Ylla | Gosney represents injured slip-and-fall victims in Norman, OK. A slip-and-fall hazard on someone’s property that causes someone to get injured is considered a premises liability. The Slip-and-Fall Lawyers at Ylla | Gosney will hold the property owner responsible for creating a premises liability and ensure you recover financial compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and emotional damage.
Don’t wait until it’s too late to take legal action. Contact us today for a no-fee, no-obligation consultation.
Do I Need a Lawyer for a Slip-And-Fall Accident Injury?
Yes, it is recommended to consult with an attorney after suffering a premises liability injury. After a premises liability injury, most victims will be offered a quick settlement by the insurance company of the party responsible. But what most victims don’t understand is that an initial settlement offer does not typically cover the extent of your damages.
The Slip-and-Fall Lawyers at Ylla | Gosney will hold the insurance company liable for the full extent of your damages if your injury caused you to need medical treatment or miss time at work. On behalf of our clients in Norman, OK, we aggressively pursue compensation for:
- Present and future medical expenses
- Loss of income, as well as the reduction in your earning capacity, you’ve suffered from your injuries
- Cost of living with your injury, such as making your home disability accessible, purchasing a wheelchair or crutches, hiring a nurse or housekeeper
- Damage done to your property during the accident
- Pain and suffering caused by your injuries
- Stress and anxiety due to the nature of your accident
- Your mental state after a life-changing accident
What You Will Need When Consulting with Our Lawyers for the First Time
The initial process of speaking with our law firm for the first time usually starts off with a questionnaire to assess the merits of the case. This questionnaire will provide us with key information to help determine if a case is worth pursuing or not. However, if you’d like to speak directly to one of our attorneys, you can set up a brief meeting to discuss the details of your situation prior to answering a questionnaire. The following data is what potential clients will need when they first sit down with us:
- Employment details: current or former employer, job title, dates of employment, and compensation information.
- Nature of the complaint: type of carelessness that led to your injury (premise liability, reckless driving, defective equipment)
- Timeline of events: dates of key incidents, formal complaints filed, relevant communications with the employer
- Witnesses: names and contact information of potential witnesses to the alleged misconduct
- Documentation: list of relevant documents (x-rays, MRIs, doctor’s diagnosis, physical therapy appointments, workers’ compensation forms)
- Prior legal action: if you’ve filed previous personal injury claims, then the details of your previous case may be relevant to your new case
- Medical information: details about your medical diagnosis and treatment plan
- Social media presence: your injury may be documented online, as well as you discussing the details of your personal injury
Some of these elements may seem irrelevant to your case, but trust us, they are not. Most defense lawyers will use anything they can to diminish the damage done to your life after a slip-and-fall injury. For example, if your social media account has videos of you constantly getting injured, or putting yourself in harm’s way, they will most likely attempt to use that against you to say you’re injury prone, even if you were being safe when the accident occurred.
Oklahoma’s Modified Comparative Negligence Law for Slip-and-Fall Accidents:
Oklahoma’s Modified Comparative Negligence Law is considered a “50-percent” rule. Basically, the ability to pursue damages under comparative negligence applies when a crash victim is 49 percent or less liable for the accident. This percentage of fault can be decided by a police report or injury report from the property owner, but all accident victims have the right to object to their assumption of fault, and ultimately have their fault decided by a judge and jury in court.
So, let’s say a puddle of water on the floor of a grocery store caused you to suffer a slip-and-fall injury while you were grocery shopping. However, video camera footage shows you were texting while walking down the aisle. A defense lawyer may argue that you were not paying attention to where you were going and contributed to your own injuries. This could potentially reduce your settlement by placing partial liability on you. For this reason, it is essential to have legal representation to protect you from liability.
If liability is in question in your case, and you fear you may be liable for the accident, contact Ylla Gosney today to discuss your case. Our firm will help you take the necessary steps to protect you from liability or eliminate it entirely, so you can recover compensation.
What is Needed to Prove Carelessness in a Slip and Fall Accident?
If you file a personal injury lawsuit against the property owner after a slip-and-fall injury, you will be considered the plaintiff in this case, and Safe Way will be the defendant. To recover damages, you will need to prove the following:
- The defendant owned, leased, or controlled the property
- The defendant was careless and did not maintain the property in a safe manner
- You were harmed by slipping or falling on the property
- The defendant’s careless action or hazardous conditions caused you harm
Once the above is established, it would need to be proven that the property owner:
- Allowed a hazardous condition to exist on their property
- Knew, through the exercise of reasonable care, that this condition existed
- Failed to repair the hazard, or warn others about the condition
What Do You Do If You Slip-and-Fall in a Retail Store?
