Yes. After slip-and-fall accidents, some businesses at fault will rely on corporate lawyers to protect them from liability. These lawyers will look to blame your accident on you. One tactic they’ll use is to claim your shoes were worn out and imply it’s why you fell.
This tactic and others are ridiculous, but some victims trying to seek help with recovery costs can be tricked and end up getting robbed of the compensation they need.
How Can My Shoes Be Blamed for a Slip-And-Fall Accident?
Negligent business owners and insurance adjusters profit when they find ways to escape responsibility for a slip-and-fall accident. They can be held liable for injuries when someone slips on a puddle left out on an aisle floor. They might be found at fault for loose candy left near the front door that slides someone’s foot out from under them.
Unfortunately, instead of supporting victims after a fall, local stores and major corporations will instead focus on wiggling out of accountability. Their lawyers will look for ways to point the finger of blame at victims. One way to do that is to call into question the shoes the victim was wearing at the time.
They’ll say worn soles led to a painful fall. They may say shoelaces were untied. They’ll use these weak arguments instead of admitting their employees left an obstacle, like a broken jar on an aisle, unattended for too long.
To build your case and show the true reason for your accident, take these steps if you can manage it:
- Take photos of the scene and the obstacle that caused your fall
- Take photos of the shoes you were wearing and the soles
- Get contact information from witnesses
- Alert a manager about your fall and make sure they fill out an incident report
- After you leave the scene, don’t throw away your shoes
- Don’t wear those shoes again until your lawyer tells you it’s okay
- Preserve those shoes in a storage bag
- If you have a receipt that shows when you bought those shoes, retrieve it
This proof of what happened helps you block all tactics that an insurance adjuster or opposing lawyer. If you have a California Slip-And-Fall Lawyer representing your case, your lawyer will also be collecting evidence for you, including gathering your medical charts and receipts.
This proof may be necessary when corporate lawyers try another tactic. They’ll hope to question how serious your injury is so they can offer you less in support.
Contact a California Slip-And-Fall Lawyer
If your slip-and-fall injury is more serious than some minor scrapes and bruising, you may want a lawyer to handle your case. Stores will be able to afford teams of lawyers all looking for ways to blame you for your accident or downplay the injury you’ve suffered. Your Maison Law lawyer is a safeguard against this unfair treatment.
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.
But remember, a lawyer is often able to secure much more in recovery help for you than you could earn handling your case yourself. 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 provides to you and your family.
