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Businesses who invite others onto their premises owe a high duty of care to their customers. In fact, when compared with social guests, businesses owe customers an even higher duty of care, and this is true in stores, restaurants, and other businesses around the Phoenix area. These can include:
As Phoenix slip and fall lawyers, we know that a business that is open to the public must keep its premises safe for the benefit of all its visitors. This means that everyone who works at the business must keep the floors clean. They must also make sure that no hazards exist and must address any other condition that could be unsafe for premises visitors. It is when a business fails to do this that someone gets hurt. It is when someone gets hurt that they need a personal injury attorney.
That is when our Phoenix slip and fall lawyers step in to help. Our injury lawyers are conveniently located in our rental Phoenix office and are ready to assist you with handling every aspect of your personal injury case from the beginning of the case to the very end.
Zanes Law offers free consultations with a personal injury attorney. We speak with anyone who suffered injuries when they slipped and fell. We explain to injury victims what their rights are. A personal injury attorney at Zanes Law reviews all options that are available to you. There is no up-front cost because we only get paid if we win your case. So call our slip and fall attorneys in Phoenix right now at 602-999-9999.
Don’t fight with the negligent party’s legal team alone. When you suffer harm in an accident, our Phoenix slip and fall lawyers are only a phone call away. These cases are complicated, and insurance companies will always attempt to take advantage of a victim.
If you pursue a personal injury claim against a property owner’s insurance company, you can be sure that the insurance company will do everything possible to deny you the monetary compensation that you deserve. This is because insurance companies do not make money by paying out slip and fall injury claims and settlements. Rather, they lose money in this way. As a result, the property owner’s insurance company will do its best to limit the payout that you deserve and keep as much money in its own coffers as possible.
In some instances, the insurance company might cut the amounts of your medical bills or lost wages, alleging that certain injuries or treatments are unrelated to your accident. At other times, the insurance company might contend that you did not suffer a permanent injury in the slip and fall accident or that missing time from work was not necessary.
Since dealing with the property owner’s insurance company on your own is often an uphill battle, having an experienced Phoenix slip and fall attorney by your side negotiating for you throughout your case can make all the difference in the world.
The Phoenix slip and fall lawyers at Zanes Law know how to fight and how to win. Each Zanes Law personal injury attorney fights for our clients. Collectively, our lawyers have recovered over $140,000,000 in compensation for our injured clients.
In some instances, our attorneys can reach a favorable settlement with the property owner’s insurance company. At other times, after consulting with you, we might take your case to a jury trial or arbitration proceeding. In any case, you can rest assured that our legal team will fight for your right to recover the monetary compensation that you need for your slip and fall injuries.
Most of our clients do not realize how challenging it is to win slip and fall cases. To be successful, a personal injury attorney must prove three things:
Some insurance companies will even try to demonstrate that your injuries in your slip and fall accident were not serious and/or that your injuries were the result of some preexisting injury, medical condition, or degenerative finding.
Our slip and fall attorneys in Phoenix know that the law in Arizona favors the property owner. This can make bringing a claim very challenging for someone who suffered injuries. Furthermore, when someone slips and falls, they have severe injuries.
When a person suffers an injury in a slip and fall accident, the accident victim might need to visit the emergency room or urgent care center, primary care doctor, and/or a medical specialist (such as an orthopedist). The accident victim might also need to spend a significant amount of money out of pocket and stay at home while recovering from his or her injuries in the long term. These medical bills can mount up quickly.
Our Phoenix slip and fall lawyers typically see insurance companies that do not want to pay out what is necessary to make the injured party whole again. Because of this, you need an experienced personal injury attorney like those at Zanes Law. We will investigate your claim and force the at-fault party to compensate you fairly.
During your personal injury case, our legal team could hire an expert to investigate the circumstances of your accident. If your case goes forward, we could also hire a medical expert to causally relate your injuries to the slip and fall accident in which you sustained them.
Although many people fall and jump right back up, slip and falls can cause serious injuries. Sure, we’ve all fallen down and simply been startled. But we were the lucky ones. Maybe we were a little embarrassed and a little sore the next day, but we just moved on without a problem. What about the person who breaks a bone or suffers a severe head injury? That person must call a Zanes Law personal injury attorney who handles slip and fall cases.
When you think about it logically, a person who falls has very little control over how they land and what hits the ground. As you begin to tumble over, you don’t have much time to react and to protect yourself. Even worse, sometimes, when you put out an arm to break your fall, you break that arm!
