A slip and fall injury might seem minor, but it can have severe effects on your health, some of you may not even know about. The costs and challenges you may face shouldn’t be ones you deal with alone.
Our Mount Pleasant, SC, slip and fall lawyer at Miller, Dawson, Sigal & Ward can be there for you and guide you through starting a slip and fall case. The Thumbs Up Guys offers free case consultations where we can tell you if you have a valid case.
Common Types of Injuries in Slip and Fall Cases
Any time you slip and fall, there’s a significant risk that you’ll suffer mild to severe injuries. The most common slip and fall injuries are:
- Spinal cord injuries
- Concussions
- Broken bones
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Neck injuries
- Lacerations and bruises
- Internal injuries
If you’ve suffered any injuries, you should seek medical attention immediately. Leaving injuries unattended can cause complications that could be fatal. Afterward, a personal injury lawyer from our firm can examine your medical records and tell you if you qualify for a case.
How Long do You Have to File a Claim?
In South Carolina, you only have so long to file a personal injury claim after your slip and fall. According to S.C. Code § 15-3-530, you have three years from your fall to file a slip and fall claim against the property owner and other parties that contributed to your injuries.
To maximize the compensation amount you could receive, you should file your claim well ahead of the deadline. If you wait too long to submit your claim, you’ll be unable to collect any compensation.
As a result, you’ll have to cover your costs out-of-pocket with your own money.
So don’t wait too long to file your claim; our Mount Pleasant slip and fall lawyers can help you determine exactly how long you have to file your claim. The details of your case could extend your deadline or, in contrast, make it shorter.
Damages You Can Recover After Your Mount Pleasant Fall
After a slip and fall, the bills you have to pay and the losses you’ve suffered can put a severe strain on your financial situation. But with the help of your Mount Pleasant slip and fall attorney, you could recover economic and non-economic losses such as:
- Medical bills
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of income
- Loss of consortium
- Loss of future income
- Mental anguish
- Property damage
You may qualify for additional damages depending on the severity of your injuries. To get an estimate of what damages you may be eligible for and how much your case is worth, you can meet with one of our lawyers for a free case consultation.
How Our Slip and Fall Lawyers Prove Negligence
To be eligible for the damages above, there must be proof that the property owner acted negligently. In premises, liability cases, four elements of negligence must be present:
- Duty of care: The person must have owed you reasonable care and had a duty to prevent you from suffering harm.
- Breach of duty: Next, the person must have ignored or broken the duty of care by performing negligent actions or failing to take preventive measures.
- You suffered injuries: You must have suffered injuries due to the person’s actions, and your lawyer must be able to prove this with evidence.
- Your injuries resulted in damages: The severity of your injuries must have caused you to suffer financial and non-financial losses.
If your slip and fall has all these elements, you likely have a valid slip and fall case. Our slip and fall attorney in Mount Pleasant can examine your case and gather evidence to prove these elements of negligence.
How Visitor Type May Affect Your Mount Pleasant Case
Even though property owners have a duty of care, the type of visitor you are could affect how much reasonable care the property owner has to exercise toward you. South Carolina’s premises liability laws recognize four visitor types:
Business Invitee
An invitee is the most common type of visitor. When a business opens, the property owner welcomes the public into it for mutual benefit. In this situation, the property owner should exercise the highest care to prevent injuries.
This might mean that employees or the owner themself make sure there are no spills on the floor or anything that could harm customers that come into the business.
License
A licensee is a guest that enters the owner’s property with their consent but was not intentionally invited. For example, guests at a homeowner’s party or a door-to-door salesperson are licensees. Unlike invitees, licensees are at the property for their own interests.
In this case, the homeowner still has a duty of care, but they’re only required to remove obvious hazards or warn their guests about them. Property owners typically owe licensees a moderate duty of care.
Trespasser
Trespassers are people that enter a property owner’s premises without their permission and sometimes even knowledge. Property owners have a minimal duty of care when someone enters their property without their consent.
In addition, there is no way for property owners to know if trespassers will enter their property, so they have a very low duty of care. The only precaution owners must take is to avoid intentionally hurting trespassers beyond the grounds of self-defense.
Children
Children are a unique type of visitor in that they may know how to protect themselves from dangers, or they may not. Due to this sliding scale of responsibility, property owners should take reasonable care to prevent injuries.
Usually, children visitors are accompanied by a parent, but not always. However, if their parents are present, property owners should still exercise reasonable care. One of our Mount Pleasant slip and fall attorneys can determine what type of visitor you are and take the next steps in your case.
Why Choose Miller, Dawson, Sigal & Ward for Your Slip and Fall Case?
Our law firm stands out from other personal injury firms in Mount Pleasant and South Carolina. When you choose to work with us, you’re getting a passionate team of lawyers ready to work on your case to get you the results you need. In addition to our passion, we prioritize our clients by doing the following:
We Will Keep You Informed
Most lawyers say that they’ll keep you updated on your case, but it’s just usually an email here or there about your case. Our firm’s approach is different. We update you every time there’s a new development in your case.
Whether we discovered new evidence in your case or have a new status on your personal injury claim, we’re available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week to help you get the information you need about your case.
Direct Access to Our Lawyers
When you visit our site or see our commercials, you see photos and videos of our lawyers in action. And when you call us, that’s who you talk to. We don’t make you speak with a receptionist about your case before you talk to us.
We want to get to know you and help you to the best of our abilities. And we believe the way to do that is to be the first person you talk to about your case so we can learn about you, and your case, and figure out how to best serve you.
Contact Us to Get a Free Case Consultation Today
If you slipped and fell in Mount Pleasant, SC, The Thumbs Up Guys at Miller, Dawson, Sigal & Ward are ready to help you with your personal injury case. We’ll get the facts of your case while you relax, and we fight for your rights to compensation.
Call us or fill out the contact form on our website for a free case evaluation from one of our Mount Pleasant, SC, slip and fall lawyers.