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Slip and fall accidents lead to thousands of hospital admissions each year in Georgia. Anyone injured in a slip and fall will deal with major medical expenses, not to mention pain and job loss. Call Moffitt Law, LLC, to speak with an experienced LaGrange slip and fall lawyer today. Proving negligence in slip and fall cases requires solid evidence of the hazard that caused you to lose your balance. Reach out to our firm to schedule a free consultation to begin discussing your case.
Critical Pieces of Evidence and How to Find Them
Under Georgia law, property owners owe a duty of ordinary care to those they invite onto the premises. (Georgia Code § 51-3-1.) They also owe a duty to avoid willful or wanton injury to licensees, that is, to people who enter with permission for their own purposes. (Georgia Code § 51-3-2.)
Most slip and fall negligence cases revolve around showing a hazard existed on the premises. This hazard could have been created by the property owner or resulted naturally. Here are important pieces of evidence for a slip-and-fall accident.
Photographs of the Hazard
Many people slip and fall on some hazard, which is either man-made or which arises naturally:
- Pools of water or spilled liquids
- Condensation dripping from an air conditioner
- Wet leaves
- Ice in winter
- Ice cubes around an ice dispenser
- Freshly mopped or waxed floors
- Loose tiles
- Shifting carpets
Ideally, you will get a picture of this hazard, which shows its existence. There is a real risk that the property owner will quickly fix the hazard once you are gone and then claim you actually tripped over your own feet.
Use your phone or ask someone else to take a few pictures.
Security Video
If you slipped in a store, then they might have security cameras installed. These cameras will record everything that happens inside and around a store. We see them at convenience stores, retailers, and big box stores. Call an attorney who can quickly investigate to find out if the store has video, which we can demand they preserve.
The video can also show how long the hazard existed. Proving slip and fall negligence usually requires showing:
- The property owner actually knew about the hazard, or
- The hazard existed for so long that the property owner should have discovered it.
Video might show the property owner looking at a pool of water, but then walking away. Or the video could show the water on the floor for hours, with the property owner never checking the aisles. Either way, we can help prove slip and fall negligence with this video.
Witnesses
Eyewitnesses can also provide useful information in a slip and fall case in LaGrange. They might be the only independent source of information that the hazard existed, especially if there are no photographs or videos.
Try to speak with witnesses after the accident. If you are in too much pain, someone else with you should try to get the witness’s name and contact information. Your lawyer will need to talk with them.
Property Owner Testimony
Once you start a case, we can also talk to the property owner. They might tell a self-serving story or flatly deny they did anything wrong. However, they might also admit critical facts, such as knowing a hazard existed.
We also want to know what they did to address a hazard. For example, they might admit they knew of a hazard but delayed fixing it. We can use a defendant’s statements in personal injury cases.
Medical Records
In addition to showing a hazard caused you to fall, injured victims need proof they suffered injuries in the fall. If you got up and dusted yourself off, then you probably don’t have a solid slip fall accident claim. Proving damages is a critical part of slip and fall negligence cases.
Hang onto medical records, or at least write down the names of every doctor or hospital where you received treatment. Your lawyer can follow up and find out information.
You should also document your pain and suffering, since you can receive compensation for non-economic damages. Many of our clients keep a journal where they record how they feel physically and mentally. We can use this information to support a claim for fair compensation.
Contact Our LaGrange Slip and Fall Lawyer Today
Proving negligence in slip and fall cases is challenging. Injured victims are often in too much pain to gather the evidence they need. Property owners refuse to share surveillance video or misrepresent whether it even exists. Moffitt Law, LLC, opened our firm to assist those in the La Grange community with their personal injury needs. Contact us. We can help if you were injured in a big box store, smaller retailer, or on public property in the 30240 zip code or nearby areas.