It is these serious injuries that require immediate medical attention. In addition, each Zanes Law personal injury attorney knows that slip and fall accidents are the third leading cause of accidental death. The serious injuries that may result from slips and falls include:
In short, a traumatic brain injury is a head injury. Many people refer to forms of this injury as a concussion or as a “TBI.” You end up with a TBI when you either hit your head on something or the force of the fall jolts your head hard enough to injure your brain. The force of the impact can cause your brain to actually move around and strike the side of your skull, bruising it. Moreover, the impact could sever the brain’s neurons and axons, which serve as its ‘internal hardware’ and ‘wiring system.’
When this happens, and a person suffers a traumatic head injury, the head injury can range from mild to severe, but all head injuries can create both cognitive problems and memory problems for the injured victim. Even a “mild” concussion requires medical care and can have long-lasting effects, and more severe head injuries sometimes require extended medical treatment to address ongoing physical issues, behavioral problems, and cognitive deficiencies. These effects can all be costly, so if you suffered a TBI in an accident, call a slip and fall lawyer at Zanes Law.
It is easy to understand how a person can break a bone when they slip and fall. Depending on how the accident victim falls, he or she could break an arm, leg, ankle, hip, or some other body part in a slip and fall. Our slip and fall lawyers in Phoenix see this daily.
In fact, many bone breaks require surgery and long-term rehabilitation. They can be serious injuries requiring expensive medical care. In addition to this, many people cannot work after breaking a bone and having surgery because of the pain and other limitations caused by the injury.
Even after a surgical procedure on the broken bone, the accident victim might need to undergo physical therapy for him or her to function again and perform daily activities. The accident victim might also need to undergo a second surgery so that doctors can remove internal hardware, including bolts and screws, from the bone. Finally, many injured victims never completely recover from their surgical repair and have long-lasting deficiencies and, sometimes, disabilities.
A soft-tissue injury is when you injure muscles, ligaments, and tendons. It is easy to understand how one can receive soft tissue injuries in a slip and fall accident. When you fall, you often twist and stretch body parts in ways that they should not move. This often causes strains, sprains, and muscle tears. Two examples of soft tissue injuries are torn ligaments in a knee or a torn bicep tendon, both of which require surgery to fix.
Soft tissue injuries can be just as significant and severe as broken bones and other serious injuries. In addition, a serious soft tissue injury could be permanent and may result in complications for the rest of a slip and fall accident victim’s lifetime. Because of this, you need to speak with a personal injury attorney at Zanes Law after a fall. Our skilled legal team might refer you for a permanency evaluation so that a healthcare provider can determine whether or not you suffered a permanent soft tissue injury in your Phoenix slip and fall accident.
Many times, when a person is involved in a slip and fall accident, the accident victim will injure his neck and back by twisting them in awkward ways. This torque can injure a person’s disks and can injure the soft tissues that support the neck and back.
For example, the accident victim might suffer a disc bulge to his or her cervical (neck), thoracic (mid), or lumbar (lower) spine. These injuries both can cause serious pain and can certainly limit a person’s mobility and ability to take part in various activities—including daily living activities like washing and dressing. These soft tissue injuries can also lead to headaches, numbness in the extremities, shooting pain in the extremities, sleeping problems, and other issues. It is all of these problems that can limit your ability to work and do the day-to-day activities that you either must do or enjoy doing.
Our Phoenix slip and fall lawyers will make sure that you receive compensation for these damages. If the property owner’s insurance company refuses to offer you adequate compensation for your injuries, our legal team could threaten a lawsuit and litigate the case in the state court system.
A spinal cord injury is the most serious type of neck or back injury. A spinal cord injury can range from a severed spine caused by the fall to a bulging or herniated disk. Although these two injuries are on opposite ends of the severity scale, both could require surgery, hospitalization, and months to years of rehabilitation.
If a slip and fall accident results in the severing of one or more nerves, the accident victim could suffer a full or partial paralysis injury. When an accident victim suffers a paralysis injury, he or she will have little or no feeling in the affected body part(s). Moreover, the accident victim might have a limited ability to move the affected body part—or be unable to move the affected body part(s) at all.
For example, an accident victim who severs nerves in the lower part of the spinal column in a serious slip and fall accident might still have movement in his or her hands and arms. However, the accident victim might experience paralysis in the legs and feet, and there may be no feeling in those body parts or the ability to move them.
