Calculating Slip And Fall Settlements
A slip and fall accident can impact your life in different ways. You will be in pain, and you will see your medical bills soaring. On top of that, you will not be able to work, which means you won’t be able to pay for your medical bills.
This situation can make you wonder how much your slip and fall case might be worth.
As long as you are not responsible for the property, you can file a personal injury claim against the property manager. That will bring liability for your injuries to the owner or manager of the property where the accident occurred.
Figuring out how much your claim is worth depends on different factors, including liability and negligence.
The type and severity of your injuries will also dictate the amount of money you will receive as compensation for your injuries.
Now, you may wonder how to determine the amount of settlement money in a slip and fall case. Here are a few things you have to consider.
Factors influencing a slip and fall settlement
Factors that heavily impact the amount of settlement in a slip and fall case are:
- The ultimately liable person
- How did the responsible person or party contribute to the accident?
- Did you contribute to the accident as well?
Negligence
Negligence refers to the failure to act reasonably, putting the safety of others at risk. For instance, an accident can occur due to an unmapped floor, unmarked sidewalk, or a broken handrail.
One of the factors to determine with negligence in a slip and fall accident is whether a reasonable person would be able to identify the risk ahead.
If you are the plaintiff, you have to prove that the property manager caused the dangerous situation and that any reasonable person would have got injured due to that risk.
Other factors contributing to proving the property manager liable include poor lighting and lack of warning marks around the dangerous area. As a plaintiff, you will have to prove that prompt action by the property owner or manager would have prevented the accident.
Liability
A person liable for your injuries must be responsible for the property and what happens on it. In most cases, a property owner assumes liability for injuries to slip and fall accidents happening on their property.
Factors influencing the worth of a slip and fall case
Medical bills
The bills of past and future medical procedures related to your injury due to the slip and fall accident will have the most significant impact on the calculation of your injury damages.
In most cases, the amount calculated for your damages will depend on the amount billed by your healthcare provider.
In some cases, the healthcare provider may agree to receive less than the billed amount. In that case, you have to speak to your attorney.
Pain and suffering
Predicting the cost of pain and suffering is the trickiest task in a slip and fall case. Most state legal systems use medical bills as the starting point to calculate the worth of pain and suffering. Factors to consider in this regard are the type and severity of injuries you suffered. The coverage company may use a multiplier of five, meaning that the value of your pain and suffering will be five times the value of your medical bills.
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