The average slip and fall settlement in Florida typically ranges from $15,000 to $45,000. However, the actual amount can vary significantly based on factors such as the severity of the injury, medical expenses, and the circumstances of the accident.
We understand that dealing with the aftermath of a slip and fall accident is usually a hard and long process as the recovery time can often be very lengthy. Injuries can require extensive medical treatment and time to heal fully. For this reason, we handle the legalities of your case by filing the necessary paperwork and keeping track of important deadlines for your slip and fall case. We do this so that you can rest assured that your claim is being dealt with properly while you recover from your accident.
We keep our phone lines open 24/7, so if you have any questions about your slip and fall lawsuit, you can call us whenever you want to ask one of our experienced personal injury attorneys. Call us at (941) 444-4444 to schedule a free consultation with a member of our legal team today.
How Is a Slip and Fall Settlement Calculated?
The amount you will receive in a slip and fall settlement depends on varies factors such as how severe your injuries are, the effect on your daily life, how clear liability is, and how good your attorney is. Generally, settlements can range from $10,000 to $50,000 for minor to moderate injuries. However, more severe cases involving significant medical treatment, long-term disability, or substantial pain and suffering can result in settlements exceeding $100,000.
When determining how much your slip and fall claim could be worth, your attorney will have to take several factors into account. The slip and fall settlement amount that a person could receive depends on factors including:
- The number of injuries sustained.
- The severity of the injury/injuries sustained.
- The impact of the injuries caused on the claimant’s quality of life.
- Who is the liable party?
During your free case evaluation, your slip and fall attorney may be able to calculate how much your claim could be worth based on these factors. There is no average settlement for a slip and fall accident, and the amount a claimant could also receive largely depends on their attorney’s ability to review the details surrounding the case, determine which damages can be pursued, and win the compensation for the client.
At The Law Place, one of our lawyers will calculate how much compensation you may be eligible to claim while reviewing your case. The financial losses that usually follow a slip and fall accident can be devastating, so we know how important it is for our clients to receive the highest amount of compensation for their personal injury claim. Call our law firm as soon as possible for a free consultation and find out how much compensation an experienced slip and fall attorney could win for you.
Damages You Could Claim After a Slip and Fall Accident
When determining how much slip and fall settlements are worth, lawyers have to take multiple factors into account. You may be able to cover the economic and non-economic damages that you have incurred as a result of your accident. Damages that a slip and fall victim may be able to claim include:
Medical Bills
When a person sustains an injury, they often have t seek medical care in order to treat it, and the claimant is normally charged with the medical bills that usually follow this treatment. Medical expenses are often expensive, especially when the claimant sustains a serious injury that requires long-term medical attention. An attorney can examine your medical records and calculate how much you have spent on medical care due to your injuries and file a claim to recover these costs.
Lost Wages
If you had to miss work as a result of your accident and therefore lost income, you might be able to recover these wages. With the help of an experienced attorney, you may be able to claim past, present, and future losses of income.
Pain and Suffering
These damages are an example of non-economic damages as they are more subjective effects of how the accident has detrimentally affected your physical as well as emotional health. You could be able to claim for physical pain and mental suffering, including anxiety, depression, and insomnia through pain and suffering damages. If an attorney can prove that your quality of life has decreased dramatically due to your accident, you may be able to make a claim for this.
Wrongful Death
These lawsuits are normally made by the loved ones of a person killed in an accident, such as a slip and fall accident. The decedent’s loved ones can claim damages, including burial costs, loss of the deceased’s income, and the medical bills the deceased person incurred before their death.
Slip and fall cases often lead to claimants receiving some amount of compensation for the damages they have incurred. An attorney can inform you about which damages can be claimed for your specific case and fight to ensure you cover the financial losses you have experienced due to your accident.
We’re here to serve you. Our phones are open 24 hours a day. Common Causes of Slip and Fall Accidents in Florida
Slip and fall accidents frequently occur in Florida and can lead to victims sustaining minor to serious injuries. According to The National Safety Council (NSC), over 800,000 people are hospitalized each year in the US after a slip and fall accident. Common causes of slip and fall accidents include:
- Wet and Uneven Walking Surfaces – Freshly mopped surfaces, loose floorboards, and worn-out rugs or carpets can all cause a slip and fall accident. Ensuring that warning signs are placed on a wet floor and repairing faulty or uneven walking surfaces can help prevent these accidents from occurring.
- Bad Weather – When it’s cold or raining, accidents are more prone to happen. For example, when sidewalks freeze over in cold weather, they can become slippery and dangerous.
- Poor Training – This is a common cause of accidents for many professions in the working world, and particularly in construction. When a construction worker isn’t adequately trained, they are more likely to slip and fall while on duty. As construction workers usually handle machinery and heavy objects, the consequences of slipping and falling while they work can be very serious.
