Slipping and falling can be very serious. People who slip and fall typically land squarely on their back or tailbone, often hitting the back of their heads on a hard surface. Concussions or even more serious brain injuries can occur. So can major spinal cord or neck injuries. While it may be funny in a sitcom, slipping and falling in real life is no laughing matter. It is important for everyone to know what to do if they experience a slip-and-fall. Taking the right steps, both immediately at the scene and in the following days, can not only help your case but can also help you prevent further injury. Our attorneys can offer you more specific advice based on your own unique case.

Steps to Take After a Slip-and-Fall

In roughly chronological order, the steps you should take after slipping and falling include:

• Stay down - Do not try to get up until the paramedics arrive. Do not let anyone except the paramedics try to move you. If you have a suspected neck or back injury, you will need to be stabilized with braces before you can be transported to the hospital. Trying to get up on your own can worsen an existing injury. Do call EMS even if you are not sure whether you have been seriously injured.
• Document - Have someone take pictures of everything around the area where you fell. Be thorough. Try to capture anything that has to do with your fall, such as a wet floor sign (or the conspicuous lack thereof), and of course, the substance you slipped on.
• Call an attorney - Do not skip this very important step. It is best to make the call the same day the accident happens if possible. A lawyer can offer you further guidance. Just as you should not get up until EMS arrives, you should not negotiate with the store manager or anyone else until you can speak with an attorney.

What Not to Do After a Slip-and-Fall

You should also know what not to do after a slip-and-fall. One of the main things you need to avoid doing is accepting any responsibility for the accident. Out of conditioned politeness, your instinct might be to say something like, “It is okay, it was my fault. I was not paying attention,” Unfortunately, saying something like this right after an accident could affect your case.

There is a very good reason that drunk driving is against the law - it is incredibly dangerous for everyone on or near the road. Drunk drivers can be incredibly erratic in their behaviors and movements. They may swerve across multiple lanes wildly, drive the wrong way down a one-way city street, or blow through a red light. It is no surprise that accidents caused by unpredictable intoxicated drivers can be very bad indeed. Sober drivers may not even be able to see a drunk driver hurtling toward them until it is far too late to get out of the way. If you have been hit by a drunk driver, you will likely be able to recover compensation either through insurance or from the driver themself. An attorney can help you fight for the highest possible settlement.

What Are Negligence Per Se Laws and How Do They Affect Drunk Driving Crash Claims?

Negligence per se laws are a sort of legal shortcut to prove that the person who caused your injuries was negligent. In most cases, you have to prove that the other driver was behaving carelessly when they caused your accident. One way to do this is through negligence per se.

If you can show that the driver who hurt you was breaking a law that was in place to keep the public safe and caused exactly the type of harm that the law was meant to protect the public from, negligence is established automatically. In a drunk driving case, the driver was breaking laws against drunk driving. This law is in place to keep people safe by preventing drunk drivers from crashing into people and hurting them. Because the defendant drove drunk and crashed into you, causing injuries, your lawyer can show that they were negligent per se.

You may know that if you slip and fall and get hurt, the party responsible for the premises you were in may be liable. However, premises liability is not limited to just slip-and-fall accidents, although this is a very, very common type of premises liability lawsuit. Generally, the party who has control of the premises or is tasked with maintaining it has a duty to keep the premises reasonably safe for those who are supposed to be there. If they fail to do so and a visitor to the premises is injured, the party responsible for the premises can likely be held financially responsible. Premises liability can be based on an almost limitless variety of accidents that occur on-site. However, there are a few very common categories of accidents that give rise to premises liability accidents. An attorney can help you determine whether you may have a case.

Types of Accidents That a Premises Owner or Operator May Be Liable For

While almost any type of accident could be caused by unsafe premises conditions, some of the most common types of cases we see in premises liability litigation include:

• Slip-and-fall - While often played for laughs in the movies, a slip-and-fall can cause very serious injuries. This is perhaps the classic type of premises liability case.
• Staircase injuries - Falling down the stairs can cause anything from broken bones to a traumatic brain injury. Most staircase falls can be prevented with reasonable safety measures like sufficient lighting, a good handrail, and a staircase that is not too steep. Overhanging steps can also cause a serious tripping hazard.
• Assaults - Whether you can hold the premises owner liable for an assault that happens on the property depends on several factors, including whether adequate and appropriate security measures were taken. For example, if a grocery store manager knew that several robberies had taken place in the parking lot and failed to take steps to secure the area, he may be liable.
• Falling products - In retail stores, one of the biggest hazards may be falling shelves or products. Having a heavy shelf or top-shelf products come crashing down on you can cause severe injuries including concussions, lacerations, and neck or spinal cord injuries. Often, this is because shelves were improperly overloaded, or products were precariously stacked. Displays may also fall with little warning.

