Duluth Slip And Fall Injury Attorneys

Duluth Slip and Fall Lawyers

The last thing anyone wants to do is to slip and fall. You might suffer from a few bruises and cuts, but you fear that you will fall onto something or in such a way that you sustain extensive damage.

You could slip or trip and fall in a store, on a sidewalk, in a friend’s home or anywhere. When you do, and another person’s negligence caused the slip or trip and fall, you may be able to recover damages. Contact the Duluth slip and fall attorneys at Nicolet Law Accident & Injury Lawyers today to discuss your legal options.

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Common Duluth Slip or Trip and Fall Causes

You could slip or trip and fall anywhere, even in your own home.

You can slip or trip and fall for many reasons, including:

• Slippery floors caused by spills, mud, sleet, snow, or because the floors are naturally slippery, such as some types of tile or glass floors.
• Stairs with broken or cracked steps or broken handrails.
• Clutter on the floor, whether in a private home or a retail establishment.
• Uneven surfaces, such as lifted and cracked sidewalks, uneven pavers or bricks, a carpet with a lump in it, or that has a lifted edge.
• Potholes in roads or walkways.
• Areas with poor lighting.
• Ladders and scaffolding in unexpected places.
• Weeds that are growing through poorly maintained sidewalks.

Rights of Duluth Slip or Trip and Fall Victims

If you tripped or slipped and fell on someone else’s property, you could have the right to recover compensation for your injuries and other damages if the property owner was negligent. For example, if you slip on an icy sidewalk while it is snowing, you most likely cannot recover damages. However, if the property owner does not clean the sidewalk within a reasonable amount of time after a snowstorm, the court could find that the property owner was negligent and award you damages.

Premises liability accidents such as slip or trip and fall accidents are often complicated cases. A Duluth slip and fall attorney can help you determine whether you have a case. Contact Nicolet Law Accident & Injury Lawyers today.

Premises Liability and Trespassing

While you could recover compensation for a property owner’s negligence if you have a right to be on the property—you were invited, or the property is a retail establishment, and you slipped and fell during normal working hours—you might have a hard time recovering damages if you were trespassing.

A trespasser enters a property uninvited and/or without permission. Thus, the property owner needn’t keep the property free of dangerous conditions or warn a trespasser of dangerous conditions (although the property owner cannot intentionally or willfully injure a trespasser). Different rules apply if the trespasser is a child.

Fall Facts

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), one out of five falls causes serious injuries, including traumatic brain injuries or broken bones. Hospitals admit over 800,000 people per year because of slip or trip and fall accidents. Of those, 300,000 are older people that suffer hip fractures. The CDC also states that falls are the number one cause of traumatic brain injuries.

If you suffer injuries from a fall, contact Nicolet Law Accident & Injury Lawyers today to discuss your legal options.

Fall Injuries

If you slip or trip and fall, you might be lucky enough to sustain minor injuries, such as a couple of cuts or bruises, but in many cases, people sustain severe or even catastrophic injuries.

Some of the injuries you might sustain include:

• Bumps, bruises, scratches, and cuts.
• Road rash and scrapes.
• Simple and/or compound fractures.
• Face and eye injuries.
• Head, neck, and shoulder injuries.
• Traumatic brain injuries.
• Back and spinal cord injuries.
• Internal injuries.
• Strain, sprains, pulled muscles, torn muscles, and other soft tissue injuries.

In addition to the initial injuries, you could also suffer from secondary injuries, such as infections from open wounds. The open wounds could happen during the initial incident but could also be because of surgery to repair accident injuries.

Fall injuries, including secondary injuries, could exacerbate existing conditions and injuries. The negligent party may also share in the responsibility for exacerbating those conditions and injuries since you would not have had that extra pain and suffering if not for the defendant’s negligence.

Additionally, your initial and secondary injuries could lead to the amputation of a digit or limb or could lead to excessive scarring and/or disfigurement that could prevent you from gainful employment.

The Value of A Duluth Slip or Trip and Fall Case

The amount of damages you might recover after a trip or slip and fall accident depends on the severity of your injuries. You could recover economic damages and non-economic damages.

Economic Damages

Special damages, often referred to as economic damages, have a monetary value. The court orders the defendant to pay these in an attempt to make you whole again.

Economic damages can include:

• Medical Expenses. You could recover the costs for medical expenses you incurred because of the incident, including future medical expenses—those you incur after a settlement or a trial award. Medical expenses include the initial expenses to treat slip and fall injuries, follow-up appointments, additional surgeries, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and cognitive and other psychological therapies.
• Lost Wages. If your injuries prevent you from working, you could collect lost wages until a settlement or a trial award. You could also collect future lost wages if you are not able to work at all or you cannot make the same salary or hourly rate after a settlement or a trial award. If you lost a loved one because of a trip or slip and fall incident, you could also collect compensation to make up for the lost income because of the loss of your loved one.
• Damaged Personal Property. If the incident destroys or damages any personal property, including phones, clothing, computers, or other items on your person, the defendant may have to pay to replace or repair it.
• End-of-Life Expenses. If you lost a loved one because of a trip or slip and fall incident, you could recover funeral, burial, cremation expenses, and other expenses related to the death of your loved one. You might have probate court expenses and other administrative expenses in addition to funeral expenses.

