When Should I Seek The Services Of An Attorney For A Slip And Fall Claim?


If you are seriously hurt due to a slip and fall, you should try to immediately seek the services of an experienced attorney for a slip and fall claim. A lot of people think that just because you fall somewhere other than a place under your control, the owner of the property is automatically responsible for your injuries and losses. However, that’s just not true and just not the case. The law in slip and fall injury cases is tricky, and the reason that it is important that you hire an experienced attorney as soon as possible is because cases are often won or lost by obtaining or failing to obtain evidence at the scene of the accident early in the case. Photographs and measurements can make or break the proof required to validate your slip and fall injury case.

In many slip and fall injury cases, we’ve hired slip and fall experts of many areas of expertise who have helped us make the case for the injured person. Experts can include architects, engineers, real estate experts, ex-city inspectors, former retail store managers or directors, and private investigators, lighting experts and others who want to immediately capture and preserve evidence for the benefit of the injured person. We have developed the experience in slip and fall injury cases and we have the financial resources to hire the right experts to help you on your slip and fall or trip and fall injury case. For example, in the past, I have consulted with and hired architects to review architectural drawings submitted to city planning for approval in order to see if it was actually performed on a subject property, and to see whether or not changes had been made without permission.

I have also hired commercial real estate experts to help establish who had the responsibility to repair or address a safety issue that led to an injury. I’ve hired professional photographers to take hundreds of photos of a property from all angles throughout the day. We used slip and fall scene photos to expose the negligence of the defendant, which led to a settlement. The more time that passes after a slip and fall type injury or incident, the harder it may be for experts to get the information they need to validate your slip and fall injury case. This is why it’s important that you act fast in hiring an attorney who knows which experts to retain.

Many people do not know that there exists a lot of government rules and regulations that are meant to protect us from faulty or unsafe conditions that can lead to slip and fall or trip and fall types of injuries. Depending the specific details of a case, there are several specific rules and codes that an attorney can review to see if it benefits the client.

Slip and fall injuries can result in many serious and disabling injuries. Over the years, I have seen cases involving broken ankles, broken legs, fractured hips, broken spinal vertebrae, herniated disks in the neck or back and head injury. Just today, we worked with a client whose teeth had been knocked out and whose jaw had been fractured due to a slip and fall injury. Head and brain injuries such as concussions and brain trauma also can occur in some slip and fall injuries.

If you think you may have a serious injury, it’s imperative that you contact an experienced attorney immediately. I have seen many clients hurt their own claims by talking to an insurance adjuster or store manager for a store or a property owner without first consulting an experienced injury attorney who handles these types of cases. The insurance investigator or adjuster, or store manager works for the benefit of insurance company or the property owner, not for the injured person. Their duty is to the insurance company or the store owner, and they’ve been hired to defend the store from your slip and fall injury claim regardless if it is a valid claim. An experienced insurance investigator, adjuster and trained store manager knows how to ask questions in such a way that draws a particular answer that will hurt your case. You may not even know why they’re asking you certain questions. If you voluntarily agree to talk to them, you should know that they have a right to record anything you say to them, in writing or by audio or video recording and that they will often use what is said by you against you in the future. Sometimes our clients find out later that something the client said at the time of a slip and fall injury was totally taken out of context to benefit the store or property owner.

An experienced attorney can hear your version of the events that led to the incident and ensure that you are prepared to discuss the facts that highlight the validity of your claim. In some cases, the attorney may choose to recommend that you not give a statement at all to the insurance adjuster. This may happen if the facts and circumstances lead the attorney to conclude that the insurance adjuster is not interested or concerned in getting the real facts of the accident, but is merely seeking to build a case against you. This is why it’s important that you seek out an attorney who has experience in handling slip and fall cases before you decide to discuss anything with an insurance company’s adjuster.

For more information on Hiring An Attorney After A Slip & Fall, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (210) 225-2828 today.

The Law Offices of Rudy Vasquez

Call Now For A Free Case Evaluation
(210) 225-2828

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