to shovel and de-ice walkways and stairs in the middle of a snowstorm.

Other factors include the property owner’s protocol for inspecting the general area and how the hazard could have been fixed or otherwise remedied before the accident.

However, there are a few factors that the other party’s insurance company may claim made you at fault for your spill:

• You wore flimsy footwear or unsupportive shoes.
• You were in a hurry.
• You were distracted, using your phone, or not paying attention.
• You ignored posted signage warning of hazardous conditions.

When these situations apply, you may have a harder time proving your claim.

Our Queens Slip and Fall Lawyer Negotiates with Insurance Companies on Your Behalf

When pursuing a slip and fall injury claim, your attorney isn’t usually dealing directly with the property owner, but rather with their insurance company. Insurance companies prefer to deny claims made by plaintiffs or settle for as little as possible.

Often, in clear-cut negligence cases, the insurance company will offer a fast settlement. But many slip and fall accidents require ongoing medical care after the initial diagnosis. All medical bills from your slip and fall injury should be covered under your settlement.

If you settle too fast, your medical care will come out of your own pocket. Our slip and fall lawyer in Queens will strengthen your claim to help ensure your settlement is adequate to cover additional treatment.

FAQs about Queens Slip and Fall Accidents

Common Questions our Queens Slip and Fall Accident Lawyers Hear from Clients

When you’re hurt after taking a fall, you could have a legal claim if your fall was caused by someone’s negligence. You may wonder how a legal case works after a slip and fall accident in Queens.

If you suffered severe injuries, you may wonder where to turn, be concerned about medical bills, be worried about lost wages, and wonder how you can get the most compensation possible. Our Queens slip and fall accident lawyers are here to answer any questions you may have after a nasty fall. Here are a few we regularly hear.

• What is the statute of limitations for a slip and fall?

  In New York, you have three years from the date of the incident to file a claim. With that being said, when a slip and fall in Queens results in a death, then the statute of limitations is shorter. Wrongful death claims must be brought within two years of the incident that caused death.

• What if I miss the three-year deadline?

  If you don’t bring your slip and fall lawsuit within three years, your case is no longer valid. However, there are some limited exceptions to this rule. Consulting with our experienced Queens slip and fall lawyer will get you the answers you need to this question.

• Can I file a successful lawsuit if I was partially at fault?

  The short answer is yes. New York state law allows the victim to be partially negligent and still collect damages when another party is also negligent.

• How much is my Queens slip and fall accident settlement worth?

  Each case is different, but the average slip and fall case settles for $10,000 to $50,000.

• How much will a slip and fall lawyer in Queens cost?

  Many personal injury lawyers work on a contingency basis, where they’re paid a portion of a winning settlement only.

• How long will it take to settle my slip and fall case?

  Our lawyer for slip and fall cases in Queens will often want you to complete your medical treatment before filing a claim to ensure that they have an accurate dollar amount for your medical fees and compensate you for any time missed at work.