Non-Economic Damages

General damages, often referred to as non-economic damages, do not have a monetary value since you cannot put a price on pain and suffering on these types of losses and damages. Non-economic damages may include:

Pain and Suffering. If your injuries cause long-term or permanent disabilities, you could recover compensation for the pain and suffering you experience, including emotional distress. Some injuries require physical and/or occupational therapy, which shows that you are most likely in pain.

Additionally, some people suffer from depression and anxiety because their injuries and/or long-term or permanent disabilities prevent them from working. They might also become afraid of repeating the incident and become withdrawn. Accidents often cause post-traumatic stress disorder, though that is more common in traumatic vehicle accidents. Often cognitive and other psychological therapy helps with feelings of helplessness, anxiety, and depression. The defendant may bear the responsibility of emotional therapies, since you would not have these issues if not for the defendant’s negligence.

Loss of Quality of Life. Some injuries cause long-term or permanent disabilities that might require you to take medications or use ambulatory aids for the rest of your life. Others cause amputation, a permanent limp, or other issues that decrease the quality of your life.

Loss of Companionship and/or Consortium. Sometimes accident injuries cause disabilities that prevent you from enjoying time with your family. If you cannot take part in family activities and events, including something as minor as sitting at the dining room table for dinner with your family, you could recover compensation for loss of companionship.

Additionally, if you can no longer have a physical relationship with your spouse, you could recover compensation for loss of consortium.

Loss of Use. Some trip and slip or fall accidents could cause you to lose the use of a body part, such as a hand or foot. And some could cause the loss of use of bodily functions, such as your eyesight or bladder function. These injuries could be direct or indirect. You might damage the body part or function in the incident, and doctors might not have the ability to repair the damaged body part or function.

In other cases, an injury could cause the loss of use. For example, a traumatic brain injury could cause you to lose the use of a leg or your bladder. You could receive compensation for these types of injuries, especially if doctors believe they are long-term or permanent.

Disfigurement and Excessive Scarring. If you fall on a rough surface, you could sustain road rash that might scar. Burns can also cause disfigurement and excessive scarring, especially if doctors remove the skin from another part of your body for a graft. If the excessive scarring or disfigurement is visible or it impedes your ability to work, you could receive extra compensation for these injuries.

Inconvenience. Some people do their own shopping, house cleaning, home repair and maintenance, lawn maintenance, and other chores. Some disabilities you might sustain in a trip or slip and fall incident could prevent you from doing these chores, which means that you have to hire someone to do them for you.

Should you have to hire someone to do the chores you usually do, you could recover compensation to reimburse you for the money you now have to pay someone to do these things for you.

Settling A Duluth Trip or Slip and Fall Case

Always retain an attorney when you

 seek compensation because:

• Insurance companies are for-profit businesses, which means that they may be mostly concerned with their bottom lines. Every claim they pay out means less money in their executives’ pockets.
• Insurance companies may protect their interests over yours, even if you are trying to recover damages from your own insurance company. It does not make a difference that you were loyal for many years or that you paid your premiums on time.
• Most insurance representatives will use several tricks in an attempt to deny your claim or offer you a pittance. One of the most well-known tricks is to twist your words to use what you say against you; thus, laying the blame for the accident or incident at your feet. This gives the insurance company a reason to deny your claim or make an offer that might not even cover your medical expenses.
• The attorneys for the insurance companies know that the average person does not know personal injury laws and insurance regulations. They can use this against you by convincing you that the compensation they offer is the highest amount they can “legally” pay.
• Most people who use an attorney recover up to three times more compensation than those who do not retain an attorney.

Additionally, the insurance company also knows that you are more likely to abandon settlement negotiations sooner and go to litigation if you have an attorney. Insurance companies do not like to go to court because of the increased risk of paying a significant amount more than a fair and reasonable amount you might have settled for.

But I Cannot Afford a Duluth Slip and Fall Attorney

Our initial case evaluation is free. We also work on a contingency basis, which means that you do not pay attorneys’ fees unless we win your case. Even if we have to go to trial and lose, you would not be on the hook for attorneys’ fees.

When you come in for your initial case evaluation, we will go over the potential expenses for a trip or slip and fall case. We do not hide any expenses and will let you know the cost of depositions, expert witnesses, investigators, filing fees, and anything else.

Duluth Slip and Fall FAQs

Call Our Duluth Slip And Fall Attorney And We'll Take Care Of The Rest

You have enough on your plate as you attempt to put your life back together after an injury. The last thing you need to do is spend your time and energy fighting with the insurance companies.

We can level the playing field and make things right for you. Call 218-217-0698 or contact us via email to schedule your free consultation. You will owe no attorney fees until we recover compensation for you.

Duluth Office