Steps to Take After a Slip and Fall Accident

Injured in a Slip and Fall Accident?

If you or someone you know suffered an injury after a slip and fall accident, it’s essential to know what to do afterward. These five steps are crucial to developing a strong case with a Los Angeles personal injury attorney.

Seek Medical Attention

Any fall has the potential to seriously injure someone, even if they slip at ground level. A substantial amount of falls require medical treatment. A surprising amount of victims end up in the emergency room despite not falling from an elevated height.

Before you do anything else, it’s critical to seek proper medical attention. There are many reasons for this, including:

• Diagnosis: Getting a fast diagnosis is necessary to receive the correct treatment. Some injuries might not seem obvious, but diagnostic tools can reveal broken bones or damaged organs.
• Treatment plan: The sooner you start treating an injury, the better. Sometimes, the first step is to rest before surgery or physical therapy. If you don’t go to the doctor for a diagnosis, you won’t know that you need the rest, which will strain the injury more.
• Pain management: Many slip and fall injuries are painful, especially if you strain your back, sprain your neck, fracture a bone, or get a concussion. Besides rest, you might need medication to assist recovery.
• Accurate medical records: Going to the doctor results in an update to your medical records. This helps you prove the injury later when we build the case to seek compensation. No court or insurance company will take your word at any point.

Inspect the Scene: Write Things Down and Take Photos

Any good fall injury attorney knows the kind of evidence needed to build a negligence case. We break down slip and call accidents into three main categories:

• Slipping on a foreign substance (including snow and ice)
• Falling on the stairs
• Slipping or tripping on the floor

Slipping on Foreign Substance

If you slip on a foreign substance, the timing of the utmost importance. It would help if you got pictures of the scene as soon after the accident as possible. Otherwise, it becomes much harder to prove the case.

For better or worse, the plaintiff is always the one responsible for proving the case. As our trip and fall compensation attorneys in Los Angeles know, you need more than your word against theirs. The best evidence for that is a picture.

Falling on Stairs

If you fall while using the stairs, the next step depends on what caused you to fall. If there wasn’t a foreign substance and you didn’t merely misstep, then you can take photographs of whatever the cause was.

Common design issues that can lead to a fall include:

• Only one handrail
• No handrails
• Handrail too high or too low
• Incorrect or varying step height
• Worn edges on the steps
• Not enough foot room on the steps

Our lawyers can hire a construction expert to examine the staircase and determine if there is a design problem responsible for your injury.

Slipping on Floor

A case surrounding a floor fall proceeds similarly to a staircase accident. Still, now there’s the possibility of a failure to warn. If there weren’t any warning signs around a lip in the floor, this is something essential to write down for the report.

Identify Witnesses

If not for witness testimony, the legal system would be in shambles. Here, too, the right witness can make your case. Our fall injury law firm can use two types of witnesses:

• Eyewitness: This is whoever watched your injury happen, whether they’re a professional or not.
• Expert: This is a professional who can add his or her expertise to the case. They don’t need to witness the injury.

Make Official Reports

If you injure yourself on a commercial property, the business owner may have an accident form you can use to document the accident. Injuries on private property are a little more challenging since there isn’t a single form to complete.

To document the incident, our slip and fall lawyer Los Angeles firm can help you prepare an accident report. We will hold onto a copy of the report for the case. We will also provide a copy to the property owner to notify them of the incident.

All reports should include:

• The date, time, and location of the injury
• What you were doing at the time you fell
• Conditions of the scene, such as dim lighting, spilled liquids, cracked pavement, or other conditions the owner is responsible for
• The identity of the negligent party
• Your contact information
• Witness information

Along with the report, you should collect insurance information from the property owner, take pictures of the scene and your injuries, and obtain copies of your medical records after seeking treatment. If you need to return to the doctor for follow-up appointments or surgeries, be sure to get the files for these visits as well. All of this information will strengthen your claim for compensation and give us the best chance of getting justice in court.

Hire a LA Injury Lawyer

Our trip and fall law firm has built a reputation for complete dedication, and for a good reason: We want to give you our best attorneys to help you seek legal action. If someone else’s negligence puts you in the hospital, we want to help you ensure that person won’t injure anyone else.

At Grey Law, we’re committed to providing the best legal representation. It’s critical to choose a skilled slip and fall attorney for a negligence case. Call our attorneys today to schedule a free legal case evaluation.