Miami Injury Lawyer

You fell and you're hurt. What do you need to do and how quickly should you act? A bad fall can shatter your hip, fracture your kneecap, tear ligaments, or worse. The fall can cause you to miss work and cost you thousands in medical expenses. The last thing going through your mind after a fall is bringing a claim. In truth, the clock is ticking the minute you fall. What you do in the minutes, hours, and days after a fall may impact your ability to recover your losses.

Here is the list of things you should do after a fall:

1. Get Medical Attention. If the injury is bad, do not move until Fire Rescue arrives. This could cause additional injury.

2. Report the Fall. Tell someone about your fall. Report it to the store manager, the property owner or anyone in charge or who may be responsible for the area where you fell. If the fall was caused by something like a spill or loose tile, let them know this is what caused you to fall.

3. Collect Evidence. If you can, try to get the names of witnesses and the name of any person you report the fall to. If you have a camera phone, take a picture of the what caused the fall, like the spill or loose tile. If you are with family or friends, ask them to do this while you are treated by Fire Rescue. If you cannot take photos at the scene, you should contact an attorney soon after the fall so some of this evidence can be preserved.

4. Call your Lawyer. As soon as possible, call your lawyer, preferably Judson Cohen and Allan Cohen of Cohen Law Offices. If we accept your case, we will quickly preserve evidence. We may have someone visit the site to photograph what caused the fall. We may write and request security videos. We may notify the owner or person in charge of the area so they will not make changes to the area without taking photographs. We will move quickly to determine available insurance that may pay some, if not all, of your medical expenses.

How do you know if you have a valid fall claim? There are three key factors that help determine if you have a fall claim in Florida:

1. Duty - What should they have done to avoid your fall?

2. Fault - What did they do wrong that caused your fall? and,

3. Injury - How bad an injury do you need before you have a valid fall claim?

Duty. Duty is a legal term that describes the amount of care a landowner owes you to keep their property safe. The amount of care owed is determined by your reason for being on the property, or the vessel. For most situations, the duty owed is the duty of reasonable care. This means that the person responsible for the property or vessel needs to take reasonable steps to keep their property or vessel free of fall hazards, like a loose tile or spilled liquids.
At times, the duty requires more care. For example operators of mass transit owe a higher duty of care. Bus services, train services and cruise ship operators may have a higher duty of care under Florida law to keep their terminals and vessels free of fall hazards.

Sometimes the duty of care is very low. As an example, there is very little duty owed to a trespasser. You cannot break into a business, fall on some water then sue. In general, under Florida law the only duty owed to a trespasser is to avoid a trap intended to hurt or kill them.

Generally, if you have a legitimate reason to be at a place, you are owed a duty of reasonable care by the person in control of the property. The person in control of the property may the landowner, but it can also be a management company, a renter or someone leasing the property. At times, someone may have limited control over the property, such as a catering company during a party, and they may owe a duty of care. Your lawyer will help determine who was in charge of the property and the duty of care they owe you.

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