- Hazardous Obstructions – When obstructions are on the floor, accidents occur. Common obstructions that a person could slip on include electrical cords, boxes, and trash. Falls involving obstructions often occur in storage rooms of establishments, including Florida supermarkets and stores.
- Footwear – If a person doesn’t wear appropriate footwear, they could slip and fall. For example, when a person wears high heels, they are more likely to fall.
We’re Florida’s top litigation team with over 75 years of combined experience Common Injuries From a Slip and Fall Accident
Unfortunately, sustaining severe injuries after an accident is quite common. After a slip and fall accident, injury victims can suffer from minor injuries that may take a few days or weeks to fully heal from. However, some slip and fall accidents can cause serious injuries that lead to the victim suffering severe pain and long-term effects. Injuries that are commonly sustained from a slip and fall accident include:
- Fractures and broken bones.
- Soft tissue injuries.
- Traumatic brain injuries.
- Cuts and bruises.
- Herniated disc.
Slip and fall injuries often require medical treatment, which is normally quite expensive. The person receiving the medical care is normally the person who has to worry about the medical bills that usually follow.
A lawyer can help you recover the costs of these medical expenses and fight to ensure that you’re not left with large debts to worry about. Call our law firm today to schedule a free consultation with an attorney and find out how much you could receive to cover the medical expenses you incurred after your accident.
From the initial call to updates on your case status, we are here to get you answers. What Is a Premises Liability Claim?
If you’ve dealt with a slip and fall case before, it’s likely that you’ve heard of premises liability claims. Thanks to premises liability laws, a person injured in a slip and fall case has the right to file a claim against the property owner of where the accident took place.
Slip and fall accidents are often caused by the negligence of someone else rather than the victim, and the owner of the property where the accident occurred is often found liable for the accident.
In order to have a successful premise liability case, a lawyer must prove the following:
- The property owner owed the person on their property a duty of care.
- The duty of care was breached.
- The breach of the duty of care led to the claimant sustaining injuries.
- The damages you incurred were a result of the property owner’s breach of duty of care.
Proving that a property breached their duty of care while you were on their property can be difficult without the help of a personal injury lawyer. Your slip and fall lawyer may be able to prove that the fall you had while on someone else’s property was caused by the property owner’s own negligence.
Your attorney will collect evidence from the scene of the accident in order to prove that the property was in a dangerous condition when the claimant was there. Photographs of the dangerous condition of the property and what caused the accident can be used as evidence to strengthen your slip and fall claim and prove that another party breached their duty of care and that this led to your accident.
It’s also important to note that your lawyer may have to prove the claimant was allowed on the property and not trespassing. Physical evidence, including promotional flyers and invitations, can be used as evidence to show that the claimant had permission to be on the property. Your lawyer can help you prove that you had the right to be on the property when the accident happened.
Understanding Visitor Categories: Invitee, Licensee, and Trespasser
In premises liability law, the duty of care that a property owner owes depends on the legal status of the person on their property. Visitors are generally classified into three categories: invitees, licensees, and trespassers.
Invitee
Invitees are people who enter a property for business purposes such as a client in a store or a patron in a restaurant. Property owners owe the highest duty of care to invitees.
This means that property owners must regularly assess their properties for any potential hazards and address them. If a hazard cannot be fixed immediately, then the property owner must warn invitees of the potential dangers.
Property owners must also implement reasonable safety measures such as security, proper lighting, and fencing to prevent accidents.
Employees or contractors are known as business invitees and they are owed the same duty of care as any other invitee. Employers must ensure a safe work environment and must ensure that they are complying with occupational safety laws. This could include providing training and safety equipment and quickly addressing any potential workplace hazards.
Licensee
Licensees are people who enter a property for their own purposes with the owner’s permission. Examples include friends and family visiting a private home. Although a lower duty of care is owed to licensees, property owners must still keep their property free from hazards where possible, and warn licensees of any known dangerous condition.
Trespasser
Trespassers are people who enter a property without permission. Usually, the lowest duty of care is owed to trespassers. However, property owners should not willfully cause harm to trespassers and if a property owner knows of frequent trespassers then they must take steps to warn them of known, non-obvious dangers.
If a trespasser is a child, then they may be owed a higher duty of care under the attractive business doctrine. If a property is likely to attract children such as if it has a swimming pool then property owners must take steps to protect then. For example, a pool area could be adequately fenced off to make it difficult for a child to enter.
How to Handle Your Slip and Fall Case With Your Insurance Company
In the State of Florida, those seeking compensation after a slip and fall accident are required to first file a claim with their own insurance company, as per Florida Statute 627.7407. Once your insurance company receives the claim, they will work tirelessly to try to dispute it.
