A slip-and-fall accident can occur in almost any location. Sustaining injuries in a slip and fall can also result in various setbacks. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one out of five falling accidents results in a serious injury.
While a variety of factors, such as being aware of your surroundings, can help prevent slips and falls, your choice of footwear can also reduce your chances of getting hurt.
The Potential Role of Footwear in Slip and Falls
Your footwear impacts your ability to maintain traction on a range of surfaces. Shoes with good tread will help you grip a surface and keep your balance more easily than high heels or shoes with worn-down tread. If you know you’ll be in a setting where the chances of slipping and falling are relatively high, choose your footwear accordingly.
For example, perhaps you plan to go grocery shopping. Customers may knock items onto the floor, or they might spill liquids, which could be hazardous until employees clean them up. In addition, broken or uneven flooring and other hazards could increase your chances of sustaining injuries in a slip and fall.
Going into such an environment, you may choose to wear new sneakers. Shoes with tread that haven’t worn down can help you maintain your footing and minimize your injury risk.
Steps to Take After a Slip and Fall
There are certain steps you should take in the immediate aftermath of a slip and fall accident:
- Report the incident to someone in charge (like a manager or employee at a store)
- Don’t say anything to suggest you might have caused the incident
- Don’t say you’re uninjured, as you may have sustained injuries without realizing it yet
- Get the names and contact information of witnesses at the scene
- Take pictures of the accident scene and your injuries
- Confirm someone in charge has filed or is filing an official accident report with no false information
- Seek medical care right away, regardless of whether you feel you’ve sustained injuries
It’s also wise to store the shoes you were wearing at the time of the incident somewhere safe. This is because the shoes you wore at the time of your slip and fall may play a critical role in your case. They’re valuable evidence, so unless you have no other options, avoid wearing these shoes while your case is still pending.
Pursuing a Texas Slip and Fall Case
You may file an insurance claim after a slip and fall on someone else’s property if the incident resulted from their actions or carelessness. Filing a claim is a means of seeking compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and similar losses resulting from your injuries. You may file a lawsuit if the insurance company doesn’t offer a fair settlement or the party responsible for your injuries doesn’t have insurance.
Texas also has a “proportionate responsibility” statute that may affect your ability to pursue compensation. This law prevents an injured person from recovering compensation if they were more than 50 percent responsible, and proportionately reduces compensation in cases where an injury victim is up to 50 percent to blame for their injuries.
In the case of your slip and fall accident, an insurance company or attorney might argue you were partially responsible for your injuries if you wore inappropriate footwear for the setting. This is why keeping your footwear as evidence can help you navigate such potential complexities as they arise.
Contact a Dallas & Fort Worth Slip and Fall Lawyer Today
Pursuing the compensation you deserve is a challenging process made much easier by having experienced legal representation. At Rochelle McCullough, LLP, a Texas slip and fall lawyer is on hand to help with your claim. Learn more about what we can do for you by contacting us today to set up a consultation.