Slip and Fall Accidents: Understanding Settlements and Compensation

Slip and fall accidents can happen anywhere, from the grocery store to the office building. While some may result in serious injuries, others may lead to less severe wounds.

No matter the extent of your injuries, the law still entitles slip-and-fall victims to receive compensation. Therefore, understanding slip and fall incidents and settlements, regardless of the severity of the injuries, can help victims determine whether they can bring legal action.

Slip and Fall Accidents in a Nutshell

A slip and fall incident occurs when someone slips, trips, or falls due to a hazardous condition on someone else’s property. Common causes of these accidents include wet floors, poor lighting, uneven surfaces, and obstructions.

According to the National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI), over one million people suffer from slip and fall injuries each year. While some injuries may be minor, others can have severe and long-lasting consequences.

Even when surgery is not required, premises liability statutes and case law allow victims to seek compensation for their medical bills, lost wages, and other damages related to their minor injuries.

Grounds for Establishing Negligence

Property owners must keep their premises safe for visitors and guests in slip and fall cases. This concept, known as premises liability, means that property owners must take reasonable steps to identify and address potential hazards that could lead to harm. When property owners fail to act appropriately to prevent injuries, the law holds them liable for any resulting accidents.

Building a Strong Case

Building a solid case before pursuing a slip-and-fall settlement is crucial.

An experienced personal injury attorney can guide clients through this process and help them gather solid case-building evidence, such as photographs, witness statements, receipts from medical expenses, and proof of lost wages.

Victims increase their chances of receiving fair compensation by documenting all special and general damages related to minor slip and fall accidents.

Pursuing a Slip and Fall Settlement

After a slip and fall accident, the victim or their attorney may file a claim with the responsible party’s insurance company.

The insurance company will typically investigate the incident and negotiate a settlement amount. During this process, it’s essential to know the average settlement amount of compensation for similar cases in West Virginia.

An experienced personal injury attorney can research case law databases to find this information so the client receives the maximum compensation deserved based on similar injury severity.

Factors Affecting Settlement Amounts

Several factors impact the settlement amount in slip-and-fall cases. The extent of injuries, medical expenses, lost wages, and the need for ongoing treatment all play a role in determining case value.

To justify settlement award pleas, personal injury attorneys can quantify and assess economic damages, like medical bills, and non-economic damages, like pain and suffering. They calculate these damages to reflect fair compensation and the full impact of injuries on the victim’s life.

How Comparative Negligence Affects Your Injury Claim

The property owner may sometimes argue that the slip and fall victim was partially responsible for their injuries. Landowners and their insurance companies bear the burden of proving your negligence, meaning that the property owner must show that your actions (or inaction) somehow contributed to the accident. Our state also enforces an “open and obvious” hazard doctrine, which impacts premises liability claims.

Modified Comparative Negligence Rules

Comparative negligence can impact slip and fall settlement amounts. West Virginia follows a modified comparative negligence standard, meaning that each person is liable for their degree of fault, and the law restricts your right to file a claim based on your percentage of fault.

How much fault did you contribute to the accident? It is important because West Virginia follows the 50 percent bar rule. If you contributed 50 percent or more to your injuries, state statutes “bar” you from collecting damages.

• EXAMPLE: If the courts or an insurance company find you 40 percent responsible for the slip and fall accident, you can still pursue a claim to recover 60 percent of your losses.

In the example above, an insurance company can reduce your $100,000 damage claims to only $60,000 based on your contribution to the accident. However, you would receive nothing if you were 51% responsible for your injuries.

West Virginia “Open and Obvious” Statute

Here, the law does not hold property owners liable for an “open, obvious, and reasonably apparent hazard” that people may encounter while visiting a property.

The statute reads as follows:

“A possessor of real property, including an owner, lessee or other lawful occupants, owes no duty of care to protect others against dangers that are open, obvious, reasonably apparent or as well known to the person injured as they are to the owner or occupant, and shall not be held liable for civil damages for any injuries sustained as a result of such dangers.”

• EXAMPLE: A storefront’s sidewalk is clearly icy, and you walk into the shop over the ice and fall, injuring yourself.

Under West Virginia law, the business owner may not be responsible for your injuries. However, an experienced personal injury lawyer can help you overcome the defense by arguing that the condition was not apparent to a reasonable person.

Proving Comparative Negligence

Finally, it takes a lot of work for landowners to prove a claimant’s negligence in premises liability cases. Property owners hold a quasi-absolute liability to prevent slips and falls on their land.

Visitors or invitees must have acted irresponsibly or did something not permitted on the landowner’s property for the law to make them partly responsible for their injuries.

‍Some common defenses that property owners often assert to establish comparative negligence include:

• Claimant was trespassing.
• Invitee was not paying attention when visiting the property.
• Visitor entered somewhere on the property that he shouldn’t have been.
• Invitee ignored posted or verbal warnings about the dangerous condition.
• Claimant didn’t use appropriate footwear as advised, or a defect in footwear caused your slip and fall.
• The hazardous condition was clearly visible.

An experienced slip and fall attorney can help evaluate the accident’s circumstances and build a solid personal injury case to minimize potential comparative negligence claims.

The Benefits of Consulting an Attorney After a Slip and Fall Injury

Even if you believe your injuries are minor, consulting with a personal injury attorney can be highly beneficial. Personal injury attorneys have extensive experience guiding clients through the insurance claims process.

They can also help you understand the value of your case, negotiate with insurance companies, and bring legal action to secure a fair settlement.

Contact Miley Legal for a Free Consultation Today

If you experienced a slip and fall while visiting another person’s property and have questions about your rights or the potential value of your case, don’t hesitate to contact Miley Legal in West Virginia.

Our experienced personal injury attorneys offer free consultations to discuss the details of your case and help you understand your options. We’ll guide you through the claims process, negotiate with the landowner’s insurance company, and fight for the compensation you deserve.

Take the first step towards justice, and call us today.