Libertyville Slip and Fall Attorney
Were You Injured in a Slip and Fall Accident?
Libertyville slip and fall attorney Bogdan Martinovich can help you recover fair compensation to pay for your medical bills, lost wages, pain, suffering and disability.
Slip and fall accidents are a leading cause of injuries across all age groups. Injuries from a slip and fall can range from mild, such as bruising or lacerations, to catastrophic and disabling. More severe slip and fall injuries yield significant financial consequences for victims. In the wake of an accident, victims struggling to physically recover are burdened with mountains of medical bills and lost or reduced earnings.
In the present economy, few households can absorb the cost of a sudden accident. If a property owner’s negligence caused your injury accident, you have a right to seek compensation to avoid undue financial hardship. Lake County slip and fall attorney Bogie Martinovich helps victims injured at the hands of a negligent property owner file premises liability lawsuits to get their lives back on track.
Contact slip and fall lawyer Bogie Martinovich at (847) 996-1350 to get started with your recovery. Free consultation.
Common Causes of Slip and Fall Accidents
The most common cause of slip and fall accidents is unsafe floors. Typically, floors become unsafe due to poor maintenance or property owner negligence. Conditions that make flooring unsafe for visitors to a property include unmaintained sidewalks during inclement weather conditions, unattended spills, damaged or uneven stairs, faulty railing, uneven floors, or unattended clutter or messes. If your slip and fall incident was caused by any of these conditions, a property or business owner may be liable for paying your damages including cost of medical treatment and lost wages.
Slippery or Wet Conditions
Flooring can become slippery or wet due to a number of conditions, including weather conditions, unattended spills, or even a recent cleaning. Property owners owe a duty to visitors to maintain the premises in a way that prevents harm. By allowing sidewalks to remain slippery with ice, or floors to remain wet without proper warning signs, they are breaching this duty of care.
Inadequate Lighting in Corridors or Stairwells
Inadequate lighting creates low visibility. This is especially hazardous in stairwells or corridors with uneven flooring. When a property owner fails to ensure that stairways and walkways are visible, they are allowing a hazardous condition that can cause harm to visitors, patrons, or renters.
Broken or Uneven Steps in Stairways
Unevenly spaced steps, steps that are inconsistently sized, and broken stairs can reasonably be expected to lead to a trip and fall accident. Additionally, damaged or unmaintained railings can create a hazard. Landlords, business owners, and other persons responsible for maintaining a safe property owe a duty of care to potential victims. Allowing hazards in stairways breaches that duty and often results in slip and fall incidents.
Failure to Properly Warn About Slippery or Wet Areas
Even properly maintained floors can create a risk for slip and falls. A recently mopped or waxed floor can become excessively slippery, especially when the floor is made of slick tile, as is common in many businesses. If a business owner fails to ensure that signage is present or erection of proper barriers when floors are hazardous, he or she can be found liable for resulting falls and serious injuries.
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Damages You Can Recover From a Slip and Fall Accident
The damages available for your slip and fall claim are directly tied to the severity of the injuries you suffered. Slip and fall injuries can result in settlements or verdicts of a few thousand dollars to seven figures.
There are factors present in each case that make a claim’s value more likely. Factors that will influence the value of your slip and fall claim include:
- The extent of your medical treatment
- How the fall injuries impact your life now
- How your injuries may impact your life in the future, such as in slip and fall cases involving disabling or catastrophic injuries
- The amount of lost wages due to your inability to work during recovery
- Lost future earning potential caused by your injuries
- The presence of emotional injuries, such as PTSD, anxiety, depression, and pain and suffering
In addition to understanding what factors influence the value of your claim, identifying the damages available in your slip and fall case can help you plan for a reasonable settlement award.
Economic Damages in a Personal Injury Claim
Economic damages are a type of compensatory damages that seek to make an accident victim financially whole. An economic damage award takes into account the direct financial consequences a victim suffers as a result of his or her slip and fall injuries. These damages are typically proven with medical bills, wage statements, or receipts.