Insurance companies are businesses that want to earn money and reduce the amount of compensation they give out to claimants. At The Law Place, our lawyers are used to dealing with insurance providers, so we know how they operate. A slip and fall lawyer will ensure that your case is strong enough so that an insurance adjuster is unable to lower your final slip and fall settlement and to ensure you receive a favorable settlement. We’ll lead settlement negotiations and won’t hesitate to take the case to court if your insurance company refuses to cooperate and offer a fair settlement for your legal claim.
What Should I Do After a Slip and Fall Accident?
If you’ve sustained an injury due to your slip and fall accident, it’s important to see a doctor as soon as possible. If the injury is serious, you must see an emergency room doctor urgently.
We strongly recommend seeking legal representation to take on your case. Hiring a lawyer at The Law Place can increase the likelihood of receiving the compensation that you deserve. Our legal team has ample experience with slip and fall cases, so we can offer legal advice and answer any questions you may have regarding your case. We’ll gather critical evidence that can strengthen your case and lead negotiations with insurance providers to ensure your slip-and-fall settlement amount is fair and reasonable.
How Much Will an Attorney Cost?
This may be the first time you’ve had to deal with a slip and fall lawsuit, so starting the legal process can feel very daunting. Before hiring our legal team to take on your case, you will be invited to have a free consultation with one of our top attorneys. During your free case evaluation, you’ll be given a chance to ask any questions you may have about this process and clarify any doubts you may have. We want our clients to feel confident in our abilities so that they are comfortable moving forward with their case.
At The Law Place, we believe that our clients shouldn’t pay for our services unless we are successful in their case. Therefore, we work on a contingency basis monitored by The State Bar Association. This means that we only charge our clients if we manage to win a slip and fall settlement for them. A percentage of the final settlement is taken as payment for our services. This way, our clients don’t have to worry about spending money on attorney fees when seeking legal assistance.
What Is the Average Slip and Fall Settlement in Florida?
What factors influence how much my slip and fall settlement is worth?
Various factors can impact your settlement amount including the severity of your injuries, the impact on your daily life, how clear liability is, the willingness of the other party to negotiate and the quality of your representation.
How do you prove negligence in a slip-and-fall case?
Your attorney will get to work quickly to gather evidence that supports your claim. In order to prove negligence they will need to establish that the property owner owed you a duty of care, which was breached, and that this directly led to your injuries and your economic and noneconomic losses.
How long do I have to file a slip-and-fall claim in Florida?
Prior to 2023 slip and fall victims had four years to make a claim. However, House Bill 837 (2023) victims now have just two years. Generally, the sooner you speak to an attorney the better as they will get to work quickly to protect evidence that could otherwise be lost.
How long does it take to settle a slip-and-fall case in Florida?
Slip and fall cases vary widely and depending on how complex your case is and how willing the other party is to negotiate your case could take anywhere between as few months to a few years to settle. At The Law Place, our goal is to keep your case moving forward quickly without compromising on your settlement amount.
Will I have to go to court for a Florida slip and fall case?
Most slip and fall claims are settled outside of court – which is preferable as court cases are time-consuming and expensive. However, if the other party is unwilling to offer a fair settlement or if liability is unclear then a court case could be necessary. If your case does go to court The Law Place will be prepared to support you as our attorneys have a wealth of court experience.
Can you still receive compensation if you were partially at fault for the slip and fall?
Yes, Florida follows a modified comparative negligence rule which means that you can still claim compensation for an accident so long as you are deemed to be less than 50% at fault. However, your settlement will be reduced to reflect your percentage of fault. For example, if you slipped and fell on a spill in a supermarket but you were inebriated, you could be considered to be 20% at fault for the accident. In this case, your settlement would be reduced by 20%.
Why is it important to hire a personal injury lawyer for a slip-and-fall case?
Hiring a slip and fall lawyer ensures that you can focus on your recovery while the legal process is handled. They will gather evidence, negotiate with insurance companies, and advocate on your behalf to fight for maximum compensation. Victims who seek representation often end up with a higher settlement even after lawyers’ fees are considered thanks to the guidance of their attorneys.
Contact The Law Place Today
In short, there is no such thing as an average slip-and-fall settlement. The amount your settlement may be worth is based on the specific circumstances surrounding your case. So, if you’ve been injured in a slip and fall accident, you may be able to claim compensation to cover the damages you have incurred. An attorney will review your case and calculate how much you may be entitled to claim.
The financial burdens that normally come with a slip-and-fall accident are often very worrying. These accidents happen unexpectedly, and many people aren’t prepared to cover the expenses that usually follow. It’s important to have an experienced lawyer fighting your corner throughout the whole legal process. Our attorneys aren’t afraid to file a claim against the person whose negligence led to your slip and fall. During your free consultation, we’re confident that you’ll see that we have the knowledge necessary to get the compensation you deserve.
Our phone lines are always open, so call us at (941) 444-4444 to schedule a free case evaluation with an experienced personal injury attorney.
