Like most other sections of personal injury law, the statute of limitations on a slip and fall case is for two years. That means you have two years from the date of injury unless there is something genuinely unique in your case. A slip and fall case comes with some concern for property ownership, liability, and then situational aspects of the fall. A Houston slip and fall injury attorney can help you determine if you have a valid case.
Texas Statute of Limitations for a Slip and Fall
Unlike a car accident where you can have a hidden injury for months, a slip and fall is pretty straight forward. The statute of limitations begins the day that your injury happens and that two years ticks down quickly. You need to file a case and move forward to ensure that you don’t accidentally move outside of that time frame.
There are some exceptions for getting an extension, but you shouldn’t count on them. A judge can delay the time that your limitation began on, but that does not mean that you’re exempt from a limitation at all. Usually, these cases are reserved for hidden injuries that were not diagnosable months prior.
With slip and fall cases, most injuries include fractures, some of which can be fatal. These falls can happen in a home, a store, a restaurant, or even at work.
Property Ownership – Why Will It Affect Your Case?
If you’re home when you slip and fall, you may have nothing to rely on other than your health insurance. But, when you fall into someone else’s house, you may have options to pursue compensation. Some homeowner’s insurance policies cover slip and falls for the people visiting the home and only when the homeowner is liable.
If you go to visit a friend or family member and they fail because the floor was freshly wet, then it’s likely the homeowner’s fault. Other common examples include tripping over exposed roots or stumps in the yard. These cases can fall under homeowners’ insurance only if that homeowner has premises liability as part of their coverage.
Restaurants and public venues will almost always have insurance to cover these types of injuries. Typically working through an insurance company means that you have someone other than the individual and an unknown attorney to work with. Insurance companies will ask for necessary information, but they will often get a little sneaky about cutting corners. They will usually offer a settlement quickly, and later, you may find out that the amount wasn’t close to what you needed for compensation.
What Do Houston Injury Attorneys Do?
A Houston injury attorney should take over many difficult aspects of your claim. With a slip and fall claim, they should go through the property ownership and identify who the lawsuit will actually go up against. They may need to file a case against a business, a city, an individual, or put in a claim through an insurance policy. These situations change so much from one slip and fall case to another that it’s critical to find an attorney with a lot of experience.
Then they should go through the liability and try to determine if the owner of the establishment is liable, or if one of their employees was liable. It’s very difficult to track down liability on a slip and fall case without witnesses or video footage. Your attorney for your slip and fall should take charge of gathering that evidence, identifying the liable person, and building a strong case around that information.
Evidence gathering is a huge part of slip and fall cases because you may not have access to some o that information. Restaurants, for example, will not simply hand over their video footage that shows you falling. No. they will want you to go out, hire an attorney, and legally request those documents be released for the pending lawsuit. You should expect a lot from a slip and fall attorney.
Get A Houston Slip and Fall Attorney Before the Statute of Limitations is Up
McDonald Worley is a Houston, Texas personal injury law office that provides locals with support in all variety of personal injury cases. We know that slip and fall cases are common-place but hard to win because of the bad connotation people have to the manner of the injury. Don’t let your chance for compensation fall by the wayside because someone didn’t take your claim seriously.
Get help from McDonald Worley and take control of your claim today. Our team will be with you and your medical team through every step to ensure that we pursue coverage for your medical bills and more.