Miami Slip and Fall Accident Lawyer Settles Case for $36,000 Despite Unclear Origin of Water


When you slip and fall on liquid in a store or other establishment, it may not be clear at first where the liquid came from. You may think that maybe the liquid came from a spill caused by a store employee. On the other hand, maybe it came from a spill caused by a store costumer. Maybe it came from a leak. You may be tempted to think that you can only pursue a personal injury case if the water on the floor was left there by a store employee. If a store employee didn’t actively put the water on the floor, you may think, you won’t be able to pursue a case.

Source of Water Unknown Yet Woman Still Able to Pursue a Case For Damages

However, if you slip and fall on water located on the floor of a store or other establishment and you don’t know where the water came from, do not immediately conclude that you can’t pursue a case. In order to pursue a personal injury case against the store or other establishment, you will need to prove only that the store or other establishment either knew about the condition of the water or should have known of the condition. That is, you do not necessarily need to show that the store or other establishment created the condition. If you can prove simply that 1) the condition existed and 2) that the store should have known of the condition, then you can pursue a case.

Cutler Ridge Slip and Fall Results in Herniated Disk In Her Back

Our client was a 50-year-old woman and mother of two. At the time of her fall, she was shopping in a department store. At some point, as our client was walking around the store, she slipped and fell in a puddle of water and badly injured herself. Our client primarily injured her back. Following the fall, our client pulled herself up off of the floor and exited the store. She went straight home.

Over the next couple of days, our client’s back problems became progressively worse. It got to the point where our client could barely walk. Therefore, three days after the accident, our client went to the office of a local chiropractor. The chiropractor examined our client and decided to prescribe her a strict regimen of chiropractic therapy. Our client began to receive therapy several times a week. This lasted for many months.

The chiropractor also asked our client to submit to an MRI. Our client did this, and the MRI revealed multiple herniated discs in our client’s back. This finding explained the excruciating pain that our client was experiencing in her lower back.

Dell & Schaefer Files a Lawsuit Against Department Store And Settles Case for $36,000

After talking to the chiropractor, our client knew that she was going to require significant treatment. She knew that this treatment would be expensive. She thought about pursuing a personal injury case against the department store, but realized that she didn’t know where the water on the floor had come from. Mistakenly, our client believed that she couldn’t pursue a case since she didn’t know the origination of the water.

In spite of this, our client decided to contact the Slip and Fall Attorneys at Dell & Schaefer. We told our client that she did not necessarily need to know where the water came from in order to pursue a case. In order to successfully handle a lawsuit, we explained, we would need to prove only that the department store either 1) knew of the condition of the water on the floor or 2) should have known of the condition. After speaking to our attorneys, our client decided to pursue a case.

We filed a lawsuit. During the discovery phase of the litigation, we learned that the water had actually come from a leak in the roof of the store. Apparently, there had been a leak in the roof for awhile and water had been leaking on the floor in the store. Based on this, we argued that the department store should have been aware of the leak. This was not a situation where a costumer spilled the water two minutes before our client fell (in which case it would be unreasonable to expect the store to discover and clean the spill). On the contrary, this was a situation where there was a defect in a permanent structure in the store. The store employees should have been aware of it and fixed the problem.

We also argued that our client had been devastated by the accident. Before the accident, our client was an avid outdoors-person. She was a runner, a biker and a swimmer. These were the three aspects of her life our client enjoyed most. Following the accident, she lost much of the enjoyment she had for these outdoor activities. She still forced herself to partake in these activities after the accident, but she could only do them with pain.

Making these arguments allowed us to settle the case for $36,000. Our client was very satisfied with the result. After the accident, she hadn’t even initially pursued a case. Now the case had been settled for $36,000. If you slip and fall on liquid located on the floor in a store or other establishment and you don’t know where the liquid came from, you may still be able to pursue a case against the store or other establishment. If you find yourself in this situation, call the Slip & Fall Lawyers at Dell & Schaefer. We will investigate the case, determine where the liquid came from and pursue your case vigorously.



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