Of all the types of injury incidents, slips and falls may not make it to the top of your list for the most common ways individuals succumb to their deaths. However, it should, according to the National Safety Council, which contends that slip and fall accidents are the second leading cause of unintentional injuries that result in individuals’ deaths. Falls left 42,114 Americans dead in 2020. A Lanham slip and fall lawyer at our firm can help you file a lawsuit if you or a close family member suffered one of these catastrophic or fatal injuries.
Meeting with our slip and fall attorneys in our Lanham, MD office to discuss your case is completely free.
During our case review, our lawyers will assess where liability lies, which is the first step to determining if you can file suit. Provided you have a viable claim, we will advise you of your right to take legal action to recover compensation for the damages you sustained. Your initial consultation with a GDH Law lawyer is complimentary, and if we take on your case, there’s no fee for our legal representation unless we secure a settlement for you. So, schedule a meeting with us today.
How Prince George’s County Residents Suffer Slips and Falls
Our attorneys represent clients who suffered harm due to others’ negligence in a wide range of scenarios. Some ways in which their slips and falls occurred include while visiting:
- Grocery stores: Instances like these have happened after customers or employees dropped produce, oils, soaps, and drinks in aisles that went uncleaned. Also, slips and falls have come from store freezers defrosting or bathroom pipes bursting, both of which can create puddles that affect guests’ ability to remain upright. Curled-up rugs in the entryways are also routine culprits for grocery store guests’ falls.
- Office buildings: Cluttered, poorly lit, and improperly maintained (think: faulty handrails) stairwells can all result in slips and falls. Also, rainwater tracked in, floor wax, and cleaning solvents in a lobby or foyer often cause preventable slips and falls.
- Swimming pools: Whether public or private, pools surrounded by tile decks are particularly dangerous. All it takes is a relatively small accumulation of splashed water on a few tiles to cause someone to lose their footing and either strike their head on the ground forcefully or fall into the swimming pool unintentionally and drown.
Also, since we get a fair amount of snow during the winter months in Maryland, another common factor that leads to slips and falls that’s worth noting are:
- Snow on the sidewalk
- Accumulations of ice
- Melted ice (water) that refreezes overnight (before any application of salt)
While the list above is, by no means, an exhaustive listing of how these incidents occur, it’s certainly representative of some of the more common cases each Lanham slip and fall lawyer on our team has experience handling. Let us help you if you are hurt—no matter where on someone else’s premises your incident occurred.
What To Do After Suffering a Slip and Fall in Lanham, MD
By all means, whenever possible, you should immediately report your slip and fall to the ownership or management of the facility where your incident occurred so they can prepare an incident report.
Documenting what happened is key, as not doing so leaves the door open to their denial of knowledge of the incident occurring and denial of liability. If the incident rendered you unconscious or caused a loved one’s death, ensure reporting of the incident occurs as soon as possible.
Seeking medical attention and following through with doctors’ orders is critical. Be sure to let any medical provider you see know about your slip and fall so that they’ll know what to assess you for.
Consider getting a Lanham slip and fall lawyer like ours involved if you are considering suing someone.
Understanding How Liability Works in Maryland Slip and Fall Cases
You cannot recover compensation for just any fall that causes injuries or a family member’s death. See, Maryland is one of just four states, plus Washington, D.C., that employs the pure contributory negligence doctrine. This approach to assessing liability prohibits personal injury victims, which includes those who suffer slips and falls, from requesting compensation from another party if they (as a victim) shoulder any blame for the injuries they suffered.
So, for example, if you or your loved one engaged in the following behaviors, resulting in harm, liability may belong to you, making you unable to recover compensation:
- Engaging in horseplay preceding your fall
- Seeing warning signs yet failing to heed that notice of impending danger
On the flip side of the coin, if there’s nothing to suggest you acted inappropriately and you can produce evidence demonstrating property or business owner negligence, such as photographic evidence, witness accounts, or something else that proves that they knew or should have been aware of a dangerous property situation that resulted in your slip and fall and did nothing to remedy it to prevent it from occurring, this is when there’s a strong likelihood of a Lanham slip and fall lawyer determining you have a claim or lawsuit you can pursue.
Compensation You Can Recover by Filing a Slip and Fall Claim
Injuries fall victims may suffer can range from minor bruising to much more serious, disabling impairments like a spinal cord injury that causes paralysis. Fatalities stemming from a traumatic brain injury, like a brain bleed, can also occur. So, given the range of injuries a slip and fall may cause, damages associated with them can vary quite significantly.
Our Lanham slip and fall lawyers have significant experience building cases on behalf of clients with serious injuries and who lost their lives in their accidents. Damages we recover in cases like these tend to be:
- Outstanding and future medical costs we anticipate you needing
- Lost earnings
And, if the incident caused someone to lose their life, we can help recover compensation for cremation and memorial services or funeral and burial expenses by filing a wrongful death lawsuit.
Whether you survived your slip and fall and have life-altering injuries or you find yourself grieving the unexpected loss of a loved one to a preventable accident like this, the impact it has on your life may be far more than the bills and paystubs above suggest.
Situations like these often place an overwhelming burden on victims and/or their family members’ shoulders in terms of mental or emotional anguish, pain and suffering, and other intangible or non-quantifiable yet meaningful losses the injury event caused.
Compensation for all of the damages described above is possible following a slip and fall accident in Maryland. However, your ability to build a strong case will impact how much you can recover. Your Lanham slip and fall attorney can provide a better assessment as to how much your case may be worth once they gain a fuller picture of your injuries and long-term prognosis, or your deceased family member’s fatal accident and their contributions to your household.
When To Get a Lanham Slip and Fall Lawyer Involved in Your Case
The sooner after your accident you get an attorney involved, the better. Why? Well, identifying a prospective defendant’s insurer and filing a claim with them lets them know you’re seriously hurt. Also, initiating legal action preserves the statute of limitations, which is the timeline within which you must file. Additionally, the quicker you seek out legal counsel, the best chances there are of preserving critical evidence that can prove your case.
Each Lanham slip and fall accident lawyer at GDH Law has a solid track record for recovering compensation on behalf of Prince George’s County residents like yourself. And we don’t back down when negotiating an out-of-court settlement or in advocating for you in the courtroom until we secure the best possible result on your behalf. If you’re looking for a legal advocate who will aggressively fight for your rights, call our law firm for an initial consultation.
