Top-Rated Miami Gardens Slip and Fall Lawyer
A slip and fall accident can happen in an instant, but the injuries can last a lifetime. What seems like a simple mishap can result in broken bones, spinal cord damage, and traumatic brain injuries. These accidents are rarely the victim’s fault; they are often caused by a property owner’s negligence. When a business in Miami Gardens fails to keep its property safe for visitors, they must be held accountable for the harm they cause.
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At Ace Your Case, we are a team of confident and protective trial lawyers who stand up for the rights of the injured. If you were hurt on someone else’s property, our Miami Gardens slip and fall lawyer team is here to fight for the justice and compensation you deserve.
Hurt on Someone's Property? Get a Free Miami Gardens Case Review
Proving Negligence in a Florida Premises Liability Case
Slip and fall cases are governed by a legal principle known as “premises liability.” Under Florida law, property owners have a legal duty to maintain their property in a reasonably safe condition for their customers and guests. To win a premises liability lawyer case, we must prove four key elements:
- Duty: The property owner owed you a duty of care to keep the premises safe.
- Breach: The owner breached this duty by creating or failing to fix a dangerous condition they knew or should have known about.
- Causation: This dangerous condition was the direct cause of your fall and your injuries.
- Damages: You suffered actual damages as a result, such as medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
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A crucial part of these cases is proving the property owner had “actual or constructive knowledge” of the hazard. This means showing they knew about the danger or that the danger existed for so long that a reasonably prudent owner should have discovered it.
Common Locations for Slip and Fall Accidents in Miami Gardens
Our attorneys have experience handling cases that occur at all types of properties throughout the Miami Gardens area. We are not afraid to take on large corporations and venues. Common locations include:
- Grocery Stores (Publix, Winn-Dixie): Spilled liquids, dropped produce, freshly mopped floors without warning signs, and cluttered aisles are common hazards.
- Retail Centers and Malls: Poorly maintained flooring, inadequate lighting, and hazards in parking lots can lead to serious falls.
- Hard Rock Stadium and Entertainment Venues: Spilled drinks on concrete steps, poor lighting in walkways, and failure to manage crowd-related hazards can lead to a Hard Rock Stadium injury lawyer claim.
- Apartment Complexes: Landlord negligence can include broken stairs, defective handrails, poorly lit common areas, and swimming pool accidents.
- Restaurants and Bars: Greasy floors, food spills, and inadequate security can all create dangerous conditions for patrons.
Critical Steps to Take After a Slip and Fall
The actions you take immediately after a fall are vital to protecting your health and your legal rights.
- Report the Incident: Notify a manager or property owner immediately. Insist on creating a formal, written incident report and try to get a copy.
- Document the Scene: Use your phone to take pictures and videos of the exact hazard that caused you to fall before it is cleaned up or repaired.
- Get Witness Information: If anyone saw your fall, get their name and phone number. Their testimony can be crucial.
- Seek Immediate Medical Attention: Go to an emergency room or urgent care right away to get your injuries diagnosed and documented. This creates a link between your injuries and the fall.
- Preserve Your Shoes: Keep the shoes you were wearing in a safe place. They can be important evidence.
- Decline to Give a Statement: Do not give a recorded statement to the property’s insurance company without speaking to an attorney first.
Holding Negligent Property Owners Accountable
Property owners and their insurance carriers will often try to blame the victim for their own fall, claiming they were clumsy or “should have been watching where they were going.” We know how to fight back against these tactics. A slip and fall attorney in Miami Gardens from our firm will launch a thorough investigation, secure surveillance footage, interview witnesses, and, if necessary, hire experts to prove that the property owner’s negligence was the cause of your injuries. We are not afraid to take on large corporations and we will not back down.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to file a slip and fall lawsuit in Florida?
In most cases, the statute of limitations for a premises liability lawsuit in Florida is two years from the date of the incident. It is critical to contact an attorney well before this deadline.
What if there was a "wet floor" sign?
The presence of a sign does not automatically clear the property owner of liability. The warning must be adequate and placed in a way that reasonably alerts people to the specific danger.
What is my slip and fall case worth?
The value of your claim depends on the severity of your injuries, the amount of your medical bills and lost wages, and the strength of the evidence proving the property owner’s negligence. We can provide a clearer assessment during a free consultation.
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Plantation Personal Injury FAQs
When Is It the Right Time to Call a Personal Injury Lawyer?
The right time to call is as soon as possible after your accident. There are many reasons why you need to begin the legal process as quickly as you can. The legal process may even begin without you, with many calls from the insurance company trying to either rush you or to pressure you to give a statement. They may try to catch you unaware and trick you into compromising your legal rights. Hiring an attorney could prevent this from happening.
