Frequently Asked Questions About Slip and Fall Accidents

Slip and fall accidents can lead to severe injuries, including broken bones, soft tissue damage, spinal cord injuries, and traumatic brain injuries. Slip and fall injuries can also result in long-term pain and permanent disability, making it crucial that victims understand their rights and seek compensation that will cover not only their past but also their future expenses.

If you suffered a slip and fall injury on someone else’s property, contact Fibich, Leebron, Copeland & Briggs for a free consultation with one of our experienced slip and fall injury lawyers. During your initial consultation, we’ll review the details of your case, explain your options for seeking compensation, and answer any questions you have about the legal process and what to expect going forward.

1. What Should I Do After a Slip and Fall?

After a slip and fall, you should take some key steps to prevent your injuries from worsening and strengthen your potential case. These steps include:

• Seeking Medical Treatment – Immediate medical treatment can prevent your injuries from worsening and identify underlying injuries you may not realize you have. Some injuries take days or weeks for symptoms to show, but a trained medical professional may be able to identify them earlier so you can begin receiving treatment. It’s also important to follow up with your treatment until you recover to the fullest possible extent.
• Tracking Medical Bills – The medical bills you receive for your treatments are essential for calculating your economic damages. Economic damages refer to the compensation you seek through your lawsuit for the tangible financial losses you suffered, such as medical expenses and lost wages. By keeping track of your medical bills, your lawyer can use them to calculate your past and estimate your future medical expenses.
• Documenting the Incident – Gathering evidence from the accident scene is crucial for proving your case. This involves photographing the hazard that caused you to slip, photographing your visible injuries, and collecting eyewitness names and contact information. If your injuries prevent you from taking these steps, you can have someone else do it for you after the fact.
• Keeping a Pain Journal – Writing down your pain levels each day and how your injuries affect your ability to complete daily tasks can be effective for conveying the long-term impact of your injuries.
• Contacting a Slip and Fall Attorney – The best way to protect your right to seek compensation after a slip and fall accident is to contact an experienced attorney who can handle your case.

2. How Are Slip and Fall Settlements Calculated?

Slip and fall settlements are calculated in two parts. First, there’s the calculation for your economic damages. Second, there’s the calculation for your non-economic damages.

Since economic damages encompass tangible financial losses, calculating them involves simply adding up the value of those losses. This includes adding up your medical bills, lost wages, and other expenses related to the incident.

Non-economic damages cover your intangible losses, making their value more subjective. For example, the compensation you seek for the physical pain and emotional suffering you experienced counts toward your non-economic damages. Calculating a value for these damages is typically done in one of two ways:

• Multiplier Method – Under this method, your economic damages are multiplied by a number between one and five to determine the value of your non-economic damages.
• Per Diem Method – Under this method, a daily value is assigned, and you multiply that value by the number of days you suffered because of your injuries to determine the value of your non-economic damages.

3. How Long Do Slip and Fall Cases Take to Settle?

Slip and fall cases can take anywhere from a few months to more than a year to settle, depending on the circumstances of your case. Some cases can be complex, involving multiple potentially liable parties, such as property owners, property managers, and third parties. The more complex a case is, the longer it typically takes to settle.

Another reason cases might take a while to settle involves the severity and extent of the injuries. In general, it’s recommended that you not settle your case until after reaching maximum medical improvement. This is the point at which further treatment is unlikely to result in additional recovery. Once you reach this point, it’s less likely that you will experience medical complications, and so it is easier to estimate your future medical expenses.

4. Are Slip and Fall Cases Hard to Win?

Slip and fall cases can sometimes be challenging to win because they rely on being able to prove that the property owner’s or manager’s actions or inactions contributed to your injuries. Without the right evidence, this can be challenging to prove, which is why it’s essential that you work with a skilled slip and fall lawyer on your case.

Your attorney will help gather evidence proving the property owner’s fault, including evidence that you may not have the tools to access yourself, such as security camera footage, internal company communications, and third-party audits of the property.

An example of a slip-and-fall case that may be hard to win is one in which you have no direct evidence connecting your injuries to the property owner. Perhaps you slipped and fell in an area with no security cameras and no witnesses, and the property owner cleaned up the wet spot that caused your fall before you had a chance to document the hazard.

While these cases aren’t impossible to win, the less evidence you have, the more of an uphill battle your case will be, and the more important it is that you work with a skilled lawyer for your personal injury claim.

5. Can Someone Sue You for Slipping on Your Driveway?

Yes, an injured person can sue you if they slip on your driveway. However, you are unlikely to be personally liable for their damages. Instead, your homeowners or renters’ insurance will likely cover their costs. These insurance policies typically include liability coverage that protects you from injuries suffered by guests or visitors on your property.

If your insurance doesn’t cover all of the injured party’s damages, they may file a lawsuit against you to seek additional compensation. However, they must show that you knew or should have known about the hazard that caused their fall and failed to take reasonable steps to fix it. This can be particularly challenging for them to prove, as a homeowner doesn’t have to take the same proactive steps to identify and address property hazards as a business owner does.

6. What if I Was Partly at Fault for My Slip and Fall?

Texas’ modified comparative fault statute may come into play and impact your compensation if you were partly at fault for your slip and fall injuries. Under comparative fault, a plaintiff’s damages are reduced by a percentage equal to their degree of fault. So, if you slipped in a puddle in a grocery store while looking at your phone, you may be 20 percent at fault, resulting in only recovering 80 percent of your damages.

Under this law, plaintiffs also can’t seek damages for their injuries if they are more than 50 percent at fault for their injuries. Not only is it important to work with a lawyer to reduce your liability so you can maximize your compensation in a premises liability claim, but also to protect your right to recover compensation at all.

Insurance companies often use bad-faith tactics to place blame on victims for their injuries. For example, the at-fault party’s insurance company may contact you for a statement about the incident. You should avoid providing a recorded statement and instead refer them to your lawyer. If you give a statement, the insurance company will twist your words to make it seem like you admitted full or partial fault for the incident.

7. What Is the Deadline for a Slip and Fall Claim?

Under Texas’s statute of limitations for personal injury lawsuits, individuals injured in slip and fall incidents only have two years to file lawsuits against the parties responsible for their injuries. If you fail to file your lawsuit within this period, the courts will prevent you from recovering compensation.

Two years may sound like a long time to file a lawsuit, but it’s vital that you begin working with an experienced slip and fall attorney as soon as possible. Your attorney must gather robust evidence to support your claim that the at-fault party’s actions or omissions contributed to your injuries, and this evidence doesn’t last forever.

Contact Our Houston Slip and Fall Accident Attorneys to Learn More

If you slipped and fell on someone else’s property in Houston, TX, contact Fibich, Leebron, Copeland & Briggs for a free consultation with an experienced premises liability attorney. Our firm has been serving injured Houston residents with comprehensive legal services for decades, and we have a track record of success that includes several multimillion-dollar verdicts.

Three of our attorneys are Board-Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Founding Partner Tommy Fibich has 50 years of legal experience and is Board-Certified in civil trial law, and Russell Briggs is Board-Certified in personal injury trial law. There is no charge to meet with us, and we only get paid if we get results for you.