Articles Tagged with Georgia slip and fall attorney

Unfortunately, no, and that’s a shame. Slip-and-fall injuries are the leading cause of hospital emergency room visits. These injuries send over eight million Americans to emergency departments every year. The ER bill is only the first of many medical bills and other expenses that someone must pay. Unless they receive settlements, these victims are usually financially responsible for all these bills and expenses.

Insurance company lawyers do whatever it takes to reduce or deny compensation for head injuries, broken bones, and other serious wounds commonly associated with slip-and-fall incidents. Only an equally determined Marietta personal injury lawyer levels the playing field. An attorney works hard to build a strong case that overcomes some common insurance company defenses so victims receive maximum compensation for their serious injuries.

Open and Obvious

The average injury-related hospital stay costs over $10,000 per day. This figure does not include follow-up care, physical therapy, and ancillary expenses, such as medical devices, transportation expenses like ambulance costs, and prescription drugs. When all these costs are added up, they could easily exceed $100,000. Many of these expenses are related to one of the five fall injuries listed below.

Most families cannot possibly afford to pay these bills out of their own pockets. So, they rely on a Marietta personal injury attorney to obtain necessary compensation in court. A lawyer also obtains compensation for emotional distress and other noneconomic losses. Injury victims shouldn’t have to suffer in silence. These damages normally prompt nursing home owners and other property owners to change the way they do business and make the personal safety of their guests a higher priority.

Traumatic Brain Injury

The medical bills and other economic losses associated with older adult falls total over $50 billion per year. Medicare and most private health insurance cover some of, but not all of, these costs. Therefore, many older fall victims could be financially responsible for medical bills they cannot pay. Even if a public or private insurance company covers all these costs, other people pay the price in the form of higher taxes and higher premiums. There is no reason you and I should pay for an injury that someone else negligently caused. 

Liability issues in fall injury claims are even more complex than these financial issues. Generally, landowners have a duty of care to provide safe environments that are free from fall injury hazards. This duty only applies if the nursing home owner, or another property owner, knew, or should have known, about the hazard.

All these complex issues mean that only the most experienced Marietta personal injury lawyer should handle an older adult fall injury claim. Attorneys not only deal with the issues in the case. They also immediately connect victims with the medical help they need. The injuries listed below are often difficult to diagnose and treat. They require a special doctor’s special attention. The first available ER doctor, or the cut-rate doctor an insurance company adjuster approves, simply will not do.

Every year, serious fall injuries send over eight million Americans to hospital emergency rooms. The physical injuries these victims sustain are just the beginning. Falls usually cause emotional injuries, as well, especially if the victim is over 65. Many of these individuals are so afraid of falling again that they cease most physical activity. Generally, the physical and emotional injuries are permanent, at least to an extent. 

Despite the image that TV commercials portray, insurance companies care nothing about these severe injuries. Instead, they hire lawyers who look for ways to reduce or deny compensation to victims. A Marietta personal injury attorney takes the opposite view in pretty much every way. Lawyers quickly connect victims with high-quality doctors. Then, when the case goes to court, an attorney fights for the compensation you need and deserve.

Duty of Care

Every year, small and large supermarkets pay over $450 million to resolve indoor and outdoor slip-and-fall claims. These falls cause physical and emotional injuries. Physically, these victims sustain head injuries, broken bones, and other such wounds that often never heal, or at least never entirely heal. The same is true for the depression that many falls cause. Psychologically, many fall victims are so afraid of falling again that they essentially become prisoners in their own homes. The withdrawal often leads to deep depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. 

These injuries are difficult to diagnose and treat. Furthermore, these claims are legally complex. A Marietta personal injury attorney helps on both fronts. Lawyers connect victims with top-notch doctors who, in many cases, don’t charge anything upfront. Later, when the case goes to court, an attorney is committed to maximum compensation for your serious injuries. This compensation usually includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.

Legal Issues 

Frequently, a fall puts a person in a nursing home, and a subsequent fall keeps the person there longer than expected. Falls account for 40%of nursing home admissions, and 60% of residents fall at the facility. 

Understaffing and overcrowding contribute to many of these incidents. Groundskeeping and other such maintenance areas are often the first things to get cut when nursing homes have trouble hiring workers. Additionally, since the elderly population is expanding so rapidly, many facilities are almost constantly under construction. Construction zones are hazardous for older adults.

Falls normally cause very serious injuries. A Marietta personal injury attorney can obtain the compensation these victims need and deserve. This compensation usually includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.

Slip and fall accidents currently account for over 1 million hospital visits. If you are injured in a slip and fall accident in Georgia, there are some things you should understand about the state’s laws regarding slip and fall accidents before you decide whether to file a personal injury claim.

You Have to File Your Claim Within Two Years

According to Georgia Code, an individual has two years from the date of the slip and fall accident to file a personal injury claim. This also applies to all other personal injury claims in the state of Georgia.

One of the most common types of personal injury lawsuits in Georgia is the “slip-and-fall” case. We know how these cases start. A customer is shopping in a local store and suddenly slips on a puddle of water or some other liquid. The customer sustains serious injuries in the fall that require medical attention. Later, the customer sues the store owner to recover damages arising from the accident.

Under Georgia premises liability law, it is not enough for the customer to prove that the hazard–i.e., the puddle of water–existed and was the cause of the fall. The customer must also demonstrate that the store owner had superior knowledge of the hazard. By “superior knowledge,” we mean that the property owner knew about (or should have known about) the hazard in time to warn the customer about the potential danger. In contrast, if the customer had equal or superior knowledge of the hazard, then the store owner can defeat any personal injury claim. Put another way, if the customer was warned about the hazard in some way, yet chose to risk walking in the area regardless, the customer cannot then turn around and demand compensation from the property owner for any injuries suffered.

Allen v. AB Aviation, Inc.

If you are injured in a slip-and-fall accident while shopping in a store in Georgia, there is typically no question that you have the right to file a personal injury lawsuit in Georgia. But what happens if you are injured in an accident while on a cruise ship at sea? Where is the proper “venue” to bring a personal injury claim?

Lebedinsky v. MSC Cruises, SA

The answer to this question may be found on your ticket or booking confirmation paperwork for the cruise itself. All cruise operators have some form of “terms and conditions” that address a number of legal issues in the fine print. This typically includes what is known as a “forum selection clause,” i.e., language that states which state or country’s courts will have jurisdiction to hear any legal disputes arising from the passenger’s participation in the cruise.

There are two significant hurdles a plaintiff must clear when bringing a premises liability claim: First, there must be proof that a “hazard” existed on the defendant’s property that caused the plaintiff’s injury; and second, the plaintiff must show the defendant had “actual or constructive knowledge” of this hazard.

Green v. Big Lots Stores, Inc.

Here is a recent example in which a plaintiff managed to clear the first hurdle but not the second. This case, Green v. Big Lots Stores, Inc., involves a slip-and-all accident that occurred in August 2015. The plaintiff and his wife went to the defendant’s store to do their grocery shopping. They entered the store just as it was opening for the day. According to the plaintiff, he noticed a store manager “pushing a push broom in the aisles.”

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