When Should You Hire a Lawyer After a Slip-and-Fall Injury?

If you’ve been in a slip-and-fall and been injured, and if you slipped because of the negligence of someone else, you should definitely talk with a personal injury attorney here in North Carolina. This really always holds true but there are some situations where it’s especially important to get legal help.

When Should You Hire a North Carolina Personal Injury Attorney?

1. When You’ve Been Badly Injured

If you’ve been badly injured and have mounting medical bills, it’s time for a lawyer. It’s tough enough to deal with injuries and recovery on your own; if you’re also trying to bring a legal claim and jump through all the required hoops while negotiating with an insurance company, it can be enough to make you give up. Your medical bills are going to mount quickly, and you may also be unable to work during this time and losing income. A lawyer can take over the frustrating legal aspects of your case and help you figure out how to cover medical bills while you wait, so you can concentrate on getting better.

2. When the Negligent Party Is Denying Responsibility

Unfortunately, this happens more often than you might think. The property owner, the manager of a store, or the insurance company covering the store may all try to deny responsibility for your losses. Common claims include accusing you of being in an unauthorized area and thus being a trespasser, claiming that there were warning signs posted, blaming you for the accident, or saying that the danger was so obvious a reasonable person would’ve noticed it. Your lawyer will gather the necessary evidence, subpoena surveillance footage if necessary, and get this taken care of before evidence “disappears.”

3. When Liability Is Unclear

Sometimes, these sorts of accidents become quite complicated. For example, it can be unclear who the actual defendant should be: the owner of the property, the renter, a management company, a maintenance contractor? All of these could potentially be responsible. If your fall took place on public property, then things get tricky because your deadline for bringing a claim gets shorter. Here in North Carolina, we have contributory negligence in these situations, which means the law doesn’t allow you to bring a claim if you contributed to your accident. The situation is summed up in Cullen v. Logan Developers, Inc., 386 N.C. 373 (2024):

“The law expects individuals to take reasonable steps to protect themselves from open and obvious risks. For this reason, plaintiffs ordinarily cannot recover damages from defendants who created such risks if the plaintiffs could have avoided harm through due regard for their own safety.”

You can expect the property owner and their insurance company to do everything possible to claim that you contributed to the accident in order to protect themselves. A lawyer can help you effectively fight back.There are just a few of the situations where having a lawyer can make all the difference. If you’ve been in a fall, contact David and Associates Injury Attorneys in Wilmington, Clinton, Supply, Jacksonville, Wallace, or Whiteville today for a free consultation.

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