What is a personal injury claim?
As the name suggests, a personal injury claim helps a person suffering from an injury due to a slip and fall on ice to make a claim for compensation.
In financial terms, a personal injury claim can help the injured person immensely:
- The amount received by the injured person can help to cover his medical bills.
- If the injury forces the victim to take leave from work, then the compensation availed can help the injured person to recover.
- The compensation can also help to pay for other losses or expenses of the injured person.
Injury situation at hand and its types
A slip and fall injury on ice may be due to different reasons such as slippery surface or due to negligence of someone or one’s own fault.
The injuries incurred after slipping and falling on ice can be lethal if not taken care of. Some injuries like the ones to the head sometimes look ordinary but may come up again at a later stage and create major health problems.
A lot of injuries can be suffered by a person slipping and falling on ice:
- Head injuries: Falling on ice invite a majority of head injuries which may be avoided by wearing a suitable helmet. Some injuries result in trauma to the brain making conditions worse for the victim.
- Neck, back and spine injuries: Neck, back and spine are some other injuries that are known to occur in case of a fall on ice. These injuries if severe, may take a long time to cure.
- Broken hips or broken pelvis: These type of major injuries occurring from a slip and fall on ice may dampen the state of the victim and make matters from bad to worse for him if not handled carefully.
- Torn tendons and ligaments: Torn tendons and ligaments suffered during a slip or fall on ice also have a profound effect on the victim. Like other injuries, torn tendons and ligaments also proved heinous if not handled carefully.
Factors for claim in slip and fall on ice
Let us consider a person walking on ice and tripping over it leading to injuries on someone else’s land. Then the person who has fallen is liable for a claim from the owner of the property for his injuries. Few conditions are taken into account in this regard:
- The landlord of the property or any of his employees may have known a vulnerable place which could either be a pothole or an irregular walking surface. In spite of this, no heed was paid to make the situation better on part of the owner or his employees. The question that arises in this case is whether a responsible person would have acted in a similar manner or would have done his best to rectify any situation at hand.
- The owner of the property or any of his employees played a part in occurrence of that dangerous situation which lead to the slip and fall injury on ice.
Deducing fault in slip and fall on ice
Whenever a slip and fall on ice is noticed, the comparative fault rule helps to analyze whether the injured person played any part which led to his injury. The comparative fault rule is known to reduce the compensation amount considerably in case the injured person’s fault is proved. Some factors can help us to have a better understand of the comparative fault law:
- Was the injured person presence at the place of accident justified? If there was any possibility that he could have been spotted? Was there any co-related incident that took place at the same spot?
- Had there been any other person at the injured person’s place, could the mishap been avoided?
- Were there any barriers or warning sign boards to alert people but no attention was paid to them by the injured person?
- Was there any kind of action by the injured person that distracted him from staying attentive and made the fall on ice more possible?
Filing a personal injury claim case
In the situation of slip and fall on ice, the injured person’s foremost priority is to get in touch with an attorney. The statues of limitations put a time frame on the period during which the victim can file his lawsuit for a claim. Before availing legal help, the injured person should focus on the best possible options. This has greatly help in getting the desired output of getting a claim with any hassle.
