How much can you expect to receive in a slip-and-fall settlement? The answer depends on multiple factors.
In most cases, you will not receive a settlement of $1 million or more. Still, it can happen if the evidence supports your damages claims and you have the right legal representation from an experienced lawyer.
Here, we present examples of some of the largest publicly disclosed slip-and-fall court awards.
A pedestrian suffered a broken back and other serious injuries after he fell 20 feet through an open manhole in 2004. The plaintiff, who was a medical student at the time of the accident, was rendered unable to return to school.
The defendant owner of the manhole cover claimed that a third party had illegally removed the cover. This did not prevent a jury from awarding the plaintiff $85 million in damages, although this award was reduced to $18 million upon an agreement between the plaintiff and the defendant.
A man who passed out during a routine blood withdrawal at a medical clinic and broke his neck in the resulting fall received $15 million based on the irreparable paralysis that resulted. The plaintiffs persuaded the jury that the victim should not have been giving blood while seated on the edge of an exam table.
The plaintiff slipped on a wet substance on the store floor.
This resulted in a fractured skull and brain injury that also led to the victim permanently losing her sense of taste and smell. In addition, the plaintiff also claimed to have suffered from chronic neck pain, headaches, trouble keeping balance, anxiety, and depression.
The plaintiffs initially sought a nine-figure damages award, including punitive damages based on a claim of implied malice on the defendant’s part, but the jury declined to award them. The jury also found the plaintiff to have been 20% contributorily negligent.
Even with the 20% reduction in the award, the plaintiff still received $13.14 million for medical expenses, lost earnings, pain and suffering, as well as attorney fees.
A customer entering a gas station convenience store slipped and fell when she stepped into a puddle under a leaky awning. The fall resulted in a “face plant,” in which the customer landed on her chest and chin, snapping her head back when she hit the floor.
The plaintiff’s physical injuries included a traumatic brain injury with post-concussion symptoms that interfered with her ability to concentrate on anything more than one activity at a time and prevented her from returning to work.
The jury awarded her $12.2 million in compensation. A key to the judgment was the defendant’s admission at trial that the store management was aware of the awning problem and that it made the entryway dangerous.
A construction contract worker who slipped and fell at a construction site when he stepped on an icy floor suffered such severe injuries to his right leg and ankle that it took five surgeries to repair the injuries. Even after that, he still needed a cane to walk and suffered from chronic pain.
The cause of the accident was accidental damage to a water pipe, which leaked onto the floor. Although the construction site management assigned an employee to warn other workers of the icy condition danger, that person momentarily stepped away from that assignment, so the plaintiff received no warning.
The judgment award was based on $7 million in lost future earning capacity and $3 million in anticipated ongoing medical treatment costs.
A man and his wife won a combined judgment award against a well-known coffee store chain after he slipped on a recently mopped floor in one of its establishments. The plaintiff claimed that the wet floor space was not properly identified to warn customers.
As a result of the fall, the plaintiff claimed to have suffered from memory loss, extreme headaches and fatigue, and side effects from the prescription medication he had to take for treatment.
Although the coffee shop offered $100,000 as an initial settlement offer, the plaintiff rejected that sum and took the matter to court. In addition to a judgment of nearly $6.5 million for his damages, the jury also awarded an additional $1 million to the plaintiff’s spouse for loss of consortium, companionship, love, comfort, and care.
We discuss the judgments and settlements above as examples of what you can expect if you suffer from a slip and fall accident on someone else’s property resulting in extreme damages. Most slip and fall accident cases settle for considerably less money.
Instead, these examples show that, depending on the seriousness of the injuries and how long they last, sometimes a slip and fall settlement can require a considerable settlement payout to help you cope with long-term, significant effects of the accident.
Proving a slip-and-fall case for settlement negotiations or trial is the same, no matter where the accident happens. Some of the factors that made these high-value jury awards possible include:
If you suffer minor injuries, like spraining your wrist or ankle in a slip-and-fall, then chances are you will not be able to recover a sizable settlement claim.
In the cases above, the plaintiffs suffered severe injuries like broken bones, spinal injuries, skull fractures, disability, disfigurement, and traumatic brain injury that can require surgical treatment, result in considerable lost time from work, and necessitate long-term future treatment costs like physical therapy and rehabilitative treatment.
To receive a large slip and fall settlement sum or court award, the defendant must be able to pay it. Usually, businesses have “deeper pockets” than individuals do, and a business insurance policy will often pay for more than a homeowner’s insurance policy will.
In most personal injuries that happen in connection with employment, if the employer has a policy of workers’ compensation insurance, then under Arizona law, workers’ compensation is the only recourse for injury compensation.
Workers’ compensation will pay the cost of all your medical treatment expenses. So, if you are seriously injured, and your treatment costs millions of dollars, then you may be able to receive a large settlement compensation amount.
Workers’ comp will not, however, pay for non-economic damages like pain and suffering, anxiety and depression, mental anguish, or punitive damages.
If the employer’s actions contributing to a workplace accident are deliberate and not just negligent, then filing a personal injury lawsuit, like a slip and fall claim, is possible. An experienced personal injury can help you determine whether you have a possible personal injury lawsuit claim if you are hurt on the job.
Damages for physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, and even punitive damages can add considerably to the value of a settlement payout or a jury award. These damages are harder to prove than economic harm, like medical bills and lost wages, so having an experienced personal injury attorney represent you can be instrumental in recovering compensation for these kinds of indirect harm.
The property owner’s negligence in allowing a dangerous condition to exist, failing to warn of its existence, not correcting the condition in a timely manner, and resulting in serious injuries is important in establishing a high-value slip-and-fall claim.
Only one of the examples above saw the plaintiff’s recovery limited by the plaintiff’s contribution to causing the accident.
In Arizona, the legal doctrine of comparative fault will reduce the plaintiff’s potential settlement or verdict amount. For example, if you are entitled to a $1 million settlement, but the property owner can establish that you were 50% at fault for your harm, your compensation will be reduced to $500,000.
Compared to other personal injury cases, a slip and fall accident claim involving severe injuries can be more challenging to prove negligence as opposed to motor vehicle accidents where liability is often much more clear.
In slip-and-fall accident cases involving severe injuries, the property owner and the owner’s insurance provider will likely fight hard to minimize how much you receive in a settlement sum or from a jury. Insurance claim adjusters and defense attorneys are skilled negotiators and have no duty to see that you receive the maximum fair compensation.
Most personal injury claims never go to court and are settled instead. If you try to negotiate a reasonable settlement on your own, or if your attorney is not experienced in slip-and-fall claims, then your risk of walking away with considerably less than you deserve increases.
When you hire one of our Phoenix slip and fall injury attorneys at Stone Rose Law, your lawyer will negotiate with insurance companies and their attorneys from the strongest possible position. We will help you gather the evidence you need to support your claims, including your medical bills, costs for rehabilitation, lost wages, property loss values, and more.
If we cannot obtain for you through negotiations a fair settlement, our Phoenix personal injury lawyers are all experienced personal injury litigators. We will aggressively pursue all legal remedies you are entitled to on a contingency fee basis.
Remember: depending on where your slip and fall injury happened in Arizona, you could have as little as 180 days to act if you want to keep your right to make a legal claim.
Call us today at (480) 631-3025 or use our contact form to talk with one of our experienced personal injury attorneys.