These are just a few of the more common types of premises liability cases. If you were injured on another’s premises and suspect that it was due to their carelessness, you should contact an attorney for a case evaluation.

Rear-end collisions can be much worse than a typical fender-bender. Very hard impacts can occur when the driver behind was traveling at a high speed and failed to stop in time. Drunk or distracted drivers may not even manage to brake before impact. Injuries caused by rear-end collisions can be much more serious than a bit of minor whiplash. Many people who have been rear-ended suffer lasting injuries that can take them away from their jobs or keep them from performing the normal activities of daily living alone. If you were injured in a rear-end collision, you may be able to recover compensation for much more than just your ER bill. An attorney can help you calculate what your claim may be worth.

How Common Rear-End Collision Injuries Can Impact Your Life

Rear-end injuries can run the gamut from a sore neck that improves without treatment to a serious brain injury that requires surgery and extensive care in a hospital setting. Some common injuries sustained in rear-end crashes and the impact they can have include:

• Wrist, hand, and arm injuries - These injuries tend to occur when occupants of the car in front anticipate the impact and instinctively brace themselves against the dashboard or the seat in front of them. No matter what line of work you are in, an injury that stops you from using one of your arms or hands is going to have an impact. Typing, scanning items at a cash register, or any type of manual labor is going to be very difficult if not impossible when you can only use one arm. You may need time off work - you may be able to recover lost wages as part of your compensation.
• Whiplash - Whiplash is a broad term that can cover a number of different injuries to the head and neck when an impact knocks a person’s head forward and then backward rapidly and with force. Contusions - bruising of the brain - may occur in harder impacts, as the brain bounces inside the skull. This can cause permanent damage. Neck injuries from whiplash can cause long-lasting or permanent pain, often due to nerve damage. You may be able to recover compensation for loss of enjoyment in life.
• Back injuries - Anyone living with chronic back pain will tell you that it is the absolute worst. Back injuries can occur due to the force of the impact causing your spine to bend in an unnatural way. Slipped or herniated discs may require surgery and can leave you in pain for a very long time. Many people have to leave their jobs because the pain or risk of further injury is not tolerable. You may be able to recover lost future earnings or compensation for your pain and suffering.

After a rear-end injury, it is important to keep in mind that injuries may not show themselves immediately. While you should seek immediate medical care after the collision, you should also return to the doctor or go to the ER if you notice new or worsening symptoms.

Not all school bus-related injuries are the result of a crash. While motor vehicle accidents involving a school bus are not as rare as one might hope, children are actually in more danger when they are getting on or off the bus. Additionally, a school bus does not need to be in an accident for a child to get hurt while riding on it. As you probably know, most school buses lack seatbelts, creating additional risks for children. If your child was injured while taking the bus to or from school, we may be able to help you recover the compensation your child needs and deserves. The first step will be to identify the liable party - it may or may not be the school district or bus driver.

School Bus Dangers Other Than Crashes

Children are not only at risk when the school bus gets into an accident. They can be injured in other ways associated with being a bus rider. Common ways that children are injured while taking the school bus include:

• Being thrown - Without seatbelts, there is nothing holding a child in their seat when the bus makes a sudden movement. If the driver has to slam on the brakes to avoid a collision or has to swerve to dodge an obstruction in the road, a child can be tossed out of their seat. This can cause children to suffer injuries like broken bones or concussions.
• Getting on and off - Children are not as graceful as adults. School bus steps may be steep, and handrails are not always easy for young children to use, especially when they have their hands full with school supplies. Falls while boarding or disembarking are common.
• Crossing the road - Many children have to cross the street to get between their homes and the bus. This is by far the most dangerous part of a bus rider’s journey to and from school. If your child is hit by a car near the bus stop, it is very likely that the driver was disregarding a safety law or being careless and will be liable.

Recovering After a School Bus Crash

Children are not as well protected in the event of a collision as they probably should be. Your lawyer will first need to determine whose fault the crash was. If the bus driver was negligent in causing the crash, then your claim will be against the school district.