In the United States, slip and fall accidents account for over 1 million hospital emergency room visits, representing 12% of total fall accidents annually. An individual may sustain different injuries due to slip and fall, ranging from minor fracture to life-changing incapacitating damage. If you or your loved ones have become a victim of a slip and fall accident due to the negligence or carelessness of someone else, you are entitled to initiate a legal claim to obtain rightful compensation for your pain and suffering by hiring an experienced slip and fall lawyer.

What is a Slip and Fall Claim?

Slip and fall is a legal term which refers to a personal injury claim in which an individual slips or trips and sustains an injury on the property of another individual or business. It is a tort that usually falls under the broader category of ‘premises liability’ claim. Slip and fall accidents can severely affect your finances by rendering you unable to work, thus resulting in loss of wages and may also give rise to substantial medical bills and rehabilitation costs.

The adverse ramifications of slip and fall injuries are not only limited to financial means, but it can heavily influence your health condition as well. For instance, it may render a person incapacitated or disfigured, which can negatively affect their emotion and social wellbeing, supplemented by the pain and suffering they have to undergo until they fully recover. They may also find it difficult to perform daily chores and live a life without being dependent on others.

How to Seek Compensation

A victim of a slip and fall accident pursuing a legal claim must prove to the court that they sustained an injury due to the negligence of another and that injury had an adverse impact on their health and finances. This can be accomplished by obtaining services of a competent slip and fall lawyer as they will help you to prove four points of negligence.

The legal counsel of the defendant, however, will also devise a defense strategy to disapprove your claims and protect their client. They may attempt to undermine your injuries or discredit your side of the story to limit, if not prevent, the liability and reduce the amount of compensation. One of the ways that a defense attorney may use to undermine your case is by collecting information regarding your online activities on the internet which may include monitoring your social media to find evidence.

How Can Social Media Affect Your Slip And Fall Claim?

In this technological era, everyone has an online presence on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and other online platforms. It is also extremely common for people to share their daily activities and important events with their family and friends. However, a simple post, picture or even comment can have a negative impact on your case.

For instance, if you post a picture of yourself while working out or performing any activity that requires physical exertion, the defense counsel may attempt to use that image to argue that your injuries were not severe. Similarly, if you are seen flaunting money or indulging in personal outings, they may try to use that against you to prove that the injury did not affect your finances and so on.

Therefore, you must monitor all your social media accounts and filter any content that you may think could hurt your claim. Also, refrain from posting any picture or video unless you are confident that it will not affect your case. Finally, make sure to change all your settings from public to private to limit the exposure of your posts and activities. You can also ask your slip and fall lawyer to go through your accounts to ensure that your case is not affected due to your social media posts.

If you wish to seek further information about this subject or schedule a consultation session, contact the team at Wright & James, P.C. at 404-624-7447 to discuss your case with an experienced slip and fall lawyer.