Discussed above are just some of the injuries that can result from an unexpected slip and fall, but they can all change a person’s life forever. Because of this, the Zanes Law Phoenix slip and fall lawyers are here to help. We know that any of these injuries can result in overwhelming losses, including:
Since these losses can be significant, you need an experienced personal injury attorney who is willing to fight for you. The Phoenix slip and fall lawyers at Zanes Law understand how to fight for maximum compensation for every one of their clients. We may also retain an expert to establish that you suffered a permanent or disabling injury in your slip and fall accident, ensuring that you receive the full amount of compensation that you need and deserve for the permanent injury which you sustained.
In slip and fall accident cases—as in all personal injury cases—the accident victim has the legal burden of proof. This may sound confusing since it was the injured person who was the accident victim. However, the accident victim’s need to prove both fault and damages in the case is, unfortunately, the way that the legal system works.
To be paid for your slip and fall injuries, you will be required to show that the property owner was negligent and that this negligence led to your injury. In a slip and fall accident, we usually see negligence when the situation meets the below criteria:
A property owner can be responsible for your slip and fall under many different scenarios, but most of the time, it is when they allow a hazard to exist that the owner could have fixed. Many slip and falls happen due to an owner’s failure to repair or remediate:
A property owner can be responsible in a slip and fall case either because he knows about the dangerous condition or because he should have known about the dangerous condition and then either failed to remedy it or warn the customers about it.
Much of the time, an owner will claim they could not have known about the hazard when they should have known about and fixed it. For example, in a slip and fall accident that took place in a grocery store, the store owner might contend that employees did not have sufficient time to become aware of the floor defect—or to warn about/correct the defect—before the time when the slip and fall accident happened on the premises.
The Phoenix slip and fall lawyers at Zanes Law know how to prove liability in even the most contested cases. We make it our priority to prove all of the required legal elements of your slip and fall case and pursue the full value of monetary compensation that you deserve for your injuries.
There are steps that you must take after a slip and fall accident to have the best chance to win your injury claim. First, go to the emergency room or local urgent care center if you have signs of injuries. This is your main priority. If you do not need to be rushed to the hospital, you should take photos of the dangerous condition that caused your fall. Then file an incident report with the business. This report documents what happened and what your injuries are.
Finally, call the Phoenix slip and fall lawyers at Zanes Law so that we can answer your questions and explain to you your options. Our legal team can begin working on and investigating the facts and circumstances of your case while you are still recuperating and recovering from your injuries and obtaining medical treatment for them.
Did you sustain a slip and fall injury in Phoenix or any of the other cities in the Phoenix metro area? If so, call the Phoenix slip and fall lawyers at Zanes Law. Each Zanes Law personal injury attorney is experienced and knows exactly how to handle these complex cases.
Proving the liability and damage elements of a Phoenix slip and fall accident claim is often an uphill battle. Many accident victims are unsure of the steps that they should take in their case and where they should turn for assistance. After seeking initial medical treatment for their slip and fall accident injuries, one of the most important steps that an accident victim can take is to speak with a knowledgeable Phoenix slip and fall injury lawyer.
An experienced attorney will investigate the accident and determine if the accident victim has a viable case. If so, a skilled attorney can begin the process of filing a legal claim on the accident victim’s behalf and pursuing the compensation that he or she deserves.
Doug Zanes, Phoenix Slip and Fall Lawyer
The members of our legal team are just as comfortable at the negotiating table as they are at the trial table. When you put your case in our hands, you can rest assured that we will give it the thorough, careful, and result-oriented attention that it deserves. Don’t let the insurance company undermine you or your case!
After your slip and fall accident, we will give you a free consultation, and we can explain to you all of your options. Call us today at (602) 999-9999. We only charge a fee if we win your case.
The following FAQ section attempts to answer some of the most common questions that slip and fall accident victims have after they suffer injuries in their accident. A knowledgeable Phoenix slip and fall accident lawyer can provide further clarification and answer any other questions you might have about pursuing a personal injury claim or lawsuit for damages.
What are Some Common Locations in and Around Phoenix Where Slip and Fall Accidents Are Common? Slip and fall accidents that take place in and around Phoenix can occur both indoors and outdoors. The Greater Phoenix region has numerous shopping facilities for both tourists and locals alike, including Desert Ridge Marketplace, Arizona Center, Collier Center, CityScape Phoenix, and Biltmore Fashion Park. While all of these areas offer numerous shopping and dining options, slip and fall accidents can also occur on the premises there.
