Slip and Fall Lawyers in Kansas City, Missouri
If you have slipped and fallen in Kansas City, you may be entitled to compensation. Do not let negligent property owners off the hook. Contact one of our skilled Kansas City personal injury lawyers right away for a free case evaluation and to discuss your legal options.
As discussed in more detail on our premises liability practice page, property owners have a responsibility to keep their properties in a safe condition for guests and visitors. If they fail to correct a dangerous condition, they may be responsible for your injuries after a fall. The property owner’s responsibility to keep you safe depends on why you were on their property.
If you are visiting a property for business purposes, the owner is required to frequently inspect the property for hazards and make repairs to remedy them. If you are visiting the home of a friend, your friend does not have the same requirements as a business owner, but if there is a hazardous condition in their home, they must make you aware of the hazard.
There may be other parties responsible for your injuries other than a property or business owner, such as landlords, third-party contractors, or government agencies. An experienced slip and fall attorney can investigate your fall and determine who to hold responsible for your injuries.
The Average Cost of a Slip and Fall Injury is $30,000 to $40,000
The CDC estimates that the average hospital costs after a slip and fall are over $30,000.00. Medical bills that are high and injuries that are serious can be devastating for slip and fall victims and their families. You will more than likely need expensive imaging such as MRIs/CT scans, specialist treatment from an orthopedist, neurologist, or concussion specialist, surgery, skilled therapies, in-patient or out-patient rehabilitation, and in some cases, pain management for the rest of your life.
All these things can be incredibly overwhelming for a personal injury victim. You may miss significant time away from work, or depending on the seriousness of your injuries, you may become permanently disabled and unable to return to work or engage in your normal activities of daily life.
Slip and Fall Accidents Often Result in
Broken Bones
If you slip and fall, there is a chance you will break a bone. Slip and falls result in serious injuries in twenty to thirty percent of cases. Bone fractures not only increase your pain but also take longer to recover from and are more likely to cause permanent disabilities. If you suffer serious or catastrophic injuries from a slip and fall accident in Kansas or Missouri, it is important to hire an attorney experienced in serious and catastrophic injuries. Serious injuries result in greater damages and often cannot be settled without litigating the case. Not all law firms are willing and have the experience necessary to represent personal injury victims adequately and successfully in court. These are all important things to consider when hiring a Kansas City accident injury lawyer.
Fall Injury?
Falls Are the Most Common Cause of Serious Brain Injuries and Broken Hips
The most common way to suffer a traumatic brain injury is by falling. Brain injuries can have lingering effects, making it critical to recognize, diagnose and correctly treat brain injuries.
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are caused by a violent blow or jolt to the head or body or when an object goes through brain tissue and range in severity from mild, with temporary effects, to traumatic, resulting in long-term complications and in some cases death.
Symptoms of mild traumatic brain injuries include headaches, nausea/vomiting, fatigue/feeling tired, difficulties with speech, and dizziness or loss of balance. If you sustain a mild TBI, you may also experience sensory symptoms and cognitive, behavioral, or mental symptoms, such as blurred vision, ringing in your ears, loss or changes to your sense of smell, loss of consciousness, memory or concentration problems, mood changes, depression or anxiety, difficulty sleeping or requiring more
sleep than normal.
Symptoms of moderate to severe TBIs include loss of consciousness for several minutes or hours, persistent, recurrent, and worsening headaches, repetitive vomiting, convulsions, seizures, dilations or one or both pupils, drainage of clear fluids from the nose or ears, not being able to wake up from sleep, and loss of coordination. The cognitive and mental symptoms associated with moderate to severe TBIs include profound confusion, agitation, combativeness or other unusual behavior, slurred speech, and coma or other disorders.
For more information on traumatic brain injuries, read our blog: Facts About Brain Injuries, or watch our video: Lasting Effects of a Traumatic
Brain Injury TBI.
See what the medical experts of the University of Missouri have to say on the subject of cognitive and psychological consequences of TBI by visiting here.
Ninety-five percent of all hip fractures are caused by falls. A hip fracture often requires invasive surgery and can result in pain, suffering, and limited mobility. Those over the age of 65 are more likely to fall than their younger counterparts. Approximately a third of all seniors over age 65 fall each year. When an elderly person suffers a broken hip, they are less equipped to handle the recovery, and these injuries often result in death. Click here to watch Kaiser Permanente Thrive’s Study on the effects of hip fractures on elderly women.
What to Do After a Slip and Fall
No one expects to enter a store or other business and be unable to leave due to injuries caused by a hazardous condition. Unfortunately, it happens more than you would think. More than one million people go to emergency rooms across the US each year for slip and fall injuries, which is more than two thousand people a day. Falls alone represent more than eight million annual emergency room visits, with a significant percentage of those involving slip and fall accidents.
Due to the common occurrence of slip and fall injuries in Kansas City, it is important for you to be prepared and know what to do if it happens to you. The top-rated slip and fall attorneys at Kendall Law Group suggest you do the following to protect your legal rights:
Remain Still and Check Yourself for Injuries. You should always place your safety above all else. Some injuries, such as neck and spinal cord injuries, can be made worse or result in paralysis by movement. If you experience tingling in your back, arms and/or legs, you should have someone nearby call 911 and remain still until the arrival of paramedics. You may have a serious back or neck injury.
Report Your Slip, Trip or Fall Accident. If you are accompanied by someone, have that person report your injuries to someone in charge. If you are alone, ask someone who witnessed your fall or someone nearby your fall location to report your fall to management.
Document Your Fall. After speaking with someone in charge, you should request to complete an incident report. If possible, before you leave the premises, obtain a copy of the incident report, or have someone with you get a copy of the report. If possible, take photos of the scene of your slip and fall and your injuries. Make notes of where, when, and what caused your fall, who you spoke with, and the names and contact information of any witnesses. Make sure to keep these notes somewhere safe for later access.
Get Medical Treatment. If you do not require an ambulance, go to the nearest urgent care or emergency room as soon as possible. Once evaluated, ask for a copy of your medical records, radiology films, and reports. Make sure to follow your doctor’s instructions and schedule and attend any necessary follow-up appointments.
Call an Attorney. Before speaking with an insurance company or anyone else about your injuries, call a personal injury attorney for a case review. A Kansas City personal injury attorney can provide you with vital information on how to proceed and things to avoid that will potentially
damage your claim.
Hire a Skilled Kansas City Slip and Fall Lawyer. An attorney can handle all the red tape and frustrating communication with insurance companies while you focus on what matters most, getting the medical treatment you need to get back to your normal life
What Will a Slip and Fall Accident Lawyer Do for You?
Although you may be entitled to compensation for your slip and fall injuries, you will face challenges every step of the way. Hiring an attorney provides you time to focus on getting better and puts you in the best position to get all the money you need and deserve.
When you turn to Kendall Law Group for help after a slip and fall, we will:
Stand up to insurance companies when they devalue or deny your claim;
Carefully investigate the circumstances surrounding your slip and fall accident and determine why it happened and who is to blame;
Seek compensation from anyone who contributed to your slip and fall;
Protect you when a property owner tries to blame you for your slip
and fall; and
Consult with injury experts to value your case.
Our experienced slip-and-fall attorneys will have your back from day one. Over the past 30 years, Kendall Law Group has negotiated favorable settlements for individuals injured in slip-and-falls both in and out of court. If an agreeable, fair settlement cannot be reached out of court, we are not afraid to file a lawsuit and present your case to a jury.