Let’s say you’re shopping at a Walmart Supercenter in Norman off North Interstate Drive and you trip over a loose wire left in the middle of an aisle and hit your head. What should you do?
First and foremost, seek medical attention. Nothing is more important than your health. Seeking medical attention will also benefit your slip-and-fall claim if you decide to take legal action. In most cases, failing to get treatment can hurt your case because it could make the argument that you weren’t injured enough to require medical treatment. After you’ve been medically treated, here is a list of things you should do after a Walmart slip-and-fall injury:
- Report the injury to Walmart. Injuries at Walmart are not uncommon, and they require a prompt investigation. Meaning, they will take your written statement, photograph your injuries, and review the video surveillance evidence.
- Take your own photos and get all the witness’s information (if there are any). Walmart will typically remove a hazardous condition very quickly, so it is important for you to capture the dangerous environment while it is still there. This will strengthen your case and make it difficult for Walmart to deny your claim.
- Follow up on your injuries with a doctor. Some injuries take time to manifest and won’t show up until days or weeks later. Anything you’ve sustained from your slip-and-fall accident at Walmart will become a part of your case, and you will need a doctor to corroborate your injuries.
Here are things you should NOT do once you’ve been injured inside a Walmart:
- Do not write or sign any statements. You are not required to sign anything. Being involved in an accident can put you into an altered state and you may not be thinking straight. So, it is advised to decline signing anything until you’ve spoken with an attorney.
- Do not provide Walmart or its claims adjusters with a recorded statement. Walmart’s claims adjusters are experts at tricking victims into taking the blame for their injuries or dissolving Walmart of any responsibility for the hazardous environment they created.
- Do not accept any early settlement offers. Take the time to decide if you would like to pursue a claim or not. Walmart wants to settle quick and for the lowest amount possible. But you should not rush to settle, especially if you’re unsure of how significant your injuries are.
Common Causes of Slip-and-Fall Accidents in Norman OK
Slip-and-fall accidents are unfortunately common. According to the National Floor Safety Institute, slip-and-fall accidents account for over 1 million emergency room visits in the United States. Slip-and-fall accidents usually occur when a person, or business, has created a hazardous condition from a failure to provide a “duty of care” to others. The leading causes of injuries are:
- Uneven flooring
- Missing stair railings
- Rotten steps
- Loose carpeting
- Wet walkways or aisles
- Icy sidewalks
- Exposed wires
It is proven that victims of slip-and-fall accidents who contact a Slip-and-Fall Attorney are more likely to reach a successful settlement than those who do not. To better understand your legal options after a slip-and-fall injury, contact Ylla | Gosney today for a free case review.
What is the Average Settlement for a Slip-and-Fall Injury?
When it comes to slip-and-fall accidents, no case is the same. The circumstances are always different with every accident, but the extent of your injuries and the share of your fault will largely determine your settlement amount. These items can be calculated based on your economic damages, which include:
- Present and future medical expenses
- Loss of income, as well as the reduction in your earning capacity you’ve suffered from your slip-and-fall accident
- Cost of living with your injury, such as making your home disability accessible, purchasing a wheelchair or crutches, hiring a nurse or housekeeper
- Damage done to your property during the accident
The next thing would be to include your non-economic damages. These cannot be defined with a dollar amount because they include:
- Pain and suffering caused by your injuries
- Stress and anxiety due to the nature of your accident
- Your mental state after a life-changing accident
FAQs
Q: How long does a slip-and-fall injury case take to settle in Norman, OK?
A: The length of the case depends on the complexity. The more complicated it is, the longer it will take to resolve.
Q: How long do I have to file a premises liability lawsuit?
A: 2 years. The statute of limitations for filing a premise liability lawsuit in the state of Oklahoma is two years from the date of the accident.
Q: What if I can’t afford a lawyer?
A: There is no upfront money required at Ylla | Gosney. Our Slip-and-Fall Lawyers work on a contingency fee, meaning we only get paid if we win your case for you.
Contact Ylla | Gosney Attorneys at Law
If you or a loved one has been injured in a slip-and-fall accident due to the carelessness of a person or a hazardous condition in Norman, OK, Ylla | Gosney can help you get the compensation you need. Navigating the legal complexities of liability law can be a nightmare for you and your family, but it doesn’t have to be.
We’ll connect you to immediate medical treatment, assign a lawyer to your case, and begin negotiating a fair settlement on your behalf. Get started today by contacting us for a no-cost, no-obligation case review.