Clearwater Slip and Fall Claims Process
The Clearwater slip and fall claims process can often be complex. For plaintiffs, a slip and fall case begins with a determination that whatever caused a plaintiff to fall was a transitory substance that the property owner knew or should have known was present. The plaintiff then must prove the unreasonableness of the condition and whether or not the damages that the plaintiff suffered are attributable to that specific negligence of not either cleaning up the mess or notifying someone that the condition exists.
If you are filing a slip and fall claim in Clearwater, it is important that you contact an attorney immediately. An experienced lawyer will be able to guide you through the slip and fall claims process in Clearwater and help produce a favorable result on your behalf.
Disclosing Elements of the Case
Clients should disclose to their attorney the purpose for the visit to the site of the accident. They should be able to explain how many times they have been to a particular location, what type of shoes they were wearing, the type of climate, whether or not they knew the surface was dry or wet, what they believe the surface was, and where the foreign substance was on the surface on which they were injured.
The individual should also be able to report whether there were any signs, notices, or anything that distracted the plaintiff from being able to determine that the substance was on the floor or that a danger existed. Some of the first questions that an attorney will ask will be what the extent of the damages are, how they were sustained, and what the person was doing when they were injured.
Demand Letter
The demand letter normally consists of the medical records, the billing of lost wages, lost ability to earn, and in some instances will include consortium, which means that the at-fault individual can actually be liable for the claim of a spouse. The letter will also provide pictures of the subject location. As part of the Clearwater slip and fall claims process, an attorney may have some experts do professional tests to determine whether the surfaces are reasonable under the circumstances to ensure that an individual would have been safe to walk on them based on the type of business at which the fall occurred.
Normally a demand letter is either presented to the proprietor or to the proprietor’s insurance carrier if a proprietor has insurance.
Hearing of the Case
In court, a Plaintiff is trying to prove that a land owner or property controller was negligent for failing to exercise an appropriate level of care which caused an injury that could have been avoided.
The defense normally argues that whatever caused the injury was open, obvious, notorious, and that any reasonable individual would have been able to either avoid the area or that the proprietor did not have actual or constructive knowledge of the condition and did not have the appropriate time to react and clean it up. All of these arguments are standard in the Clearwater slip and fall claims process.
Importance of An Attorney
In terms of a Clearwater slip and fall case, an individual will want to work with someone with experience handling these types of cases as opposed to somebody that is a general practitioner of law because there are a number of subtle nuances in the statutes governing slip and falls. If a lawyer is not familiar with them, a person can set up their case for failure.
Lawyers are the only advocates that a person has to protect themselves from people that are professional adjusters and insurance professionals whose job is to minimize and mitigate any injury and any claim of negligence against the property owner.
Approaching the Case
An attorney’s approach to a slip and fall case in Clearwater is to document everything as quickly as possible, and to notify the owner of the dangerous condition. Further, an attorney will assist the client to ensure that they recover physically as best as possible. A lawyer will avoid rushing to settlement until they recognize the extent of the injuries that their client has sustained. At the same time, an attorney in a Clearwater slip and fall case will prepare the defendant to recognize the extent of the plaintiff’s injuries for which that defendant will be financially responsible.