How An Arizona Slip-and-Fall Lawyer Can Help Maximize Your Recovery, or Defend Against Unworthy Personal Injury Claims
Introduction to Premise Liability Law in Phoenix, Arizona
Often times the most mundane parts of life can be the most dangerous. For slip-and-falls accidents occurring at shopping malls and grocery stores, many times the victim will not be on guard to missing handrails, slippery surfaces invisible to the naked eye.
For the property owner such accidents can open the floodgates for lawsuits costing more than the owner bargained for in operating the business.
Wrongful death, traumatic brain injuries are some of the consequences of the more serious slips-and-falls, which both property owner and victim alike would be interested in the framework for how these disputes get resolved.
Thankfully, the State of Arizona has tried-and-true methods in place for resolving most slip-and-fall accidents handled by the most competent Arizona fall accident lawyers who are hired to take on a case.
To learn more about the elements that must be proven in the State of Arizona in an ordinary slip-and-fall case as well as the common ways for these cases to be disproven and dismissed, it is worth it to spend a few moments by reading further.
What is the Life-Cycle of a Phoenix, Arizona Slip-and-Fall Personal Injury Case under Arizona Law?
Slip-and-fall accident cases are one of the most common lawsuits arising out of injuries that take place on other persons’ land or establishment.
The basic elements of a personal injury case involving slip-and-fall accident:
- A property owner (the government or a private owner) who allows some hazard to exist on the property (such as a slippery puddle of water, uneven carpeting, grease, a wet floor or other substance)
- long enough for someone (the injured victim) so that he or she
- falls on top of it and suffer anything from minor to very serious injuries, such as traumatic brain injuries.
According to Nolo’s guide to slip-and-fall accidents, Arizona’s laws track other states slip-and-fall laws. Nolo’s Slip-and-Fall Blog. Slip-and-fall accident cases require:
- A landowner, whether the government or a private owner, breaches his or her duty of care owed to a private person who injures him or herself,
- There is a “a premise defect.” The meaning given to these terms “defect” and “duty” over time is based on public policy concerns and technological advances by The Arizona Superior Court, the reviewing courts of the Arizona Court of Appeal and Arizona Supreme Court.
According to Nolo.com, a plaintiff-invitee can be understood as one who is usually expected to come onto the owner’s land to buy a product being sold at that establishment and encounters some hazard not obvious enough to avoid in time.
In contrast, a licensee is normally viewed as a guest permitted to stay for some time, but not necessarily to purchase or benefit the establishment or more typically a homeowner.
Last, a trespasser meanwhile is not expected or permitted to be on the land owner’s land at all, creating no duty for the landowner to warn against dangers.
The next step usually includes having settlement negotiations with the insurance company of the property owner.
Time Limits for Filing a Phoenix Slip-and-Fall Accident Personal Injury Claim
According to Nolo.com, a victim has two years from the date of the slip-and-fall accident to file a lawsuit.
Statutes of limitations exist to ensure that evidence remains fresh and in the opinion of the courts and legislature claims have merit. Another reason is not to inconvenience the other party by waiting an unreasonably long time to report the injury when it could have done sooner, especially when evidence proof of injury is stronger, such as:
- unhealed broken bones, severe sprains;
- spinal cord injury,
- head injuries, and
- traumatic brain injuries.
Phoenix Slip-and-Fall Defenses in Cases Arising in the State of Arizona
According to the nationally-renown and premier legal resource and directory Nolo.com, commonly fall accident lawsuits can be considered weak and of little value if some of the following is true of the victim:
- The victim was partially, whether in part or in full, to blame for the incident.
- The victim was a “trespasser” and not an “invitee”
- The owner of the private or public property had warned the victim of the hazard and yet the victim ignored such warnings and injured him or herself.
Other defenses in fall accident cases can relate to more procedural issues dealing with a victim’s difficulty in corroborating a story due to poor sensory abilities, inconsistencies in their testimony or other flaws dealing with the injured victim’s past, including:
- The invitee-victim had previously filed slip-and-fall cases against other establishments before.
- The injured person was not around other witnesses who could substantiate the victim’s version of the facts.
- The injured victim’s memory of the exact circumstances of their fall lacks precision as to how the supposed hazard is responsible for the victim’s injuries.
- The injured victim had previous health conditions that are claimed to have been caused by the fall. (i.e. a broken bone caused by a previous accident)
A fall accident victim may be limited to first reporting the incident to the proper government authority rather than directly filing suit on the fall injury claim in a civil court, if the premise liability claim matters involve a dangerous condition on private property or government property.
Legal Options: How Much Can an Injured Victim Expect to Recover for a Slip-and-Fall Case?
Based on the skill and experience of the personal injury attorney handling a loved one’s personal injury case, a client can recover greater amounts if the fall injury lawyer stays up-to-date with the changes in the laws governing slip-and-fall lawsuits, including:
- limits on recovery of damages;
- changes in the factors determining grounds for recovery;
- and other procedural hurdles allowing cases to be heard by a jury of the client’s peers.
Access to a jury often can guarantee a multi-million dollar verdict for particularly malicious and egregious cases involving serious fall injury.
According to the national personal injury and slip-and-fall accident firm McDonald Worley, P.C., determining the valuation of a fall accident settlement and one’s legal options, can be based on some, all or any of the following factors:
- Future and current lost wages by the victim (Or how long a person had to miss work after being injured)
- Pain and suffering of the victim (or the severity of the fall injury and whether it is permanent or temporary)
- The victim’s medical bills (or factoring in the number of doctors seen and the extent of surgery required)
- His or her future medical costs (or whether the victim requires continuing treatment, whether medical or psychological)
- Property damage, if any (or if the victim lost property as a result from the slip-and-fall in addition to physical damages
What is the Importance of Hiring a Phoenix Skilled Slip-and-Fall Lawyer?
Commonly slip-and-fall injuries take place in grocery stores while patrons are busying themselves with their shopping lists and not able to pay attention to hazards created by the neglect of the staff of the store. Many top-rated law firms specialize in these cases, including Phoenix-based Lamber Goodnow Injury Lawyers, the national personal injury firm McDonald Worley, P.C., among others in the Fort Lauderdale area and surrounding areas, many offering a free consultation.
As a property owner, it is also imperative to share any insurance company policy maintained and provide all known information that could be helpful for the accident lawyer to assess and test the strength and validity of the victim’s claim.
Forming an Attorney-Client Relationship: Call a Slip-and-Falls Personal Injury Lawyer Today to Discuss Your Case and Odds of a Obtaining a Favorable Settlement!
Whether you are a victim or property owner, having the right slip-and-fall attorney on your side can ensure the best outcome in settling with the insurance company to recover for medical expenses.
The attorney-client relationship forms upon consultation when you consider hiring the attorney, unless a disclaimer exists. If the fall lawyer is not particularly qualified in the particular case brought, compensation for serious injuries may prove to be made more difficult.
Likewise, for a business this could mean forced layoffs of employees to take into account the any excessive payouts for personal injury claims that are not properly defended, causing a business slow-down.
In any case, use Lawsuit.org to pinpoint the right personal injury fall attorney’s phone number, who will offer not only free consultation and case evaluation to obtain more than just recovery of medical bills, but also, for injured victims, compensation for distress and a hope at deterring future accidents.