Gulfport Slip and Fall Lawyer
Understanding your rights after a slip and fall accident is vitally important. Consulting with our skilled Gulfport slip and fall lawyer can be pivotal in navigating the legal framework to recover financial compensation for the expenses related to your injury on someone else’s property. Compensation may cover various expenses, including medical costs, lost earnings due to absence from work, and pain and suffering.
What Can a Gulfport Personal Injury Lawyer Do for My Personal Injury Case?
- Gather evidence: Conducting a thorough investigation will result in a well-supported case. This may include looking at police reports, medical records, photographs, and other relevant information.
- Negotiate with the insurance company: We can also negotiate with the insurance company on your behalf. Many property owners have insurance that covers slip and fall accidents. If you’ve been injured, the insurance company may contact you with an offer to settle your case. We will review the details of your case and help you determine whether the settlement offer is fair.
- Represent you in court: Though most slip and fall cases are settled out of court, we are prepared to present your case before the court if a negotiated settlement cannot be reached.
- Keep your case on track: Throughout the process, we will keep your case on schedule and ensure all deadlines are met. We know that dealing with legal issues can be stressful, and we want to make the process as smooth as possible for you.
At Giddens Law Firm, we recognize the range of emotions individuals may experience following a slip and fall accident due to someone else’s negligence.
When Is a Property Owner Responsible for a Slip and Fall Accident?
Property owners in Mississippi are responsible for keeping their private or public property safe for visitors. This is according to Mississippi premises liability law.
Invitees and Licensees
If someone gets hurt on their property, the owner can be held responsible for the victim’s injuries and other losses. Property owners are required to regularly check for problems, fix anything broken, and warn people about potential dangers. There are two types of visitors: “invitees” and “licensees.” Invitees come for business reasons, like customers, vendors, or contractors. Licensees are people you invite, like friends or guests, for their benefit.
Trespassers
If someone trespasses, property owners are not legally responsible for their safety. However, intentionally dangerous situations to harm them cannot be created. Owners can be held accountable for slip and fall accidents or injuries if someone gets hurt because of their actions.
If the property has things that might attract children, also called “attractive nuisances,” like trampolines, jungle gyms, swimming pools, old vehicles, or appliances, owners must take extra care to ensure they are not dangerous. Kids might be attracted to them and get hurt while playing. So, the property owner is responsible for ensuring their property is safe for children, even if they are trespassing.
What Compensation is Available for a Slip and Fall Personal Injury Claim in Gulfport, MS?
When a person suffers from a personal injury, they may be entitled to pursue compensation in damages. Economic and non-economic damages are the two types of compensation available. Both aim to help the injured victims recover from the injury and provide fair compensation for the physical, emotional, and financial damages caused by the incident.
Economic damages include any financial losses related to the accident. Financial losses include medical bills, lost wages, loss of earning capacity, property damage, and funeral expenses.
Non-economic damages compensate the victim and their family for intangible impacts on their lives from the injury. The impacts could be loss of enjoyment of daily activities, loss of companionship, mental anguish, emotional distress, disfigurement, physical pain and suffering, and inconvenience.
Punitive damages may be awarded to the victim if the defendant’s actions were willful, malicious, fraudulent, or reckless. Punitive damages are meant to punish the defendant for their wrongful actions and deter them and others from doing something similar again.
Can I Still Get Compensation If I Was Partially at Fault for My Slip and Fall Injuries?
If you were injured in a slip and fall accident, you may be able to seek compensation even if you were partly at fault. In Mississippi, “pure comparative negligence” allows you to receive damages even if you were considered up to 99% responsible.
You can receive compensation based on how much fault each person has. This system ensures that even if you contributed to your slip and fall accident, you could still receive compensation proportional to the fault assigned to the property owner. It’s designed to distribute damages that reflect the shared responsibility for the incident, making it fairer for plaintiffs who may have contributed to their accident but were not solely responsible for their injuries.
How Long Do I Have in Mississippi to File a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
Mississippi has a statute of limitation of three years on personal injuries. If you suffer an injury while on someone else’s property, you have up to three years from the incident date to file a claim against the property owner.
It’s important to note that if you fail to file your claim within this period, your premises liability case will be dismissed. This is by Mississippi Code 15-1-49. That’s why acting quickly and seeking legal assistance is essential if you believe you have a case.
What is Needed to Prove My Slip and Fall Accident?
Premises liability law requires property managers, business operators, landlords, and homeowners to ensure their properties are safe for visitors. If the property owner failed to keep it safe, they may be held responsible for any slip and fall injuries you suffer.
At Giddens Law Firm, our Gulfport personal injury attorneys will investigate what happened to find out who is responsible for your injuries. We’ll look at different factors, such as:
- whether the property owner could have prevented the accident
- whether the property was in good condition before the incident
- if the property owner knew about the dangerous condition that caused your fall
- whether the property owner warned visitors about the risk
- if the property owner caused the unsafe condition that led to your accident, such as spilling something on the floor.
Our Gulfport premises liability lawyers will use this information to help you get the maximum compensation you deserve.
Can I Sue the Government for a Slip and Fall?
If you get injured because of a slip and fall accident on a property the government owns, you may have grounds to file a slip and fall claim for financial compensation. To prove that the government is responsible for your injury, you need to show that the government knew or should have known about the dangerous condition that caused your accident.
To prove this, you can use records of repairs, emails or letters between government officials, or reports of similar slip and fall accidents that caused others to suffer injuries. This will strengthen your case if you can also show that the dangerous condition was around for a long time and that the government could have found and fixed it.
Our Gulfport Slip and Fall Lawyers Are Here to Help
Our skilled Gulfport slip and fall lawyers are committed to providing our clients with legal guidance and support. Our main goal is to help our clients succeed, and we work tirelessly to ensure they receive the representation they need to resolve their claims favorably. You can count on our experienced legal team to be there for you every step of the way, offering help, support, and guidance when needed. If a property owner failed to keep you safe on their property, we are ready to help you recover compensation. Contact us today for a no-obligation consultation.
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An unexpected and unfortunate accident can lead to difficult hurdles and challenges that you are unprepared to overcome on your own. You’ll be facing a huge financial debt and may not be able to work for a long time. Chances are the insurance company is not going to give you a settlement that will pay all the expenses. You may feel overwhelmed and stressed. What can you do to get the compensation needed to recover?
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