Slipping and falling in a bar can lead to severe injuries and immense complications on your daily life. Unfortunately, many people do not know what compensation they may have the right to obtain for those losses. If you slipped and fell in a bar, following the right steps and working closely with a lawyer can help you determine what happens next.
Factors That Impact a Slip and Fall Case
If you slip and fall in a bar, several factors can influence the compensation you can recover.
1. The Bar’s Negligence
In order to establish that you have the right to compensation after a slip and fall in a bar, you may need to start with a look at how the bar behaved negligently, leading to your accident. Negligence may include:
- Failing to clean up a spill in a timely manner
- Allowing a trip hazard, including wires, to remain across the floor where patrons could fall over it
- Ignoring needed maintenance on the floor
- Installing slippery or otherwise dangerous flooring
The bar may try to argue that, because you were drunk at the time of the incident, your own negligence caused you to fall. However, in many cases, you may still have the right to pursue compensation for your injuries due to the bar’s negligence.
2. The Negligence of a Third Party
Often, the bar itself will bear liability for damages suffered due to the negligence of the owner or the bar’s employees. However, in some cases, a third party, including a vendor, may bear liability. For example, if a band leaves a cord across the front of the stage where patrons of the bar might trip and fall, and they fail to secure the cord properly, the third party may end up bearing liability for the incident.
3. The Damages You Suffered
In order to claim compensation for a slip and fall in a bar, you will need to show that you sustained damages due to the incident. Damages from a slip and fall accident usually include a physical injury and the resulting aftermath. Injuries can leave you dealing with:
- Medical costs, including both emergency treatment and the cost of long-term treatment for your injuries
- Lost income because you cannot go back to work while you heal from your injuries
- Damage to property, including expensive electronics that may suffer damage because of the fall
- Pain and suffering, including both physical pain and emotional distress
If you did not suffer damages from your fall, it may prevent you from seeking compensation for the incident.
Collecting Evidence After a Slip and Fall at a Bar
Several pieces of evidence can help show the bar or a third party’s negligence and make it easier for you to show that you have grounds to file a claim. A lawyer can work with you to determine what evidence you may have available after the accident and ensure that you properly collect and preserve that evidence.
- Photos from the accident scene. Those photos can prove invaluable in showing exactly what led to the accident, including photos of a spill on the ground or a cord spread across the floor.
- Video of the accident. Bars may have security cameras in place that can clearly show what led to the incident. Furthermore, other patrons, including friends who may have visited the bar with you, may have video from the fall. Sometimes, that may be direct video; in other cases, the person may have been trying to video something else, but captured the fall.
- Witness testimonies. Testimony can prove invaluable in establishing exactly what led to a slip and fall accident. Keep in mind that witness testimony should be gathered soon after the accident to increase its accuracy.
Clear evidence can make it much easier to clearly establish that the bar caused your accident and that, as a result, you deserve compensation for your injuries.
Your Next Steps After a Slip and Fall in a Bar
If you slipped and fell in an Atlanta bar, the steps you take next can prove essential. Make sure that you:
- Report the fall. You do not want to simply leave the bar limping, no matter how embarrassed you feel about it. The bar may need to create a record of the incident.
- Collect evidence, if you can. Do not put yourself in danger of further injury; however, you may want to collect contact information from witnesses and take pictures of the area around you.
- Get medical attention. Medical attention is particularly important if you are drunk at the time of the accident, since alcohol can help cover up symptoms of serious injury. If you do not seek medical attention immediately, see a care provider as soon as you notice symptoms of injury after the accident.
- Follow your care provider’s instructions as you move through the recovery process. Do not engage in activities that could worsen your injuries or ignore needed appointments.
- Get in touch with a lawyer as soon as you can. A lawyer can help ensure that you navigate the slip and fall claim process correctly and that you do not miss out on any of the compensation you deserve.
- Keep track of all medical bills and other expenses related to the accident. You can easily lose track of the bills you have had to pay, especially co-pays and deductibles paid at the time of service. Keeping up with those records makes it easier to pursue compensation for all the costs you faced.
Protecting your right to compensation after an accident is critical. A lawyer can help make sure that you do not miss out on any essential steps.
Contact an Atlanta Slip and Fall Accident Lawyer After Your Bar Accident
After a slip and fall in an Atlanta bar, you need a lawyer on your side to help guide you through the claim process. Even if you were drunk at the time of the accident, you may still have the right to compensation. Contact Cambre & Associates today to learn more about your rights.