When you’ve been injured in a slip-and-fall accident, it can be stressful in addition to painful. In most cases, you’ll have to see a medical professional for help. You may have to stop working for a while, and in many cases, this can mean being confined to bed for long periods of time. The good news is that if the slip-and-fall accident happened due to someone else’s actions or negligence, you’re entitled to pursue a personal injury claim — but you have to act fast.
What Is the Statute of Limitations for Slip-and-Fall Injuries in Georgia?
Under Georgia state law, you have two years to file a personal injury claim in most cases. This means that if you suffer a slip-and-fall injury thanks to another party’s negligence, you only have two years to take action before your chance to get compensated disappears. There’s a lot to get done in that two-year timespan, so it’s important to get started on the claim process as soon as you can. Here are the steps you should follow to make a slip-and-fall claim.
- Talk With a Personal Injury Lawyer
Once you know that you’re okay and decide to start pursuing a personal injury case, the first thing you need to do is speak with a personal injury lawyer. This step is more than simply preparing for a case; your lawyer can help you determine whether or not you have a case to pursue at all.
2. Gather Evidence
After you’ve determined that you’re eligible to seek compensation, you should start gathering evidence of what happened. This is a necessary part of the procedure because if you can’t prove that your injury happened as the result of someone else’s actions or lack thereof, you will not be able to win the case.
The evidence you need to collect includes:
- Proof that the other party had a “duty of care” and that they went on to breach this duty. This means that you must demonstrate your injury was something the other person should have prevented but failed to do so. You’ll need to prove that you were allowed to be on the property and that your injury was caused by something the other party knew about but neglected to fix.
- Proof that the injury was caused by a hazard being present. For example, a wet floor without a wet floor sign is a hazard that could easily cause someone to suffer from a slip-and-fall injury. The same is true of poor lightning, uneven flooring, or an unsafe stairway.
- Proof that you really did get hurt in the way you claimed you did. This is the easiest to demonstrate, as your medical records and eyewitness reports will easily corroborate your story.
3. Filing the Claim
With the evidence gathered, you can file the claim. Of course, this needs to be done before your two years are up; luckily, as long as you file the claim in time, you will have plenty of time to either settle the issue with the other party or prepare for a trial. You just have to strike while the iron is hot because Georgia won’t accept any claims that went past the deadline.
From there, you’ll first be speaking to an insurance company to try and get the compensation. These things tend to only end up in trial when a settlement can’t be reached, but if you absolutely cannot get the money you deserve, going to court is a valid strategy, and your lawyer can help you through it all.
Your Personal Injury Law Firm
If you’re the victim in a slip-and-fall case, we want to help you get the compensation you deserve before it’s too late to take action. Lamar Law Group has helped people all over Georgia through their personal injury cases, and we can do the same for you. Contact us today to get a free quote.