Not only are accidents common both inside and outside business premises, but they can also occur in the parking lots and parking garages, elevators, and escalators that are on or near these premises. Finally, some slip and fall accidents happen in restaurants and public restrooms where businesses fail to clean up spills—including water and other liquids—promptly, or warning placards are not out to warn visitors of potential hazards.
Slip and fall accidents can also take place in offices and other workplaces. If the accident victim suffers a slip and fall injury while on the job—and while working within the scope of employment—he or she could bring a workers’ compensation claim under the employer’s insurance policy.
When businesses do not take the proper precautions to warn about or promptly clean up hazards, slip and fall accidents may occur. When an accident occurs that results in an injury to a premises visitor, the accident victim could pursue a personal injury claim against the business’ insurance company.
How Long Do I Have to File a Personal Injury Lawsuit Arising from my Slip and Fall Accident? If you suffered injuries in a slip and fall accident, time is of the essence in your case. Therefore, while treating your injuries is the biggest priority, your next step should be to contact a knowledgeable personal injury attorney about your legal matter as soon as possible. This is primarily because of the statute of limitations.
In Arizona personal injury cases—including those that arise from slip and fall accidents—injured individuals typically only have two years from the date of their accident to file a lawsuit against the at-fault party, seeking monetary damages. The clock begins to start on the accident date and runs for two years thereafter. Absent some very limited exceptions, if you do not file a lawsuit that two-year time period, the accident victim will be able to recover monetary compensation at any point in the future.
There are several purposes for Arizona’s two-year statute of limitations in personal injury cases. One reason for the statute is to ensure that memories of the accident remain fresh. Another reason is to ensure that witnesses remain available to testify in the event the personal injury case ultimately goes to trial. In slip and fall accident cases, witness testimony is often very important—especially if the at-fault party’s insurance company is disputing fault for the accident or alleging that the accident victim contributed to it in some way. A witness, for example, might testify that a spill was on the floor for a significant time, giving store employees ample time to clean it up.
If you or a person you love suffered injuries in a Phoenix slip and fall accident, a knowledgeable Phoenix slip and fall accident lawyer can assist you with your case. Your attorney will be aware of the statute of limitations and its expiration, making sure that they file a lawsuit in your case with time to spare.
What is the Process of Settling a Slip and Fall Accident Claim in Phoenix? In some instances, the insurance company will dispute fault for a slip and fall accident. The insurance company, for example, might allege that the premises owner was not aware of the defect and/or did not have time to remove it from the premises. The insurance company might also contend that the accident victim was not wearing the proper footwear at the time when the accident occurred.
For the insurance company to be in a position to decide on liability and damages, the accident victim’s lawyer needs to provide the insurance company’s adjuster with certain information about the incident. This information and documentation usually come as part of a demand package.
A settlement demand package usually includes some very important pieces of information that the insurance company adjuster will use to evaluate the case. If an incident report or other investigative report exists following the accident, a copy of that report should be part of the demand package. These reports typically include a narrative description of the incident and how it occurred—including how the accident victim fell to the ground. There may also be witness statements that detail observations by eyewitnesses to the slip and fall accident.
Sometimes at the scene of a slip and fall accident, the accident victim and others may take photographs of the area where the fall occurred. For example, the accident victim might take pictures of a spill on the floor or a ceiling leak above where the fall happened. The accident victim might also take pictures of the injuries he or she sustained in the accident, such as a broken bone, cut, abrasion, or bruise. All of these photographs should be included in the demand package so that the insurance company adjuster can review them.
Also, after a slip and fall accident, many accident victims have to undergo medical treatment for their injuries. The accident victim might need to seek emergency medical care at a hospital emergency room or urgent care center—or may need to follow up with a family doctor or primary care physician. Finally, the accident victim might need to undergo surgery and follow-up physical therapy. Since accident victims are eligible to pursue monetary compensation for all related medical treatment, all medical treatment records and bills should be included as part of the demand package sent to the insurance company.
In addition to seeking medical treatment for injuries suffered in a slip and fall accident, many accident victims will need to miss time from work to treat and recuperate from their injuries. In cases where an accident victim suffers a serious injury in the accident, such as a fractured bone, he or she might need to miss several weeks—or even months—away from work.
In the worst cases, the accident victim might have injuries so severe that he or she can never return to the same occupation or line of work again following the accident. In these types of cases, the accident victim might be eligible to pursue a claim for lost wages or loss of earning capacity.
