Getting injured in a slip and fall accident often leaves victims with a wide range of damages. Working with our attorneys is the best way to understand the damages that might be available to you in a lawsuit.
Our team can review your claim to assess both your economic and non-economic damages. This includes calculating and adding up your medical expenses, lost wages, and other material losses we can prove. To do this, our lawyers will collect evidence like your medical records, pay stubs, and receipts. We will also assess your pain and suffering by determining the extent of the impact your injuries have had on your life. Perhaps most importantly, our team will work with experts to determine what future needs you might have that should be included in your claim.
For a free case evaluation with our slip and fall accident attorneys, contact The Queenan Law Firm, P.C. at (817) 476-1797.
What Types of Damages Can I File a Lawsuit for After a Slip and Fall Accident in Texas?
If you were negligently injured in a slip and fall accident, you can generally claim numerous types of damages. Texas has two types of damages that can be recovered in a personal injury lawsuit: compensatory and punitive damages.
Compensatory damages are intended to make a victim “whole.” This means compensating victims for the damages they would not have suffered but for the defendant’s negligence and returning them to the position they were in before as much as possible. These damages include economic and non-economic losses.
Punitive damages, on the other hand, are not awarded to compensate for any loss of your own but as a punishment for the defendant’s conduct. However, the court rarely awards them. Our Irving, TX slip and fall accident attorneys can assess the damages you have suffered so you do not lose out on the compensation you need. The following will breakdown the types of damages available to you in a lawsuit:
Medical Costs
Medical expenses are usually at the top of the list of damages victims need to recover since they are often the most immediate and mounting. Even if you only needed to go to the emergency room and make a few follow-up visits, you might still be set back several thousands of dollars. If you require hospitalization, physical therapy, and surgeries, your medical costs will likely be exorbitant. Treatments like these are not uncommon in slip and fall accidents, as they can be far more devastating than most people realize.
To prove your medical losses, our attorneys will obtain your medical records and billing statements. This will help show the steps you have taken to recover from your injuries and allow our team to accurately calculate each and every expense.
Keeping up with treatment can be difficult, but it is worth it. Having gaps in your treatment will give the defendant ample opportunity to fight your claim.
Lost Income
You will also be concerned about covering your lost wages if your injuries keep you out of work temporarily. Fortunately, our attorneys can gather your employee records, paystubs, and tax returns to prove the per-day income for which you should be compensated.
Pain and Suffering Damages
Compensatory damages also include your non-economic losses, commonly known as “pain and suffering.” Unlike the economic damages above, pain and suffering are more difficult to quantify. That is because they are based on losses only you can describe, like the chronic physical pain you live with or the emotional distress you have felt since the accident.
Your pain and suffering might be evident from the seriousness of the injuries you suffered. In most cases, you will need to provide statements about how the accident has affected your life.
For example, you might feel humiliated for the scarring you have, which can lead to feelings of anxiety and even serious mental health issues like depression and PTSD. It is also likely that you have lost a certain enjoyment in life and your hobbies if your slip and fall injuries prevent you from living how you did before.
If intimacy in your marriage has been affected by your injuries, we can also help you make a loss of consortium claim with your pain and suffering.
While these damages can be challenging to calculate, our attorneys have a few ways we can help. One method is to assign a daily rate and multiply it by the number of days you are likely to have pain and suffering. This is known as the “per diem” method.
The other approach is called the “multiplier” method. With this approach, a number between 1.5 and 5 will be assigned to your pain and suffering, depending on the severity of your injuries. The chosen number will then be multiplied by your economic damages to determine a final amount.
Out-of-Pocket Damages
When treating your injuries, out-of-pocket expenses can rack up. Fortunately, you can claim these losses in your compensatory damages. If you have children, you might have had to arrange childcare for your appointments or to help you at home. Transportation costs are also common.
If you have seriously debilitating injuries, you might have made accommodations to your home so you can access all of the areas. It is important to keep your receipts and invoices so our lawyers can prove these losses in your claim.
Future Damages
In addition to the current damages you have suffered, our team will also help assess future expenses you might need. For instance, you might have torn ligaments in your knee that will require several surgeries to repair, followed by extensive physical therapy. We will usually need to get expert testimony from a medical expert to establish these future losses.
Long-term injuries might also affect your ability to return to work or force you to take a position different from the one you had. We will include damages for your loss of earning capacity.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages, known as “exemplary” damages in Texas, could also be available depending on how the accident occurred. However, it is rare. That is because punitive damages are only awarded where the injuries were caused by the defendant’s malicious, fraudulent, or grossly negligent conduct, according to Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.003(a).
Most slip and fall cases fall into ordinary negligence, which will not be enough. So, even if a business left a spill out for hours and you slipped in it, it might be infuriating, but it will likely still count as common negligence.
Our Texas Slip and Fall Accident Attorneys Can Help Assess Your Damages Today
Call The Queenan Law Firm, P.C. at (817) 476-1797 for a free case review with our Houston slip and fall accident lawyers.