A slip and fall accident may sound minor, but it can cause severe personal and financial difficulty when it happens to you. All over Gainesville, from 13th Street shopping centers to homes in Duval Heights, risks abound for you to fall and get hurt on someone else’s property. The injuries you suffer can leave you out of work, in pain, and buried under a mountain of medical bills that you did not plan for, and should never have had to pay.
Did you suffer injuries in a Gainesville slip and fall accident? Steven A. Bagen & Associates offers a free consultation to help you understand your rights to seek compensation for the harm you’ve suffered. To connect, contact our Gainesville personal injury lawyers today.
Steven A. Bagen & Associates: Gainesville Slip and Fall Accident Lawyers
For over 30 years, Steven A. Bagen & Associates, P.A. has fought for the rights of Floridians who have suffered painful injuries and financial losses in slip and fall accidents. Our mission is to get top-dollar results for our clients so that they can pay for the medical care they need, replace their lost income, and return to living their lives.
We know your rights.
At Steven A. Bagen & Associates, we know your rights. Florida law entitles many Gainesville slip and fall accident victims to significant financial compensation. From day one, we work with our clients to explore who may owe them compensation and how much compensation they may have the right to receive.
We know Gainesville courts.
The Steven A. Bagen & Associates team has years of experience representing injured clients in Alachua County courts. We’re local lawyers with local knowledge. We know the local court administrators, we understand the local rules of practice, and we’re respected by local judges and our fellow attorneys. We put our local insight and know-how to work every day for our clients.
We put our clients first.
Every client of Steven A. Bagen & Associates, P.A. gets personalized attention from our attorneys and staff. We never treat a Gainesville slip and fall case as a cookie-cutter matter. We work closely with our clients to understand the impact of a slip and fall on their lives, and to develop a legal strategy tailored to serve their individual needs and priorities.
Who Is At-Fault for Your Gainesville Slip and Fall Accident?
We often blame ourselves for falling and getting hurt. But the truth is, most slip and fall accidents in Gainesville happen not because of our clumsiness, but because someone else failed to take reasonable steps to keep us safe.
Generally speaking, the owner, legal occupant, and/or operator of a property where a slip and fall accident occurred will owe money damages to anyone injured by an unreasonably dangerous condition on that property. Gainesville property owners/occupants/operators owe visitors to their properties a duty of care under Florida law to fix, warn about, or keep visitors away from dangerous hazards.
So, if you fell and got hurt on any commercial, residential, or public property you do not own in Gainesville, chances are someone owes you financial compensation for the harm you suffered.
Other parties may also owe you damages. For example, if you fell because a defective handrail broke free when you grabbed it, the manufacturer of the handrail, or the contractor who installed it, may owe you damages.
At Steven A. Bagen & Associates, P.A., our team investigates the root causes of slip and fall accidents in Gainesville that left our clients injured. We leave no stone unturned in identifying all parties whose careless, reckless, or intentional actions may have led to our client falling and suffering an injury. No matter who that investigation identifies as the at-fault party (or parties), we have the experience and resources to hold them accountable.
Common Slip and Fall Accidents in Gainesville
People fall and get hurt at properties throughout Gainesville every day. Here are some common scenarios that result in slip and fall injuries to our clients.
Spilled liquids and floors wet from the rain.
Operators of Gainesville restaurants and shops owe their patrons a duty to clean up spills right away, to prevent people from slipping and falling. They also must stay alert to wet floors on rainy days. A business that knows about and fails to take reasonable steps to dry and clean wet floors may owe liability to anyone who slips, falls, and gets hurt as a result.
Aging buildings and insufficient maintenance.
Gainesville has a rich history, and while it has experienced recent growth, it still features many older public, commercial, and residential structures. Owners, occupants, and operators of those aging buildings have obligations to the public to maintain them in a safe condition. That may require renovating narrow, steep stairways, installing new handrails in restrooms or on balconies, and warning patrons about uneven or sloping floors. Failure to take those reasonable steps can lead to a dangerous slip and fall accident, and liability for the party responsible for the property’s upkeep.
Construction-related hazards.
Anyone who builds or renovates a structure in Gainesville must also take care to do so in a responsible manner that keeps the area safe for visitors. Contractors and building owners can face legal liability if someone falls and gets injured because of debris on floors, power cords stretched across walkways, or open holes in floors or landscaping.
Elevator and escalator hazards.
Some of Gainesville’s larger buildings and shopping centers feature elevators and escalators, which many visitors favor over climbing stairs. Still, people-movers are only safe if they’re properly maintained and regularly serviced. Dangerous and deadly falls can happen when elevators and escalators malfunction.
Slip and Fall Accident Injuries in Gainesville and the Challenges They May Pose
Slip and fall accidents can cause severe injuries. Any time you suffer a serious injury in a slip and fall accident due to someone else’s negligence, you may have the right to compensation.
