What to do After a Slip and Fall Accident

A slip and fall accident can be a traumatic experience, particularly if you sustain a serious injury. However, the steps you take in the minutes, hours, and days after the incident will have a huge impact on the likely success of any insurance claim or lawsuit you pursue later on. It’s crucial that you try to remain calm and collected during this period.

Here, we look at what to do after a slip and fall accident to maximize your chances of getting the best possible compensation.

1.    Get Medical Attention Immediately

Prompt medical attention is important, first and foremost, because of your safety. Not every serious injury becomes apparent right away; a subdural hematoma, for instance, is a type of blunt-force head trauma that often doesn’t show symptoms for days or even weeks after an accident. Early intervention will significantly improve your chances of making a full recovery from an issue like this.

It’s also important to see a doctor so that your injuries can be properly addressed and documented for the purposes of any insurance claim or personal injury lawsuit you decide to pursue later.

2.    Report the Accident

There is generally no legal obligation to report a slip and fall accident to the police, as there might be with a car accident. However, you should still report the accident to the property owner as soon as you can, and retain a written copy of the report for your own records.

When completing this report, you must take care to stick to the facts. Don’t engage in speculation about the reasons for your accident or offer opinions about who was to blame. While this may be tempting, it’s more likely to harm your case than benefit it.

You should also be as detailed as possible when filing your report. You never know what piece of seemingly insignificant information might end up being crucial to your claim.

3.    Gather Witness Information

Did anyone see you fall? If so, ask them to give you their name, address, telephone number, and email address. Ask if they’ll provide a recorded statement; ideally, this should happen as soon as possible after the accident, so that the information is fresh in their head.

You should also check to see whether your accident might be on any kind of video footage. This could come from several sources, including:

• CCTV footage on the premises of the business in which you fell, or on a neighboring building. You might even be able to rely on footage from a traffic camera, depending on the positioning of your fall.
• Mobile phone footage. According to Techjury, American adults spend an average of around 5.5 hours on their phones every day. Given how big a part of our society mobile devices have become, there’s always a chance someone will have collected video evidence of your accident.
• Like cell phones, these have become increasingly common over the years. If you had a fall near a busy road, a car’s camera may have captured it.

4.    Decline to Give a Statement

Remain calm and limit your communication with the property owner or manager. While it’s essential to give a detailed statement for the purposes of evidence later on, you shouldn’t have any other conversation with the owner of the business if you can avoid it.

After you leave the scene of the fall, do not talk about the incident with anyone other than your attorney. If any insurance company agent contacts you before you have spoken to your attorney, kindly decline to give a statement. Do not place blame or take blame.

5.    Stay Off Social Media

In this day and age, it’s almost impossible to stay off social media, but it’s essential to exercise caution during a lawsuit. There are a number of ways in which social media activity can damage your chances of making a full recovery after an accident:

• Photo or video evidence of you engaged in physical activity might be construed as evidence that your injuries are less serious than you claim.
• Heated interactions between you and other parties to the dispute may paint you in an unfavorable light.
• Direct messages (DMs) you send to friends and family members about your case might end up being requested during the discovery process and used as evidence against you.

6.    Contact an Attorney

If you decide to take legal action after a slip and fall accident, contact a knowledgeable, experienced personal injury attorney.

At The Cochran Firm, we’ve been helping injury victims secure justice and compensation in Pennsylvania for decades. Contact The Cochran Firm Philadelphia today at 800-969-4400 or fill out our online contact form to schedule a free initial consultation. Remember, we only accept payment if we secure a settlement or verdict in your favor; if you don’t get paid, we don’t either.