Kellie T. Barnes, Attorney at Law can guide you through the claims process if you’ve been injured in a slip-and-fall accident in Maryland. They can happen anywhere, but unfortunately, slip-and-fall accidents usually happen in places where you and other women go every day.. That doesn’t make the aftermath any easier, but our team can. Set up a free consultation today.
Why a Lawyer Makes Sense After a Slip-and-Fall Accident
Most women aren’t thinking about getting a lawyer when they fall. They’re worried about getting up and getting on with their day. But a “simple” fall can quickly become something much bigger. All of a sudden, you have to miss work, cancel plans, struggle to drive, need help around the house, or make repeated trips to doctors and physical therapy. And while you’re trying to recover, the insurance company starts asking questions about what happened.
Dealing with all that is a lot, and that’s usually where talking to a lawyer starts to make more sense. We can sit down with you and:
- Listen to what happened and explain your options
- Look into the property and figure out what caused your fall
- Put together pcitres, surveillance footage, accident reports, and other evidence
- Find out who owned, managed, or maintained the property
- Handle the back-and-forthwith the insurance company
- Take your case to court when that’s necessary
You shouldn’t have to spend your recovery arguing with an insurance company or trying to prove that your injury matters. While you focus on getting better and getting your life back on track, we’ll handle the legal side of things.
Where Slip-and-Fall Accidents Happen in Maryland
One of the biggest problems with slip-and-fall accidents is that people sometimes assume the injury isn’t serious because the fall itself looked minor. But you don’t have to be knocked unconscious or experience a dramatic injury for a fall to impact your life—although that can happen. Most of the time, these kinds of accidents result in:
- Broken wrists, arms, ankles, or other bones
- Knee and shoulder injuries
- Back and neck injuries
- Head injuries and concussions
- Torn ligaments or other soft-tissue injuries
- Chronic pain that doesn’t go away
- Limited mobility or difficulty walking
- Emotional problems and anxiety
Physical injuries are bad enough, but what these kinds of accidents really take away from are sometimes more impactful. Slip-and-falls can leave you with trouble taking care of your children, keeping up with your home, getting to work, exercising, driving, or simply doing the things you normally enjoy. So as you can see, these kinds of situations aren’t as simple as you might think.
Information That Can Help You After Your Slip-and-Fall Accident
Another difficult thing about a slip-and-fall is how quickly it happens—usually so fast that it’s hard to even know what happened. Still, it’s an important time in terms of information. Before you try to get anything though, the very first thing you should do is:
- Report the accident to someone in charge and get medical attention. This kicks everything off, and makes the people in charge aware of the problem.
From there, it’s about getting first aid or an ambulance to check you out. While you wait (and only if it’s safe) try to get a few basic things like:
- Pictures/video of the exact area where you fell and any hazard that might have caused it
- Names and contact information for anyone who saw you fall or knew about the potential
- The name of the manager, property owner, or business responsible for the location
That’s about as much as you can do there at the scene, but remember, your main focus should be on reporting what happened and getting medical care. In the days/weeks following, though, more important things are going to start making themselves available, like:
- An accident report from the grocery store, restaurant, apartment complex, hotel, or wherever your fall happened.
- Your medical records, including ER visits, doctor’s appointments, X-rays, MRIs, prescriptions, and physical therapy.
- Surveillance footage from any nearby cameras. Most businesses have security cameras that may have caught the actual fall or what caused it. The problem is that this footage is often only kept for a short time before it’s automatically deleted, so acting quickly can make a big difference.
- Your own notes about what happened and how the injury is affecting you. If you’re having trouble working, taking care of your kids, keeping up with the house, driving, exercising, or doing other things you normally handle, write that down.
- Receipts, medical bills, and records showing missed work or other expenses related to your injury.
Getting this information doesn’t automatically mean you’ll have a successful claim. But it gives you a much stronger starting point, especially when it points to who might be responsible.
Who Might Be Responsible for Your Slip-and-Fall?
Slip-and-fall accidents generally fall under premises liability, which really comes down to one basic question:
- Who was responsible for keeping the property reasonably safe?
That could mean the property owner knew about a dangerous condition and didn’t fix it. It could also mean they should have known about it because they weren’t properly checking or maintaining the property. One way or the other, what this actually means is that someone in charge was negligent. And like other accidents, negligence equals responsibility.
So even though it still depends on the exact details, responsibility for these kinds of accidents usually falls on:
- Store owners or managers who didn’t clean up a spill or other hazard.
- Apartment owners or property managers who ignored maintenance problems.
- Restaurants that didn’t deal with wet, greasy, or slippery floors.
- Property owners who allowed broken stairs, sidewalks, or handrails to remain dangerous.
- Cleaning or maintenance companies that didn’t properly maintain or repair an area.
- Other businesses or contractors responsible for creating or maintaining the dangerous condition.
The important thing is that you can’t always tell who’s responsible just by looking at where you fell. Most of the time, it involves a combination of the above people. That can make things more difficult to untangle and bring in more than one insurance company. But right or wrong, your options don’t change.
Damages You Can Get in a Slip-and-Fall Accident Claim
You probably didn’t expect a trip to the store, restaurant, or shopping center to result in an injury claim. But they happen all the time, and then you’re left with medical bills, missed work, and problems as you heal. All because somebody didn’t do what they should’ve.
If that’s your situation, you have the right to file an injury claim and get damages. Which means you can either:
- File an insurance claim outside of court
- File a personal injury lawsuit
Once your claim is filed, the focus shifts to your damages. That can include things like:
- Medical expenses
- Future medical treatment
- Lost wages
- Reduced earning capacity
- Other out-of-pocket expenses
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Loss of enjoyment of life
Remember, waiting too long can make it harder to get the information you need and prove that someone else was responsible for your fall. Surveillance footage can disappear, witnesses can become harder to find, and the condition that caused your fall may be repaired or changed. Plus, you generally have three years from the date of the accident to file a personal injury lawsuit in Maryland. But one way or the other, we’ll be with you from the beginning.
Kellie T. Barnes Helps Women Injured in Maryland Slip-and-Fall Accidents
You shouldn’t have to downplay what happened just because someone calls it a “simple” fall. If you’ve been injured, you’re the one dealing with the pain, medical appointments, missed work, changes to your routine, and the stress of figuring out what comes next. That’s where Kellie T. Barnes, Attorney at Law can help you.
My team will listen to what happened, gather key evidence and information, and guide you through the claims process so you have the space to get back on your feet. Set up a free consultation today to get started.