Nashville Slip And Fall Accident Lawyers
At Bill Easterly & Associates, we are committed to fighting for justice for those who have suffered injuries due to the negligence of others. Let our family help your family. Call us today.
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Slip and Fall Accident Attorney In Nashville, TN
One of the biggest mistakes you could make is choosing not to hire a lawyer. Many people decide they don’t want to seek legal representation because it’ll cost too much money. They already had to pay for medical treatment and other expenses. The financial burden is overwhelming and stressful. Unfortunately, individuals who don’t let an attorney handle their case end up with significantly lower compensation than those who do.
Insurance companies are notorious for trying to save money. They’re not on the victim’s side. They want to ensure they don’t have to pay out much money when someone files a liability claim. They will investigate your accident and look for any reason to deny your claim or provide a low settlement offer. You need an experienced Nashville slip and fall attorney who won’t let the insurance company take advantage of you.
We have the resources, knowledge, and skills to thoroughly investigate every case we take and locate relevant evidence that proves fault. We use aggressive negotiation tactics to recover a fair settlement, so our clients are fully compensated for their damages. If the insurance company refuses to settle for an appropriate amount, we have the experience to move forward with a lawsuit and fight with them in court.
How To Prove Negligence After A Slip And Fall Accident
When you sustain injuries on someone’s property, you have to prove negligence existed at the time of the accident in order to be eligible for a financial reward. Negligence is the legal theory that one party’s failure to provide a reasonable duty of care led to someone’s injury and resulting expenses. Unfortunately, another type of negligence rule could impact the value of your case. Modified comparative negligence applies to incidents where the victim is partially responsible for their injury. In this scenario, your compensation would be reduced by the same percentage of fault that you share.
For example, if your total damages are $100,000, but you’re 20% to blame for the slip and fall accident, you would only be entitled to a maximum of $80,000. If you are 50% or more at fault for the accident, you would not be entitled to recover any amount of compensation.
There are five elements you’ll need to establish when you file an insurance claim or lawsuit:
- Duty: The owner owed you a legal duty of care to prevent harm;
- Breach of duty: They breached their duty;
- Cause in fact: If it wasn’t for their actions, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt;
- Proximate cause: Their breach was the direct cause of your injury; and
- Damages: You incurred damages.
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Why You Need To Hire A Lawyer
When you hire Bill Easterly & Associates, we’ll handle each step of the legal process below:
Investigate: We will open a complete investigation into how the slip and fall accident occurred and who caused it. After reviewing the facts, we’ll determine if we should proceed with an insurance claim or lawsuit.
Evidence: We know where to look for vital evidence that increases the value of a case, such as:
- Incident/police report
- Security video footage
- Accident scene photos
- Company’s maintenance and repair logs
- Liability insurance information
- Injured party’s medical records and bills
- Names of employees working at the time the incident occurred
Witnesses: An insurance company will speak with anyone involved in the accident, including witnesses. If anyone saw what happened, we’ll track them down and ask for their version of events. If they can confirm what happened to you, an insurance company will have difficulty disputing the fact that the property owner was at fault.
Send notice: After a slip and fall accident, it’s best to mail the at-fault party a notice of claim informing them of the intent to recover compensation. We’ll also request a copy of their liability insurance policy to determine how much coverage is available.
Value of the case: After reviewing everything we find, we’ll come up with the right number to demand from the insurance company.
Lawsuit: If the insurance company denies your claim or offers an unfair settlement, we’ll move forward with filing a lawsuit.
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Civil Statute Of Limitations In Tennessee
There’s a strict deadline you must comply with if you want to file a civil lawsuit. It’s known as a statute of limitations. The statute of limitations for a slip and fall accident in Tennessee is one year. That means you only have one year from the accident date to file, or you’ll lose your right to sue for compensation.
You might think that’s enough time to prepare your case, but anything can happen that delays the process, especially if you’re working on an insurance claim first. Some claims take years to resolve. By then, you could lose the opportunity to sue the at-fault party.
There are two exceptions to this rule that could potentially pause the clock if they apply to your case. They include the following:
- The property owner temporarily left the state before you had a chance to file your lawsuit. The clock would pause until they return, and their absence wouldn’t count towards the one-year statute.
- You were a minor or mentally incompetent at the time of the accident. The clock wouldn’t start until you turn 18 years old or become mentally competent.
How Can We Help You?
How Our Tennessee Attorneys Can Help You
No case is too small or too large for our team of experienced attorneys. We have the skills and resources it takes to pursue all types of personal injury cases. If you’ve suffered at the hands of a negligent party, we want to make sure you are compensated, and the negligent party is held responsible. We start by getting to you know and the facts surrounding your case.
Every case is unique, and we treat them as such, priding ourselves on making sure you have our full attention and focusing our efforts on building a successful case for you.