Yes. An incident report can serve as powerful evidence in your favor when you must prove that Walmart was negligent and caused your slip-and-fall. Alert a manager immediately after your fall and make sure an incident report is written up and filed with Walmart’s corporate offices.
The Incident Report After a Walmart Slip-And-Fall Accident
You should always speak out when you are hurt in a Walmart. If you get injured and leave without alerting a manager, Walmart might be able to ignore the incident. They may claim that the injury never happened since they never got word of it.
The manager should want to prepare an incident report for Walmart corporate officials. This report will have your name and contact information on it. It should have a summary of what happened and list all witnesses in the area. It may point out the hazard in the store and the steps that were immediately taken to clean up the hazard.
An incident report can be strong proof of what happened, but there are a few steps you should also take to help build your case:
- Don’t say you’re okay – Always let paramedics and doctors determine if you’re injured or not. You may not feel a lot of pain in the minutes after your fall, but the shock of what’s happened may be masking that pain. Don’t mention how badly you are hurt. These statements can be twisted later to make it look like you were never injured, even if you have a serious injury appear later.
- Don’t say “my bad” – Don’t accept any blame for your accident while talking with the manager and helping with an incident report. Allow your attorney to investigate your case and determine who should bear the blame. You might feel you were just clumsy, but there may be several ways that Walmart contributed to your accident.
- Get witness contact information – Witness information may go into the incident report, but you should gather contact info on your own so you can turn it over to your California slip-and-fall attorney.
- Get photos of the slip-and-fall hazard – If you slipped or tripped and got hurt, make sure to take a picture of the obstacle that caused your fall. Walmart employees will move quickly to remove all traces of the danger and it won’t be there when your lawyer returns to the scene. Also, grab photos of your injury if there are visible symptoms.
Even with the facts clearly stated in an incident report, Walmart may ask its lawyers to dispute your claim and challenge the facts. If they can’t get you to drop your request for financial help, they’ll try to get you to sign off on a settlement that doesn’t cover all of your medical costs.
A lawyer can be a strong defense against their tactics to rob you of compensation. Your lawyer can also often get you much more in a settlement check than you could win by handling your case yourself.
Contact a California Slip-And-Fall Accident Lawyer
If you only suffer some minor bruising and soreness after a fall, you might not need a lawyer’s help to file your claim with Walmart. But if you endure a more serious injury, it’s a good idea to go over your options with a California Walmart slip-and-fall accident lawyer.
Contact Maison Law for a free, no-obligation consultation. It’s a no-risk way to find out what your injury is worth and what you should demand from unhelpful insurance companies. And if you feel we can help you earn more for your case, you don’t need to worry about finding the money to hire a lawyer. We don’t get paid unless we score a case victory for you. Then our fee comes out of the settlement Walmart must provide to you.
