When a slip-and-fall accident is straightforward and a business owner or company accepts blame, it could be resolved within a few months. However, when property owners try to fight accepting fault and try to blame you for your fall, resolution can take several more months or even a year or longer.
Who Should Take the Blame If I Fall at a Store or Business?
Slip-and-fall accidents usually involve people entering places open to the public (stores, businesses, parks, etc.) and getting hurt in a fall that could have been prevented.
California business and property owners are legally required to protect their customers, clients, and residents from harm. Grocery store managers must locate and mop up spills before shoppers can slip and fall backward to hit their heads.
Landlords must keep stairwells in good repair so a tenant can’t tumble down to break a leg. Even cities must remove potential trip-and-all hazards in public parking garages.
When an owner or operator is negligent and someone gets hurt, victims have the right to seek compensation for doctor’s bills and other damages.
Every slip-and-fall injury case is very different, and there are some claims that insurance companies cut checks for after only a few weeks. Unfortunately, when a serious injury is involved, getting help with massive hospital bills and lost work income may take much longer.
How Long Should I Have to Wait on a Slip-And-Fall Injury Settlement?
Unfortunately, not all guilty parties accept fault immediately. The insurance companies that cover those parties also fight very hard to avoid liability. A company may also have the money to pay teams of lawyers to get them off the hook for slip-and-fall injuries.
This frustrating battle for victims to simply secure the help that’s only fair can prolong any settlement negotiation.
These are just a few things that may extend your wait during a personal injury settlement negotiation:
- When insurance companies try to shift blame in the accident from their policyholders (say the victim was clumsy or was in a restricted area, etc.)
- When insurance companies try to dispute how badly you are hurt as an excuse to give you less support
- When insurance companies won’t accept fault and you must take them to court
- When an insurance company is purposely delaying a response so you’ll become more desperate and accept a “lowball offer”
- When insurance companies try to use the fine print in contracts to escape accountability
These and other shady tactics often hold victims hostage, as their medical bills pile up and they lose more and more time at work. Slip-and-fall victims may have broken a wrist that keeps them from accomplishing their job duties. They may have to attend months of physical therapy just to relearn how to use an injured hand or remap the brain’s control over body parts after a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
Victims can easily fall behind on their normal monthly bills, like rent, a mortgage, or car payments, as well. It’s easy to give into these worries and sign off on a settlement offer that’s way too low to cover all of your recovery costs. That’s why a free conversation with a California slip-and-fall lawyer can lead to better financial outcomes for victims.
How Can an Attorney Speed Up the Accident Settlement Process?
Your Maison Law attorney will monitor all of the behavior of an insurance company and call them out for shady behavior. Your wellbeing should always take priority over their profits.
This includes watching out for purposely slow communication as insurance adjusters try to invent some type of reason to reject your trip-and-fall claim.
- Contact the Insurer Directly: Your lawyer would contact the insurance provider and demand to speak to someone who makes actual decisions. Your lawyer would also warn the insurance company about the unfair treatment of victims.
- Report the Insurer: There are also California statutes that force insurers to respond to slip-and-fall victims in a certain amount of time. Your lawyer could report the insurance provider you’ve been dealing with.
- Back Your Case With Evidence: Your lawyer also collects powerful evidence to show who was at fault in an accident. This makes it harder for insurers to stall and deny coverage.
- The Threat of a Lawsuit: A Maison Law attorney also represents the threat of a lawsuit. If an insurance company isn’t acting fairly and accepting responsibility, your attorney would have a strong case prepared to take the insurer to court. This threat is often enough to get insurance companies back to the negotiating table. They want to avoid the cost and embarrassment of having their behavior examined by a judge and jury. Victims are often handed a much more suitable settlement amount when a lawsuit is a real possibility.
Your lawyer handles the frustrating back-and-forth of negotiation with as little disruption to you and your family as possible. You are given this time to focus on healing and not financial worries. You can rest easy that your experienced attorney is demanding the maximum in compensation available.
Contact a California Slip-And-Fall Injury Lawyer
Speak with a skilled California Slip-And-Fall Attorney after an accident caused by someone else’s carelessness leaves you or a loved one with a serious injury. It’s important to know about every benefit available to you and your family because an insurance representative won’t be informing you about all of your options.
It’s also crucial to take action if you’ve started the slip-and-fall injury claims process, but have been made to wait on support by uncaring insurance adjusters.
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 be holding an insurance company to. If you require our help to get the maximum in injury support, you won’t need to pay any upfront money. We don’t get paid unless we win your case. Then our fee comes out of the money an insurance company must provide to you.
