How Does the Slip and Fall Lawsuit Process Work? A Step-by-Step Guide for Dallas Injury Victims

What’s Covered on This Page

• a Slip and Fall Lawsuit in Dallas: An Injury Victim’s Guide to Every Step
• Why the Clock Starts Ticking the Instant You Fall
• Proving Negligence Is the Core of Every Slip and Fall Case
• There is a Specific Timeline for Each Step You’ll Take When Filing a Dallas Slip and Fall Insurance Claim
• How long do I have to file a slip and fall lawsuit in Dallas?
• What is the first thing I should do after a slip and fall in Dallas?
• Does Texas law affect how much money I can get from a slip and fall case?
• Do I really need to see a doctor if I feel okay after a fall?
• What is a common mistake people make after slipping and falling in a Dallas store or parking lot?
• What does ‘proving negligence’ mean in a slip and fall case?

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a Slip and Fall Lawsuit in Dallas: An Injury Victim’s Guide to Every Step

Why the Clock Starts Ticking the Instant You Fall

It’s rare that people understand this, but the clock begins ticking the second you fall. The timeline for a slip and fall lawsuit starts at the moment of the accident, and what you do immediately can impact your claim in the long term. I see it all the time in Dallas. A fall in a grocery store near Uptown, maybe tripping on a cracked sidewalk in Deep Ellum. People feel embarrassed, scramble to their feet, and depart the premises without even notifying someone. These choices can harm their case for months.

Let’s look at the essential steps to take right after you fall.

First, report the fall to the responsible party. You’re in a business? Inform a manager. You’re on someone else’s private property? Contact the owner. Be sure they put it in writing, and take a copy if it’s available. This step creates a paper trail indicating the slip and fall accident took place on that date, at that precise location.

Second, photograph everything. The slippery floor, the broken step, the dimly lit area, your injuries, your footwear, your clothing; use your cell phone. Capture photos from various angles. As per the National Floor Safety Institute, falls cause more than 8 million ER visits per year; you need evidence that your accident wasn’t a result of clumsiness.

Third, collect witness names. If someone witnessed your fall, inquire about their contact information. Witnesses disappear quickly; individuals forget details in a matter of days. A statement collected a week later is good; it’s virtually worthless six months later.

Fourth, visit a medical professional today, right after the incident. Even if you’re not in pain. Post-accident symptoms may not appear immediately. Your back may be sore on Tuesday, but on Friday, you might have a herniated disc. Documentation shows that you sought medical attention for a slip and fall incident. Adjusters in Dallas are always searching for breaks in treatment, and they use such information as leverage to reduce your payout.

Think of this as the foundation of a house; each piece of early documentation serves as a brick to your case. Fail to take these steps now, and you’ll encounter significant gaps in your claim later. Without documentation of the condition of the floor, the property owner can remediate the problem and claim it didn’t exist. If you don’t seek medical care, the insurance representative will assert that you’re not seriously injured.

However, there is one critical step that often gets overlooked. You must also avoid posting about your fall on social media platforms at all, not even a picture of your swollen knee along with some humorous text. Insurance professionals routinely review an injured person’s Facebook and Instagram profiles. When they see a status update like “crazy day but I’m ok,” they will use it against you could also be used against you in arguing that your injuries are not severe.

Get and keep records. Keep your receipts from the hospital. Keep your shoes from when you fell. Wash your clothing when you have fallen in a few days or more. Such objects can act as proof.

One more. Write up how the incident happened as soon as you can. Where did you walk? What was the floor like? Did you spot a warning or a notice? At what time of day was it? You have the clearest memory of everything now. But as time goes on, after weeks, the memory will fade.

We have helped people from all corners of Dallas neighborhoods to all parts of neighborhoods, from the streets of Oak Lawn to the streets of Pleasant Grove. It was their first hour after the fall they valued. Because it did count.

If you’ve been injured and you’re not sure what to do, go to our slip and fall attorney page for a look at how legal assistance works within this process.

Proving Negligence Is the Core of Every Slip and Fall Case

Unless you can demonstrate negligence, nothing else about your slip and fall case is relevant. Your medical expenses. Your loss of income. Even the images of the spot you fell in. Negligence is negligence, the legal term for negligence. And it’s the basis for holding property owners liable for injuries incurred on their premises.

So what exactly does it entail?

You must prove the following four elements of negligence. First, property owners owe a certain level of care to the public. Second, this owner has failed in that obligation. Third, such failure is the cause of your fall. Fourth, as a result of the fall, you are injured. Drop any of these four requirements, and you won’t have a claim.

Think through this with a real case: If you’re entering a grocery store in the Oak Lawn area in Dallas, a store employee mops the floor without a wet floor sign. You then slip and fall onto the floor and sustain a ligament damage in your knee joint. The store should owe you a duty to provide you with a safe environment as you are a customer. The store breached this duty by failing to warn you that the floor is wet. This is what caused the fall. The ligament tear you are injured with now. This is all negligence.

That’s the difficult part.

