Even if you are legitimately injured after a slip and fall accident, there are questions as to whether or not filing a lawsuit is worth the time and expense. Before filing a lawsuit over a slip and fall injury, it is definitely worth considering whether the time and effort will be well spent. The litigation process is often stressful, expensive, and time-consuming. So it is okay if you are pondering whether or not filing a lawsuit is the right move. Let's go over the pros and cons of filing a slip and fall lawsuit.
Money
It may seem obvious, but money is a big pro when it comes to filing a lawsuit. There is always the possibility that, if you win, you will receive a significant judgement in your favor in the form of money for the personal injury damages. Having more money is always going to be a pro when deciding on whether or not you want to file a lawsuit. Following a slip and fall accident, you may be in real need of money, too. The accident may have seriously hurt you to the point where you are out of work and have incurred substantial medical expenses. And you might even need future medical treatment as well. Collecting well-earned money to take care of these issues has value. On top of that, you might receive a certain amount to compensate you for your "pain and suffering," which adds to the more easily defined financial hardships previously mentioned. More money is a good reason to seek a lawsuit.
Help Others Avoid Similar Injury
When you file a lawsuit for a slip and fall accident, you may be preventing others from experiencing a similar injury. Property owners, as you might expect, do not want to be repeatedly sued for the same hazardous conditions on their property. So, by filing a lawsuit, the property owner will almost certainly do something in order to eliminate the hazardous conditions that impacted you in the first place. Thus, greatly reducing the chance that other people will come along and suffer the same type of injury. In a way, it can be viewed as a public good to file a lawsuit against a negligent property owner.
Expensive
On the other side of the financial aspects, litigation is expensive. It will cost you money to file your complaint with the civil court. It also costs money to hire an expert witness, if necessary. And it costs money to pay a court reporter to attend and transcribe all of the deposition that happens. Copying and mailing documents and letters also costs money. So there are various aspects to consider financially if you want to go through with the lawsuit. You will want to make sure you wind up making more money by winning than losing more money in a last case.
Time Consuming
Lawsuits are not something that resolve themselves quickly. It is often months before a settlement is reached. So the amount of time and investment for this lawsuit should be considered. Are you willing to potentially spend the next year or so fighting a slip and fall case?
Proving Liability is Often Difficult
One of the aspects you have to prove in a slip and fall lawsuit is that the property owner had notice of the hazardous condition that led to the injury. This is often a process that is difficult to prove. Property owners are allowed a reasonable amount of time to discover and fix any hazardous conditions. With the lawsuit, you will have to prove the length of time the owner was aware of the condition and that it was an unreasonable amount of time.
Deposition
A deposition is a question-and-answer session with the property owner's lawyer. Your answers are given under oath and a court reporter will record every word that is spoken. The deposition process can be grueling and you can bet that the property owner's lawyer will have extensively researched your background. So if there is anything in your medical records or background that you would rather not discuss publicly, then you unfortunately might not want to file the lawsuit and open up a can of worms.
A variety of injuries stem from a slip and fall accident. Some more minor injuries may not be worth the time to file a lawsuit. However, if you have suffered any sort of significant injury, such as a broken bone or a debilitating back injury, or have incurred significant debt from the injury, then you might be leaning towards a lawsuit. It might be worth taking your case to court. If you do decide to go to court, then get in touch with Falk & Klebanoff today.
When you reach out, we can provide you with a no-obligation consultation to go over your slip and fall accident care.
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