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Equally important, as time passes from the time of your accident, the evidence that could help your claim can become harder to find. People might quickly clear the scene of the accident, and you may lose the ability to contact witnesses. The witnesses that you have may begin to lose their recollection of what they saw. When you hire a personal injury lawyer, they will get to work immediately to gather the evidence before it is lost.
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Calling a lawyer to get started on your case is a crucial step in the legal process. Knowing that you have someone on the job with the experience and tenacity to fight for you can give you at least some peace of mind during an undoubtedly difficult time.
How Do Insurance Settlement Negotiations Work?
An insurance claim is just like any other negotiation. You have a number in mind for what you think that you should receive for your injuries, and the insurance company has a much lower number in mind for what it wants to pay. Your insurance claim begins when your Plantation personal injury attorney files a demand letter with the insurance company. This is when the adjuster goes to work to try to save money for their bosses.
The insurance adjuster may outright deny your claim or question liability. They may come back with a settlement offer. When the number seems low, and it will, know that this is just their opening offer. Your Plantation injury attorney will likely reject the offer and respond with your own demand.
Eventually, you will lower your number, and the insurance company will raise theirs, and you could meet somewhere in the middle. This is a time-honored dance that personal injury lawyers have been doing with insurance companies since the advent of courtrooms. Even when you seem very far apart from the insurance company, most cases eventually will settle.
What Happens After I File a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
Filing a personal injury lawsuit is an early part of the claim process. Most cases will never go far enough to see the inside of a courtroom. Statistically speaking, a vast majority of personal injury cases are settled out of court. However, if your case does make it to court, you should expect going into it that the trial process may take one to two years to complete. The legal system is far from rushed, as courts and judges have busy schedules and full dockets.
In the short term, you can expect motions and attempts to obtain evidence. Many people associate a lawsuit with a trial, but that only happens after many months of the nuts and bolts of the legal system. The phase of your case that will take the longest time is discovery. This is when the two sides obtain evidence that the other has in their possession. At this point, you may even need to sit for a deposition.
Filing a lawsuit will not cut off settlement negotiations. As was previously mentioned, most cases will settle without a trial. If anything, litigation may give each side more incentive to settle. The two parties usually continue negotiating right up until the point when the jury is seated.
What Evidence Can Prove My Injury Claim?
Negligence is the basis of every personal injury claim. When you file a lawsuit in court, you have the burden of proof. It will be up to you to show that what you say is more likely than not to have happened. You need to back your claim up with evidence.
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Your Plantation personal injury lawyer will work to gather things that can backup your side of the story, including:
— Witness statements from people who say your injury or accident
— Pictures of the scene of your accident
— Security camera footage
— Expert witness testimony that could reconstruct the accident
— Maintenance logs of the area or vehicle involved
— Medical records that can help prove damages
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These are things that can be difficult to get on your own and piece together to tell the story of what happened. Injury lawyers in Plantation, Florida, know how to both get the evidence and use it to prove that someone else was responsible for your accident.
What if I Cannot Work Due to My Injuries?
Your personal injury damages include both economic and non-economic compensation. Economic compensation aims to pay you back for the actual money that you lost. This includes bills that you paid and earnings you lost. This specifically pays you back for lost wages from your job when you are unable to work. Since you would have worked, this is money out of your pocket.
Lost wages in a personal injury settlement are much broader than you think. Of course, this includes the time that you have already missed from work. It also encompasses time that you will miss from work in the future. You do not need to outright miss work to receive compensation for this. For example, if you were qualified for a promotion but cannot get it now because your injury limits you in the type of work that you can do, you can get compensation for the reduction in your earning capacity.
Lost wages are often a very contested part of your personal injury claim because you can bet that the insurance company will see things differently to try to lower its bill. They may dispute what your possible earnings are or use a lower rate of inflation to calculate what they may be in the future.
Hear It From Our Clients
“Ace Your Case Excellent Attorneys”
Personal injury attorneys Craig Posner and Eric Feingold are both excellent attorneys, but more importantly, they are excellent people. I have seen first hand their hard work and dedication to clients. I would not hesitate to recommend their services to others.
“Great Guys Who Take Their Job Seriously”
Great guys who take their job seriously. They took care of me when I had my accident and made sure I was walked through 100% of the way.
“Pleasure And Blessing To Have Ace Your Case Represent My Family”
It has been a pleasure and blessing to have Ace Your Case represent my family. They always kept me updated on our case. The staff was excellent they always got back to me on questions I had. I highly recommend them and will continue to use them if needed.
“Not Only Very Efficient But Caring As Well”
These lawyers are not only very efficient, but caring as well. I would not hesitate to refer them to anyone.
“I Highly Recommend Them!”
Big thanks to Eric and Doug for doing a great job with the handling of my auto accident. I highly recommend them!
