Cobb County Commercial property owners are expected to prevent slip-and-fall accidents. To fully understand this type of accident, consider the legal framework around premises liability in Georgia.
If you or a loved one has experienced a slip-and-fall accident in Cobb County, talking with an experienced Marietta personal injury lawyer can be useful in understanding the legal landscape.
Understanding Negligence and Liability
Getting bitten by a dog can be scary, shocking, and unpleasant. If you have been bitten or scratched by a dog, cat, or other mammal, it is essential to report the event and get medical attention. Cobb and Douglas Public Health provides specific instructions for reporting and getting medical care.
If you have been bitten by a dog in Cobb County, after getting medical attention, you may want to consider speaking with a Marietta personal injury lawyer. An experienced lawyer may be able to provide insights into legal options.
Coping With a Dog Bite in Cobb County
To win a slip and fall claim, you need to establish the property owner’s liability for a condition that is unsafe. This sounds relatively straightforward, but many elements can come into play.
If you have been involved in a slip and fall accident, there are key legal concepts to be aware of. Accidents on other people’s property happen, and when they do, you may want to talk to a Marietta Personal Injury lawyer to understand your legal rights.
What is Liability in a Slip-and-Fall Case in Marietta?
Drownings are the most common kind of swimming pool injury. In fact, drowning is the leading cause of death among children under 4 and the second-leading cause of injury-related death among children under 14. A young child can drown in as little as a few inches of water, meaning that not even the kiddie pool is entirely safe.
Young children have still-developing brains and bodies, making them unusually vulnerable to serious injury. When such a tragedy strikes, no one can turn back the clock and change what happened. A Marietta personal injury lawyer does the next best thing, which is to obtain the financial compensation these families need and deserve.
Drownings
Unfortunately, no, and that’s a shame. Slip-and-fall injuries are the leading cause of hospital emergency room visits. These injuries send over eight million Americans to emergency departments every year. The ER bill is only the first of many medical bills and other expenses that someone must pay. Unless they receive settlements, these victims are usually financially responsible for all these bills and expenses.
Insurance company lawyers do whatever it takes to reduce or deny compensation for head injuries, broken bones, and other serious wounds commonly associated with slip-and-fall incidents. Only an equally determined Marietta personal injury lawyer levels the playing field. An attorney works hard to build a strong case that overcomes some common insurance company defenses so victims receive maximum compensation for their serious injuries.
Open and Obvious
The average injury-related hospital stay costs over $10,000 per day. This figure does not include follow-up care, physical therapy, and ancillary expenses, such as medical devices, transportation expenses like ambulance costs, and prescription drugs. When all these costs are added up, they could easily exceed $100,000. Many of these expenses are related to one of the five fall injuries listed below.
Most families cannot possibly afford to pay these bills out of their own pockets. So, they rely on a Marietta personal injury attorney to obtain necessary compensation in court. A lawyer also obtains compensation for emotional distress and other noneconomic losses. Injury victims shouldn’t have to suffer in silence. These damages normally prompt nursing home owners and other property owners to change the way they do business and make the personal safety of their guests a higher priority.
Traumatic Brain Injury
The medical bills and other economic losses associated with older adult falls total over $50 billion per year. Medicare and most private health insurance cover some of, but not all of, these costs. Therefore, many older fall victims could be financially responsible for medical bills they cannot pay. Even if a public or private insurance company covers all these costs, other people pay the price in the form of higher taxes and higher premiums. There is no reason you and I should pay for an injury that someone else negligently caused.
Liability issues in fall injury claims are even more complex than these financial issues. Generally, landowners have a duty of care to provide safe environments that are free from fall injury hazards. This duty only applies if the nursing home owner, or another property owner, knew, or should have known, about the hazard.
All these complex issues mean that only the most experienced Marietta personal injury lawyer should handle an older adult fall injury claim. Attorneys not only deal with the issues in the case. They also immediately connect victims with the medical help they need. The injuries listed below are often difficult to diagnose and treat. They require a special doctor’s special attention. The first available ER doctor, or the cut-rate doctor an insurance company adjuster approves, simply will not do.
Every year, serious fall injuries send over eight million Americans to hospital emergency rooms. The physical injuries these victims sustain are just the beginning. Falls usually cause emotional injuries, as well, especially if the victim is over 65. Many of these individuals are so afraid of falling again that they cease most physical activity. Generally, the physical and emotional injuries are permanent, at least to an extent.
Despite the image that TV commercials portray, insurance companies care nothing about these severe injuries. Instead, they hire lawyers who look for ways to reduce or deny compensation to victims. A Marietta personal injury attorney takes the opposite view in pretty much every way. Lawyers quickly connect victims with high-quality doctors. Then, when the case goes to court, an attorney fights for the compensation you need and deserve.
Duty of Care
Every year, small and large supermarkets pay over $450 million to resolve indoor and outdoor slip-and-fall claims. These falls cause physical and emotional injuries. Physically, these victims sustain head injuries, broken bones, and other such wounds that often never heal, or at least never entirely heal. The same is true for the depression that many falls cause. Psychologically, many fall victims are so afraid of falling again that they essentially become prisoners in their own homes. The withdrawal often leads to deep depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
These injuries are difficult to diagnose and treat. Furthermore, these claims are legally complex. A Marietta personal injury attorney helps on both fronts. Lawyers connect victims with top-notch doctors who, in many cases, don’t charge anything upfront. Later, when the case goes to court, an attorney is committed to maximum compensation for your serious injuries. This compensation usually includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.
Legal Issues
Frequently, a fall puts a person in a nursing home, and a subsequent fall keeps the person there longer than expected. Falls account for 40%of nursing home admissions, and 60% of residents fall at the facility.
Understaffing and overcrowding contribute to many of these incidents. Groundskeeping and other such maintenance areas are often the first things to get cut when nursing homes have trouble hiring workers. Additionally, since the elderly population is expanding so rapidly, many facilities are almost constantly under construction. Construction zones are hazardous for older adults.
Falls normally cause very serious injuries. A Marietta personal injury attorney can obtain the compensation these victims need and deserve. This compensation usually includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.
Marietta Injury Lawyer Blog