Economic damages that are commonly available in a slip and fall claim include:
- Initial medical bills
- Bills for follow-up care
- Prescription medication and medical equipment costs
- Lost wages and future lost wages
- Long term care or rehabilitative treatment costs
The courts may also consider other financial damages you sustained during the accident, such as lost future earning potential. Additionally, in fatal slip and fall cases, surviving dependents can recover their economic losses such as funeral and burial costs. They are also entitled to compensation for their non-economic damages, including loss of society, companionship, and grief.
Non-Economic Damages
Injured victims can also recover damages for the intangible, non-economic damages for the following:
- PTSD, depression, anxiety, and other resulting mental illness
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of consortium
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Disability, or disfigurement
Slip and fall accident lawyer Bogie Martinovich can review your case during your free consultation to calculate the damages that may be available to you in a personal injury claim.
Contact slip and fall lawyer Bogie Martinovich at (847) 996-1350 to find out how much your personal injury claim is worth. Free consultation.
Clients Testimonials
Bogie is an outstanding attorney in every way—knowledgeable, diligent, and effective. I would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone.
Bogie has handled our corporate legal litigation for more than 20 years, prevailing against some of the largest national law firms. He is very intelligent, knowledgeable, experienced, and helpful. We value his counsel very much and are pleased to have had him advising us for many years. For us, he is 10 stars!
Should You Hire an Attorney After a Slip and Fall Accident?
While accident victims can file an insurance claim without legal representation in Lake County, a Libertyville slip and fall accident attorney greatly increases your chances of receiving a favorable settlement. The business or entity you’re going up against will likely retain an aggressive legal defense team to refute your claims and minimize the financial impact of paying you a settlement. An experienced slip and fall lawyer will help you avoid getting taken advantage of during a legal battle.
Additionally, premises liability cases often work with accident investigators and other experts, and navigate a web of liable parties, insurance companies, and the legal system. Even a simple mistake, such as missing a deadline or neglecting to show proper documentation, can cost you in the long run. Slip and fall accident lawyer Bogie Martinovich can help you avoid making costly mistakes when filing your claim or lawsuit.
Do You Have a Slip and Fall Accident Claim?
Not every slip and fall accident yields an injury claim. There are four legal elements that must be present for your case to qualify for compensation. The property owner must have owed you a duty of care, and he or she must have breached this duty. You must have sustained injuries as a result of the breach of the duty of care, and these slip and fall injuries must have resulted in damages.
Comparative Negligence May Impact Your Ability to Recover Damages
In addition to the above legal elements, your claim may be affected by Illinois’s modified comparative fault system for personal injury accidents. If you were 51% or more at-fault for your slip and fall accident, you cannot recover compensation. If you were 50% or less at-fault, you may recover compensation, but your settlement will be reduced by your percentage of fault.
Frequently Asked Questions About Slip and Fall Accidents
How long do I have to file a slip and fall injury claim?
If a slip and fall caused you harm, you need to take legal action right away. In Illinois, you generally have just two years from the date of the accident to file a lawsuit for injuries sustained on someone else’s property. Time limits may be longer or much shorter for your case depending on a number of circumstances, including the status of the victim, such as a minor or being disabled. Additionally, claims against governmental bodies such as state and federal agencies, villages, school districts, park districts and library districts have much shorter statute of limitations. If you fail to take legal action before the deadline, you could be barred from recovering compensation.
Should I go to the doctor after a slip and fall?
You should seek medical attention after your slip and fall accident, even if you don’t think your injuries are serious. Though some injuries may be readily apparent after your accident, you may be facing latent or hidden serious injuries. Seeking medical attention helps ensure all of your injuries are documented, accounted for, and treated. Obtaining medical documentation of all of your injuries from the start helps document your slip and fall accident claim as well. Your medical bills will be used to demonstrate damages.
How do you prove negligence in a slip and fall accident case?
Proving negligence in a slip and fall case requires sufficient evidence. Additionally, to prove that the property owner is liable for your injuries, you must prove that he or she knew about, or reasonably should have known about, the hazardous condition that caused your injury. Evidence in a slip and fall claim often includes photos of the accident scene, documentation of injuries, witness testimony, surveillance footage, and documentation of the hazard that caused the injury.
Learn More About Slip and Fall Accident Claims
The following resources may help you build your understanding of slip and fall accident claims. Understanding the basics of a slip and fall accident claim can help you prepare for your upcoming legal battle.