Accidents due to negligence might happen anywhere, including commercial establishments, private residences, and other places property owners might fail to maintain.
Victims can preserve vital evidence for their slip and fall accident cases by photographing scenes after sustaining injuries. Eyewitnesses can help prove liability through their statements and testimony, so we may prioritize interviewing them soon after your accident. Injuries sustained in slipping and falling accidents often include hand and wrist fractures, as well as back and neck injuries. Since victims only have three years to file lawsuits against negligent property owners, they should not wait to prepare their claims, particularly because evidence could be lost in the interval. Defendants may wish to settle slip and fall injury lawsuits out of court, and our attorneys can assess all settlement offers to see if they are fair before encouraging victims to accept or proceed with a trial.
For a free and confidential assessment of your case from The Martello Law Firm, PLLC, call our slip and fall lawyers at (914) 685-6950.
Preserving Slip and Fall Accident Scenes in Peekskill, NY
Slip and fall accident scenarios vary, and victims might not have access to scenes after the fact, making intentionally preserving evidence crucial, especially if there are no witnesses.
Some slip and fall or trip and fall accidents happen in secluded areas, like dimly lit stairwells or hallways. For example, when walking to the restroom in a restaurant, patrons might trip over loose rugs, and there might not be witnesses nearby to confirm what happened. In these situations, victims should immediately photograph the hazard that injured them, such as uneven flooring, a broken handrail, or obstruction on the ground. Photographing the area can help prove that a hazard existed, endangering visitors and causing your accident.
If there are witnesses, request their names and contact details, then give this information to our slip and fall lawyers. We can urgently schedule interviews to ask witnesses detailed questions about what they saw and their impressions of an accident so we preserve their statements, which we can leverage during settlement negotiations or use during a trial.
Slipping and falling accidents in commercial establishments might be caught on surveillance cameras owned by the property owner. If this is true in your case, we can quickly obtain such footage before it is potentially deleted, destroyed, or lost.
Injuries Often Sustained in Peekskill, NY Slip and Fall Accidents
When victims trip over a hazard and fall from their standing height, they could sustain wrist and hand fractures when bracing themselves for impact with the ground. Falls from higher heights, like off of scaffolding on a construction site or unsafe balconies, could result in more serious injuries, like spinal cord or traumatic brain injuries.
Like most other injuries, sprains and fractures could worsen if left untreated, so victims should not wait to get medical attention after slipping and falling due to negligence, even if their injuries appear relatively minor. Hitting the ground hard from any height could result in internal injuries, which doctors may diagnose through physical assessments and imaging tests.
Victims who sustain back, neck, or spinal cord injuries during falling accidents might need several surgeries, which are intensive and have long-term recovery times in and of themselves. Regardless of your injuries from the incident, we can closely monitor financial damages, like hospital expenses and lost wages, to prove your losses from the accident. If your injuries require physical therapy sessions or treatments from other specialists, seek that care, as failing to continue with your physical recovery could undermine your financial one.
The General Timeline for Slip and Fall Accident Claims in Peekskill, NY
An injury case begins with an accident due to negligence. Immediately after you are injured, we can launch preparation efforts to file your claim within the three-year window. After that, we may negotiate a fair settlement with the defense or prove their liability in court. We can estimate how long your case might take so that you can anticipate when you will recover the compensatory damages you need.
Case Preparation and Filing
We can begin preparing your case after the accident by obtaining and preserving relevant evidence. Having ample time to prepare a strong case is important, and since victims have just three years to sue under C.V.P. Law § 214(5), they should begin the process immediately. Failing to file by the statute of limitations would block you from recovering any damages from a negligent party, even if they would have been found liable in court by a jury. This filing deadline dictates when you must submit your injury complaint to the court and does not affect the length of your case once filed.
Settlement Negotiations or a Trial
After filing typically comes settlement negotiations, which could take varying amounts of time from case to case. At the beginning of settlement negotiations, the opposing side might present very low offers. This is just the starting point, not necessarily your final settlement amount. We will use proof of your damages and the defendant’s negligence to support our calculations when we counter the defense’s offers. Negligent parties often want to avoid trials to save time and resources, particularly if they have a high chance of being found liable by a jury. If you go to court at any point, we might continue to receive settlement offers from the defense to end the case, and we can compare them to your total losses to determine if they are fair before advising you to accept. Once your case ends, whether in a settlement or jury decision, you can recover your deserved damages, possibly via one lump sum payment or several structured payments.
Call Our Lawyers in Peekskill, NY for Help with Your Injury Claim Now
Call The Martello Law Firm, PLLC at (914) 685-6950 to discuss your case for free with our slip and fall lawyers.
