Here’s the scenario: You’ve just been injured when you slipped and fell at the grocery store as a result of something leaking from the frozen foods aisle. As you are lying on the floor, some customers who saw what happened rush to help you up and a store employee comes over and asks you to fill out an “Incident Report”. Feeling embarrassed about what happened, you tell everyone you are okay, pay for your items and leave the store. Later that day your knee begins swelling up, your hips and back begin hurting and severe pain sets in. The doctor says you are hurt and need x-rays, MRIs, therapy, injections or possibly surgery all as a result of this fall! Sounds like the store should be held responsible for your injuries right? Of course they should, but it is not as easy as it sounds. In Florida, if you cannot prove someone else was negligent, you are not entitled to any money regardless of how bad you are injured. So what can you do to avoid this pitfall and help ensure you are fairly compensated for your injuries, for your pain and suffering and for your wage losses? DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT the evidence of negligence as soon as possible.

Evidence that someone else was negligent can be gone with one swipe of a mop in this grocery store scenario. The identity of the customers who saw you slip and fall are gone the moment you leave the store. In a car crash situation, when you leave the scene of the crash, the skid marks from the at-fault driver’s car may be gone when the next Florida thunderstorm rolls through. So what do you do? As long as you can safely do so, the more you document what happened to cause your injuries, the easier it is to prove your case. Every day on the news we see images or videos that were taken at the time the event was occurring. Because our society expects to see these things, you need to document your event as well. Taking pictures with your smart phone of where you fell and what caused you to fall; writing down the names, addresses and/or phone numbers of the other customers who saw what happened or asking the store employee to do so; asking the police officer to write down the names of witnesses for you; taking some pictures of the skid marks if you can do so safely out of traffic; writing down what the other driver says to you at the scene and what you say in response; taking photographs of the vehicles at the scene showing the damage or where the vehicles came to rest after the crash etc.

This evidence can be very, very powerful proof to the insurance company and to the jury should your case get to that point. The insurance company and the jury can see for themselves what happened, not just hear about it. The more we can show who was at fault and what happened to cause your injuries, the better results we can obtain for you.

Call us at 1-800-332-1992 anytime to talk with any of our attorneys who are here to help you get the best result possible for the injuries caused by someone else.