Miami Attorneys Dell & Schaefer Settle Despite Lack of Initial Treatment

When you fall and hurt yourself in a public place, you may initially think that you are fine. After all, adrenaline may be pumping through your body and you may not immediately feel your injuries. It may not be until much later that serious injuries begin to materialize.

Nonetheless, if you fall and hurt yourself in a public place, make sure that you make your injuries known. Even if you believe your injuries to be only minor, it is important that your injuries are documented. If they aren’t, you leave the door open for a defense attorney down the line to say that you weren’t injured by the fall.

Miami Fall Results in Shoulder Injuries

Our client was a 78-year-old grandfather. At the time of his accident, he was riding up an escalator in the Miami-Dade County Airport. Present with our client was his wife and his wife’s friend. Our client and his wife were travelling to Cuba to visit family.

At some point while our client was riding up the escalator, the escalator suddenly stopped. Our client was thrown violently down the escalator. He badly injured his shoulder.

Once our client collected himself at the bottom of the escalator, he realized he had hurt his shoulder. He also realized that he had badly cut his head and scraped his forearms. Nevertheless, our client did not feel that his injuries were bad enough to prevent him from going on his trip to Cuba.

Therefore, when airport security came to the scene and asked our client if he wanted medical treatment, our client said no. He said that he just wanted to get on his flight. Because of this, it was never documented that our client was injured in the fall.

After arriving in Cuba, our client’s injuries became unbearable. His shoulder hurt to the point that he could barely lift his arms above his head. Our client went to a Doctor in Cuba. When he returned to the United States roughly a week later, our client went to the office of his primary care physician. The PCP examined our client’s shoulder and told him that he would need to see a shoulder specialist.

Within days, our client was in the office of an orthopedic surgeon who specialized in shoulders. The Doctor ordered MRI’s of our client’s shoulders. After viewing the MRI results, the surgeon told our client that the injuries were so bad that he would require surgery. Within weeks, our client underwent an arthroscopic surgery of his shoulder. All of this treatment clearly wasn’t easy for our client.

Miami Slip and Fall Lawyers Dell and Schaefer Settle Case for $17,500

After his treatment was finished, our client was contacted by the insurance company for the airport and elevator company. The insurance representative told our client that he couldn’t receive compensation because he hadn’t received medical treatment at the scene. Because he hadn’t received such treatment, the insurance representative essentially did not believe that our client was injured by the fall.

Fortunately, our client contacted the Slip and Fall Attorneys at Dell & Schaefer. We told our client that a case could be pursued in spite of the fact that he hadn’t received treatment at the scene of the accident. Our client hired us, and we filed a lawsuit on our client’s behalf.

After filing the lawsuit, we argued that it made sense that our client’s injuries wouldn’t appear immediately. He was extremely dazed after the fall, and adrenaline was pumping through his body. These weren’t conditions conducive to body awareness. Once in Cuba only a few hours later, our client was already feeling the effects of the injuries. He went to the Doctor in Cuba within a couple days of the fall.

We also argued that our client was an extremely hard worker and that this fall made his work much harder. In fact, after the fall, our client never went back to work full-time. Our client was a handy-man at a church. As such, his job was a very physically demanding occupation. After injuring his shoulder, our client could no longer handle the rigors of the job. For awhile, he worked part-time. But, at some point, the Church decided they needed somebody to work full-time, and our client was let go.

These arguments allowed us to settle the case for $17,500. Our client was happy with the result. Here he had a settled case for $17,500 in spite of the fact that he hadn’t been treated at the scene of the fall. If you fall and hurt yourself in a public place, make sure that you receive treatment at the scene of the accident. Even if you don’t think your injuries are that bad, it is important that you document them for the future. If you don’t, you run the risk that any potential lawsuit will be spoiled. This client was very fortunate, but you may not be so lucky.

If you fall and hurt yourself, contact the Premises Liability Lawyers at Dell & Schaefer. We will get you compensated for your injuries.