As part of the demand package, the accident victim should include:
In addition to these types of documentation that often accompany the settlement demand package, the injured person might wish to include a victim impact statement. The victim impact statement states in the accident victim’s own words the effects that the accident had on his or her life and overall well-being.
For example, the impact statement might describe the following:
Once the insurance company adjuster reviews the demand package and all attached documentation—including photographs—he or she will typically decide liability. Assuming the insurance company accepts some or all of the fault for the slip and fall accident, the adjuster might make a monetary offer to settle the case.
Although you might want to accept an introductory offer made by the insurance company adjuster to get a speedy payment, this is not usually a wise decision. Insurance companies often make their initial settlement offers low in an attempt to entice individuals who are in a hurry to settle their cases. In fact, these introductory settlement offers are usually far below the full value of the case.
Remember: The less money that the insurance company has to spend settling a personal injury case, the more money it gets to keep in-house to line its own pockets. In other words, the insurance company wants to pay out as little money as possible to settle your slip and fall accident case.
In most personal injury cases, it takes some negotiations between the accident victim’s attorney and the insurance company before reaching a favorable settlement offer. At other times, a lawsuit will be necessary for the insurance company to make a favorable settlement offer, given the nature and extent of your injuries.
A knowledgeable Phoenix slip and fall injury attorney at Zanes Law can negotiate with the at-fault party’s insurance company and work to obtain a favorable settlement offer on your behalf. If the insurance company will not take your case seriously and offer you the compensation that you need for your injuries, your lawyer could file a lawsuit on your behalf, and if necessary, litigate it in the Arizona state court system.
What Amount Will my Slip and Fall Accident Claim Likely Settle For? Not all slip and fall accident cases are the same, and no two cases will have the same settlement or verdict value. The ultimate value of a slip and fall accident case depends upon:
If you have suffered injuries in a Phoenix slip and fall accident, the experienced Phoenix slip and fall accident attorneys at Zanes Law will do everything possible to maximize your case’s settlement value. We will zealously advocate for your interests when negotiating on your behalf with the insurance company. If your case does not settle and the matter has to go to court, our legal team will do everything possible to help you obtain a favorable jury verdict in your case.
Will I Need to Take my Slip and Fall Accident Claim to a Jury Trial? The vast majority of slip and fall personal injury cases settle out of court—sometimes long before the trial date. However, at other times, the case might need to be litigated in the state court system. The accident victim is the final decision maker when it comes to deciding whether to litigate a personal injury case and take it to trial. Although the accident victim’s lawyer can make a recommendation about whether to take a case to trial or not, it is the accident victim who decides how to proceed.
There are always risks that are associated with taking a case to trial. First and foremost, by letting a jury decide the outcome of your case, you are more or less giving up control over your case. However, if the insurance company is significantly undervaluing your case and is not fully and fairly compensating you for your injuries, it might be worth rolling the dice and taking your legal matter to trial.
The insurance company has a legal duty to fully and fairly compensate you for all of the injuries that you reasonably suffered in your accident—and that are causally related to your accident. An experienced Phoenix slip and fall accident attorney at Zanes Law can help you decide whether you should accept a particular settlement offer that the insurance company has put on the table or take your case to trial.
Will I Need an Expert for my Phoenix Slip and Fall Accident Case? In slip and fall accident cases, expert testimony may be necessary—especially if the insurance company is disputing fault or liability. While lay witnesses can testify about their observations at trial (e.g., what they observed at the time of the slip and fall accident), an expert witness is still sometimes necessary.
For example, an expert witness might reconstruct the incident and how it likely occurred. He or she could interview eyewitnesses, go to the incident scene, and inspect it (such as for roof leaks and other potential defects on the premises). An expert witness could then testify at trial about his or her observations.
Also, for the damages aspect of a slip and fall accident case, expert testimony might be necessary. Expert testimony in this context typically consists of a medical expert, such as a treating doctor or specialist.
A medical specialist may causally connect a particular injury to the slip and fall accident and state—to a reasonable degree of medical certainty—that the injury is causally related to the accident. This type of testimony is helpful when the insurance company tries to allege that the accident victim had a preexisting or degenerative condition—or that the person did not suffer injuries that are all that serious in the accident.
A medical specialist will review all of the medical records and bills for the slip and fall accident case. He or she could then give a professional opinion that the medical bills the accident victim incurred were reasonable, necessary, and causally related to the accident.