After a slip and fall, many people immediately begin thinking about how much they could get in a settlement. It’s no wonder.
Slip and fall accidents cause serious injuries that can leave you holed up at home for weeks or months.
Unable to work, and in tremendous pain, you watch as medical bills arrive daily in your mailbox.
Many of our clients call us in a panic, afraid they cannot pay all their bills and wondering if they will need to move.
The good news is that many of our clients receive a favorable settlement that fully compensates them for their losses. The bad news is that there is no way to know ahead of time how much your slip and fall injuries are worth.
Before we can estimate the amount of compensation you might receive, we must analyze a few factors discussed below.
Do you want an attorney’s help with your slip and fall case? Please fill out the form below.
How Much Has It Cost to Treat Your Injuries?
In slip and fall cases, you can typically receive 100% of your medical expenses in a settlement. Medical expenses include:
- Transportation to the hospital
- Surgery
- Doctor visits
- Hospital overnights
- Prescription drugs
- Rehabilitation
- Equipment, such as crutches or a wheelchair
Remember to hold onto all medical bills and receipts, which you can show your Yakima slip and fall attorney. Your attorney will use these bills to calculate the amount you can receive.
If you have just recently been injured, you might not know how much your total medical care will be. That’s okay. We can wait until you have reached maximum medical improvement before reaching out to begin settlement negotiations. And if you have suffered catastrophic injuries that require lifelong care, then we can estimate the cost of that future care.
Did You Miss Work? How Much?
Slip and fall settlements usually include compensation for lost wages. If you could not work while injured, then you should be able to receive 100% of your lost wages. You can also receive compensation if your injuries are permanent and your disability prevents you from returning to your old job or to any job at all.
Have You Suffered a Reduced Quality of Life?
In slip and fall cases, our clients have received compensation for less tangible harms such as:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Disfigurement
- Loss of enjoyment of activities
- Loss of companionship
- Loss of sexual function
These losses are harder to put a price tag on. However, the experienced slip and fall attorneys at Kapuza Lighty can use our experience to estimate the amount you might receive. Generally, the more serious your physical injuries, the more you can receive in these general damages.
For example, someone whose fall leaves them partially paralyzed will probably receive more in general damages than someone who merely sprained an ankle that healed within a month. When your physical injuries are permanent, then general damages can be several times the amount of your medical bills.
Did You Contribute to Your Injuries in Any Way?
Washington law allows injured victims to receive compensation if their own negligence contributed to their injuries. For example, you might have been reading a text message and not watching where you were going when you fell. In this case, your own negligence has partly contributed to your accident.
As a rule, Washington allows injured victims to receive compensation if they contributed to their injuries. However, the amount you can receive will be reduced by your percentage of fault.
Imagine your injuries are worth $100,000 but you are 50% responsible for them. In that case, you will receive a maximum of $50,000. By contrast, if you were 25% responsible, then you could receive $75,000 in compensation.
It is important to go over what happened in the moments leading up to your fall with your Yakima slip and fall attorney. Based on the analysis, your lawyer can help minimize your own contribution to your accident and therefore maximize your amount of recovery.
Injured in a Slip and Fall? Contact Kapuza Lighty Today
Slip and fall victims have many worries—whether they will ever feel pain-free and whether they can support their families being only two of them. At Kapuza Lighty, we have helped countless clients receive badly-needed compensation that allows them to regain their footing.
If you have a question about slip and fall lawsuit settlement amounts, or if you would like to talk about your case generally, please contact us. One of our Yakima slip and fall lawyers will meet with you to discuss your options. Please call 509-866-4166 or submit an online message.
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