At Steven A. Bagen & Associates, P.A., we have years of experience helping our clients obtain financial compensation for just about every type of injury you can imagine, including the following.
Broken Hips
Elderly Gainesville residents, in particular, face a high risk of breaking a hip in a slip and fall accident. Not only does a broken hip cause extreme pain, it frequently leads to severe health complications by limiting the victim’s mobility. Elderly individuals with broken hips may never regain full mobility after the accident, and for some, the injury may prove fatal.
Spine, Back, and Neck Injuries
Falls constitute a leading cause of spine, back, and neck injuries. Spinal injuries can result in paralysis and total loss of mobility. Back and neck injuries can inflict chronic pain and weakness, among other difficulties. At Steven A. Bagen & Associates, P.A., we understand the limitations that victims of spine, back, and neck injuries face, and seek compensation on their behalf to replace their lost income and help them return to living independent lives.
Traumatic Brain Injuries
A blow to the head in a slip and fall accident can easily result in a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Even a so-called “minor” TBI, or concussion, can cause significant cognitive, physical, and emotional impairments for the fall victim. Healing from a traumatic brain injury often takes time and patience. We work to make sure our clients who have suffered TBIs have the financial support they need for the duration of their recovery process.
Broken Bones
Many slip and fall accident victims suffer broken bones, especially in their hands, wrists, and arms as a consequence of trying to catch themselves when they fall. Broken legs are also common in slip and fall cases. Though fractures will heal with time and proper care, they still cause severe disruption and expense in a fall victim’s life. We fight for full compensation for any injury our clients suffer, even those that may eventually heal.
What Compensation Can You Get for Gainesville Slip and Fall Accident Injuries?
Generally speaking, as a slip and fall victim in Gainesville, you have the right to receive compensation for all current and future damages you have suffered because of your fall. At Steven A. Bagen & Associates, P.A., we carefully examine the types of harm our clients have suffered, to ensure that when we take action on their behalf, we seek the maximum amount of money to which Florida law entitles them.
Damages for Gainesville slip and fall injuries typically fall into three general categories.
Economic damages
First, and often foremost, you have the right to receive full compensation for direct financial losses and expenses you incur because of your slip and fall injury.
For most Gainesville slip and fall victims, the two most significant categories of economic damages are medical expenses and lost wages and income. Other economic damages you have the right to receive may include out-of-pocket expenses for services you need to hire to help you manage your day-to-day life after an injury or the costs of modifying your living space to accommodate a new disability.
To help make sure you obtain full compensation for economic damages, hold on to all receipts, bills, insurance statements, pay stubs, correspondence from your employer, and other evidence you have of the direct financial impact of your injury.
Non-economic damages
In addition to compensation for the financial losses you sustained, you also deserve compensation for the pain, suffering, and overall life difficulty you have been forced to endure because of your accident. The non-economic damages to which Florida law entitles you include payment for your physical trauma, your emotional upset, harm to your personal and intimate relationships, inconvenience, and a loss of independence and ability to enjoy life.
Punitive damages
In some slip and fall cases, the at-fault party engaged in such extreme or outrageous conduct that they should pay extra damages as punishment. In those cases, Florida courts have the authority to award you punitive damages of three times the total of your combined economic and non-economic damages, or $500,000, whichever is greater.
Don’t Try to Go It Alone
Some slip and fall accident victims mistakenly believe that they can handle their claims for compensation on their own. In fact, the insurance company representing the property owner or some other at-fault party may even try to convince a slip and fall victim that hiring a lawyer is unnecessary because the insurance company is willing to pay a settlement immediately.
But going without a lawyer in a Gainesville slip and fall case is almost always a mistake. Unsolicited settlement offers from someone else’s insurance company virtually always fall far short of the amount of money you have a legal right to receive. Insurers make these offers hoping you will take the money before consulting with an attorney and learning how much more money you can and should demand.
At Steven A. Bagen & Associates, P.A., our experienced team of personal injury attorneys has spent more than three decades working in the Alachua County court system, and negotiating with liability insurance companies, to get our clients the most money possible for their slip and fall injuries.
Thanks to our hard work, years of experience, and strong reputations, we regularly convince liability insurance companies to pay our clients far more than the insurance company initially offered. And when insurance companies refuse to act reasonably, we’re always ready to take our clients’ cases to court to get them the money they need to pay their bills and return to their lives.
A Team of Seasoned Gainesville Slip and Fall Lawyers
Slip and fall injuries can upend your life, health, and finances. You should not have to face those challenges without fair compensation from the party who harmed you. Contact Steven A. Bagen & Associates today online or call (800) 800-2575 for a free consultation with a member of our team about your rights after getting hurt in a slip and fall accident in Gainesville.