What To Do After A Slip and Fall on an Uneven Rug
When you visit a business, or even when you visit the home of a friend, they are to maintain a clean and safe environment so you will not fall and be injured. This means they should take extra precautions with rugs, so that you don’t get your toe caught and then trip.
If you are at a business, and you slip and fall because of an uneven rug, you can pursue a personal injury claim to recover compensation for the damages that you suffered in the accident. You will need to maintain evidence and documentation to support your claim.
If you trip and fall because of an uneven rug, you will need to report it to a store manager or supervisor or to the homeowner. Get photos of the accident scene, showing the uneven rug. Also, be sure to statements from any witnesses. It is imperative that you get medical care right away.
If you put off your medical treatment, it will be more difficult to prove that your injuries were directly related to the slip and fall over the uneven rug. When you are treated, be sure to tell the medical professional what happened, how it happened, and where you were when you fell so it can all be included in the doctor’s notes.
You should jot down notes about your accident as quickly as possible while the incident is still fresh in your mind. This will help you when you file your claim, and it will prove as detailed evidence when you try to recover compensation for your damages.
Here are some of the documents you should maintain as evidence for your slip and fall claim after you trip over an uneven rug:
- Medical bills
- Prescription receipts
- Proof of missed work and lost wages
- Witness statements
- The accident report
- Photos of the accident scene
- Photos of the injuries
Your personal injury lawyer will represent you throughout your slip and fall claim. Your attorney will help you gather evidence and supporting documentation. With the help of an attorney, you are much more likely to have a successful claim against the business or the property owner.
A slip and fall lawyer may know how to proceed with your claim successfully.
Injuries That Could Result From A Slip and Fall
There are various injuries that can result from a slip and fall over an uneven rug. Falls are a leading cause for visits to emergency rooms across the country. When someone slips and falls, there is loss of productivity, medical bills, and pain and suffering.
When you slip and fall, you could have minor injuries, or you may suffer more serious injuries that affect you long-term. Common injuries resulting from falls include:
- Broken bones
- Knee injuries
- Sprained wrists or ankles
- Dislocated shoulders
- Strained muscles
- Nerve or spine damage
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Lacerations
- Bruises and contusions
Of course, any of these injuries could be relatively minor or more serious. A broken bone might be a clean break and heal quickly and without complications, but there are compound fractures that require surgical intervention, physical therapy, and extensive treatment and care.
You will need to maintain supporting documentation to show your damages and their severity. You will also want to be sure to claim all your damages – including future expenses – when you file your personal injury claim.
How Can a Loose Rug Cause These Injuries?
Loose rugs and carpets can cause significant injuries, but are these types of accidents the fault of the owner or person who is supposed to maintain the floor coverings? It all depends why the person tripped over the loose rug.
The examples below are some of the most common reasons why a loose rug or carpet becomes a hazard.
- The rug or carpet should have had a non-slip pad underneath or a skid backing which would have prevented the rug or carpet from slipping under pressure. Often, when these non-skid pads have not been installed when the rug or carpet was laid, it is due to cost cutting. The fact that a rug or carpet has been specifically designed to have a non-skid pad under it, but this hasn’t been done, is evidence that the owner of the rug or carpet could have acted negligently.
- Some rugs or carpets may have been laid correctly originally but because of wear and tear have become loose or their edges have curled up. This presents an obvious trip hazard and the owner of the rug or carpet could be perceived as negligent in allowing such an obvious trip and fall hazard to remain without attention.
- Rugs which are used primarily for drying or cleaning feet and shoes are often quite small in area and located near entrance ways. These need to be fixed securely to the floor beneath. If not secured or allowed to become loose then they become a trip and fall hazard, leaving the owner of the rug liable to be sued for negligence in a personal injury claim.
Damages in a Slip and Fall Claim
Often, a slip and fall will cause future medical expenses and there will be a future loss of earnings. Be sure to consider those things when you file your claim against the property owner or business.
Here are a few of the more commonly claimed damages when you file a personal injury claim after a slip and fall:
- Medical expenses – past and future
- Lost wages – past and future
- Property damages, such as broken glasses or torn clothing
- Mental anguish
- Loss of enjoyment of life
Sometimes a slip and fall leads to injuries that are life-altering. You may not be able to do the kind of work that you used to do, or you may not be able to work at all. If that is the case, your future loss of earnings should be figured out and included in your personal injury claim.
That total could be a significant amount that will affect your finances for years to come.
One of the trickiest situations is when you have an accident at a friend’s home and you know that your friend was responsible. What do you do?
Of course, if the accident is only minor, you will probably not do anything. Your friend will apologize and you will get on with your lives as you did before.
But what if you have a really nasty fall after tripping over on a rug that was loose or uneven? Imagine you break one of your legs or you suffer a hip fracture. You may be off work for months. You could even lose your job and there may be medical costs which are not covered by your own medical insurance policy (if you have one).
Proving Liability In a Slip-and-Fall Accident
Of course, you may not have slipped over or tripped up in the home of someone you knew well. It could have been anywhere. Did somebody know about the hazard and did they do anything about it to sort it out before it became an accident risk?
The owners and managers of any public place or property where other people are legally allowed access to are responsible for the safety of those people.
They are potentially liable if an accident takes place.
However, things are not as clear cut as that because under state liability law the owner or manager is only considered liable if they:
- Were aware of the hazard
- Did nothing to fix it or remove it
- Did nothing to warn members of the public about it
An example of such a scenario is when someone trips over on a loose rug in a museum and breaks their leg. The museum staff may have been aware of the rug but had insufficient time to fasten it down properly.
In the meantime they erect large signs warning the public to look where they are going. The person who trips over is unlikely to be able to claim any compensation from either the museum staff or the owners of the museum and will have to cope financially with the injuries by themselves.
The situation may be different if someone trips over while climbing up a staircase in a hotel because there was a torn carpet.
If the hotel staff or owner was quite aware of the torn carpet, and had time to fix it properly, yet had done nothing about it, the accident victim might have grounds for making a claim.
Statute of limitations may be short if the accident happens on government property. Slip and fall claims are complicated by the window of time in which a claim must be made, known as the statute of limitations.
If the accident happens on government property, for instance, that window may be only a month at the most from the date of the accident. There may also be a cap on the amount that can be claimed.
Seek Out an Experienced Personal Injury Lawyer
If you suffered a slip and fall because of an uneven rug, you will need to enlist the help of an attorney who handles slip and fall claims in your area. With the help of an attorney, you are much more likely to recover a fair settlement for your injuries.
Your lawyer will also work to build a case by proving your injuries were a result of the negligence of the property owner or the business. The other party will have legal representation, so you should have someone standing up for you and working to defend your rights.
When you enlist the help of a slip and fall lawyer, you are not going to have to pay anything out of pocket. Personal injury lawyers take cases on the contingency basis, which means that your attorney will not get paid until you recover compensation for your damages.
This compensation can be through a judgment from the court or by a settlement that is agreed out of court. Every state has a strict statute of limitations for pursuing a personal injury claim, so be sure to get your claim filed to recover compensation for your damages.
Complete the Free Case Evaluation Form on this page so an attorney who handles accident injury cases in your state can review the details of your claim and determine the best way to proceed with a claim so you can recover compensation for your damages.
Remember, time is of the essence so don’t wait until it is too late to get your slip and fall claim underway after you fell because of an uneven rug.
