Whether you're at the grocery store, the mechanic, or a private home, any injury you sustain on privately owned property should be carefully recorded. In many cases, you'll be able to sue for personal injury if you fall and injure yourself. Of course, you aren't planning to fall and suffer an injury, but if you do, it's best to have a carefully thought-out plan for what you'll do next. You can follow these three steps to ensure that any potential case you may bring will have the best possible results for you.
1. Send for medical help
If you're severely injured, you shouldn't drive yourself to the hospital. Call 911 instead. Then take care of steps 2 and 3 while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. If you're only a little hurt, the case isn't as urgent, but you'll still need to seek medical help immediately upon leaving the store. Use discretion in deciding whether or not you're in a condition to drive. If you were severely jarred, you may have sustained a concussion even if you didn't hit your head. Don't drive if you're unsure or if those around you are concerned that it may not be safe for you to drive. If you're with friends, allow them to drive you to the emergency room.
2. Let the owner or manager know
It's crucial to report the incident to the proper authority. This is easy if you're visiting someone's house and they're right there, but it may take a minute if you're at a business or store. Ideally you should be able to send for the store manager and report the incident within a minute or two. You may be asked to fill out a form to report the incident. If you're too badly injured, have a friend or bystander complete it. However, do not get involved in a long discussion or altercation with the manager, as this could waste time that would be better spend seeking medical treatment.
3. Record relevant facts
If you do decide to make a case of it, you'll need to record all sorts of details about the incident. If you're badly injured, you may not be able to do this yourself. In this situation you can ask a friend to record the data, or perhaps a sympathetic bystander will help you out if you don't have a friend with you. The information you'll need includes:
- Names and phone numbers of anyone who witnessed the accident
- Contact information for the property/business owner/manager
- Photographs of the surface you slipped on
- Photographs of the injury
- Photographs of any handrails or other safety measures
Later you'll need to save your clothing and shoes, not to mention the medical records of your injury and treatment, as well. Contact a personal injury lawyer like Dennis M. Walters, PC for more info.
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