Slip and fall accidents should be taken seriously. While minor accidents may result in no more than a bruise or cut, more serious ones can see you or your loved ones suffer from long-term injuries. A dependable personal injury attorney is here to help you out.
If you have recently been involved in a slip and fall accident, and you believe that another individual or institution may be to blame, Illinois allows you to take legal action against that party. You can work with a Cook County slip and fall lawyer to craft your initial complaint and represent your interests in court.
Slip and fall accidents can vary in their seriousness. Not only can a person suffer from physical injury in a slip and fall accident, but they can also damage their valuable property and disrupt their ability to earn an income.
Slip and fall accidents, like many other personal injury accidents, can often occur due to another party’s negligence. To fight for compensation, interested parties must go about proving that negligence in relation to their personal rights. A Cook County slip and fall lawyer could help interested parties do just that. In an initial complaint, a plaintiff and their lawyer can bring together evidence that establishes:
If all four of these factors are proven, financial compensation is possible.
There are incidents in Cook County where, even if a property owner appears to be at fault for someone’s slipping accident, the owner will argue for comparative fault. In these circumstances, the property owner might try to say that the injured party bears a portion of the responsibility for their own losses.
In these cases, it is possible that an injured party may still be awarded compensation. However, property owners who successfully argue for their own defense could potentially curb some of that compensation. Illinois tends to award damages to the injured party based on the defendant’s percentage of fault.
To put this another way, if the plaintiff takes 30 percent of the blame for a slip and fall accident, then they will only receive 70 percent of the compensation they requested in their initial complaint.
Parties who wish to file a complaint regarding a slip and fall accident must do so within two years of the accident, according to 735 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5.13-202. A tripping accident lawyer in Cook County could ensure someone stays within this timeline. Parties wishing to seek compensation for damage done to their personal property in a slip and fall accident, by contrast, have five years to file their claims, as stated by 735 ILCS 5/13-205.
The older you get, the more dangerous a slip and fall accident can be. No matter what kind of health conditions or balance issues you may have, you are entitled to certain protections from other people. If it seems like negligence played a role in your most recent accident, you should meet with a Cook County slip and fall lawyer.
A qualified legal professional could help you assess your accident and draft an appropriate legal complaint. Reach out to us today to discuss your situation and what you might be able to recover.