The property owners defense can easily state you should’ve noticed that something was wrong. They may claim you were looking at your phone. They may claim that the spill just occurred mere minutes before you walked there. This is a defense that we see in nearly every case, because Texas has a “proportionate responsibility” legal standard, which is set out in Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 33.001, that if you are found to be over 50% at fault for your own injury, you recover nothing from the property owners.

That is why it’s important to gather your evidence as soon as possible. You have stronger evidence if you can show that the owner knew (or should have known about) the condition. If the tenant asked for a broken handrail to be fixed three times, you’re looking at really good proof. A hole in the parking lot in Deep Ellum that’s been there for months? Even better.

What people often fail to appreciate is that you can establish liability against the property owner if they ignore an existing condition for too long; they don’t need to actually cause the danger. It’s a known leak in a Downtown Dallas office building that no one bothered to fix for weeks. The question here is “reasonable.” Would a reasonable person/property manager have noticed and fixed the danger? You’ve established a negligence claim if the answer is yes.

If we look at negligence claims specifically, there are three types of evidence which will make the strongest case. Incident reports filed that day. Maintenance records showing no repairs were completed. Eyewitness testimony about what you found before you fell.

Something that will surprise you, but it happens all the time: the quicker you document a slip and fall accident in Dallas, the stronger your case is. Security camera video gets recorded over and the store cleans up a spill within minutes. Your memory is also going to change and witnesses will forget details.

Also, don’t think that the obviousness of the condition is what you want in the eyes of a jury/judge. They want organized evidence, so even though you can see it, your memory is just that, it’s only memory, and not a proof of negligence.

If you want to understand whether you have a negligence-based case against the property owner, contact a slip and fall accident attorney who can explain where your case currently stands.

Need help with how does the slip and fall lawsuit process work? a step-by-step guide?

(972) 426-8388

Call now for a Free Case Evaluation. The Davis Law Firm is ready to help.

There is a Specific Timeline for Each Step You’ll Take When Filing a Dallas Slip and Fall Insurance Claim

Most think of a slip and fall insurance claim as a single, big event. It’s not. It is made up of several events spread out over several weeks and several months. You want to keep track of these events in their natural order so that you remain calm about the process, as you will be following each of them.

This is what the process typically looks like in Dallas.

Step 1: Get medical care. This is the beginning. Visit your doctor, local urgent care, or emergency room right away. You may think you’re fine but there are often injuries whose symptoms don’t develop until days later. Also your medical documentation is going to be a piece of evidence. We’re too many times to see individuals skip this stage, which often harms them down the road.

Step 2: Report the event. This means reporting the accident to a property manager or owner. When you fell down at a grocery store close to Uptown or a restaurant in Deep Ellum, ask for a written accident report and keep a copy before you depart. This makes an official record that the fall occurred on the premises.

Step 3: Do everything you can to record. Snap images of the peril that led to your fall, be it a slick pavement, fractured staircase, or jagged sidewalk pavement. Take photos of your wounds too. Jot down details while they’re still clear in your head. Take down the date, time, weather circumstances, and any witnesses who were present. This will be your phone camera.

Step 4: Check in with an attorney. Talk to an attorney before speaking to any kind of insurance business. The insurance adjusters will be calling you shortly. They will be very sympathetic. Their responsibility is to reduce their liability to the smallest sum. An attorney will talk with them and defend your rights starting on day 1. It’s more than you think.

Step 5: Your counsel investigates. Now the real job starts. Gathering the security video, maintenance files, and witness accounts becomes your attorney’s job. Did the owner of the premises know that something was amiss with this situation? When it comes to the liability of property owners in Dallas, there is a law that requires owners to remedy dangerous problems or give visitors notice. A good case exists if they didn’t.

Step 6: The demand letter is sent. The request letter sent by your lawyer outlines your injuries, medical bills, and what you are seeking for compensation. The insurance company has a set period to respond. Sometimes an insurance provider will present you with an offer of money. Sometimes they will argue.

Step 7: If necessary, take legal action. A majority of the claims are settled via negotiation. However, if you are not satisfied with their offer or you do not feel comfortable with their settlement amount, an attorney will file a lawsuit. You must adhere to the Texas Statute of Limitations as set forth in the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. As a general rule, it has a two-year limit for filing personal injury actions. You do not have an infinite amount of time to get started on this. What you probably do not expect is that although a lawsuit was filed, almost all claims are settled before trial. What the filing accomplishes is that it will serve as a leverage point to make the opposing party negotiate seriously.

Step 8: You can come to a resolution. At this time, you will have reached either an agreement, or you have been given a judgment from the judge. Your lawyer will present this offer to you for your consideration. You do not need to accept it. You cannot be forced to do so. You can expect that the procedure will require from several months to more than a year. The length of time will depend on the severity of your injuries, the response of the insurance provider, and whether it will eventually be necessary to file a claim. Cases involving commercial property owners in high-density parts of Dallas, including but not limited to the West End and Knox-Henderson, might also involve large business litigation teams that delay the resolution. When you go through these steps, you will have confidence. You’re not going to be in the dark as to what happens after this.

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