Slip and Fall Settlements

James was walking in the mall, when he suddenly slipped and fell down, banging his elbow and arm in the process. The floor of the mall was wet as a result of soapy water, as the surface had been cleaned just a few minutes ago. James had fractured his arm as result of the fall. The medical bill was, well ridiculously high, and he missed work for about a week. Hence, he decided to sue the mall authorities for damages and personal injuries. The court ordered the mall authorities to compensate James with appropriate slip and fall settlements...

What James experienced was an accident. However, he had to incur many unnecessary losses, even though he had not been at fault, not to mention the pain that he had to go through. The mall authorities were of course expected to put up a 'wet floor' cautionary sign.

Legal Premise of Slip and Fall Cases
Slip and fall is a concept which has been provided for in the United States Tort Law. A tort, is a wrongdoing. Usually, this wrongdoing is restricted to what we call, a 'civil wrong', that is, it is usually non-criminal and non-corporate wrongdoing. However, it must be also noted that criminal or corporate wrong-doings may also be included under the Tort law.

The basic premise of tort law is simple. A tort is a wrongdoing which results into loss or hurt or even injury. Under such circumstances, the injured party (or person) can file a suit against the party (or person) responsible. In slip and fall cases, the law suit is filed by the plaintiff because he or she is hurt or injured due to the actions or abstinence from actions.

For a proper slip and fall suit (a court case), there should be some elements present:

1. The slip and fall must have occurred on some other person's property.
2. The slip and fall should have resulted into either a mental injury (basically trouble), monetary or asset injury (loss or damage to certain asset) or physical injury.
3. Any other party other than the injured party should be at fault, it can also be some other person than the owner or custodian of the property.

On the whole, injury caused when on some other person's property, due to the negligence, mistake or fault of any other party than the injured party, is a slip and fall case.

Slip and Fall Court Cases
Average slip and fall settlement cases are just like personal injury cases. In such cases, the plaintiff has to prove that the injury was caused as a result of some other person's fault and carelessness. The court session of such cases is often considered to be enjoyable by the members of the jury, as the slip and fall settlement attorneys battle to prove their point, as to who was responsible for the injury and damages. If the plaintiff (person who has slipped) is able to prove that the accident was caused as a result of the defendant's mistake, then the defendant is expected to pay a compensation to the plaintiff. A simple personal injury settlement calculator is used to derive the amount of compensation.

Constituents of Settlements
In most of the cases, medical expenditure constitutes the total amount of the settlement. Amount that becomes payable to the plaintiff may also constitute the following elements.

• Personal Injury Settlement: A personal injury settlement, basically constitutes the amount of medical expenditure that has been incurred by the injured party. In some cases, if the plaintiff undergoes a considerable amount of pain, some amount is also paid to compensate it.
• Damages: It might happen that during the fall, a person's property is damaged. Commonly, the plaintiff's laptop or cell phone or a similar personal asset is damaged during the accident. The defendant is also supposed to compensate for such expenditures and damages.
• Others: The plaintiff may also incur some expenditures such as ambulance charges. The slip and fall settlements also consist of these expenses. The plaintiff may also sue the defendant for loss of wages in case if he misses his work.

Out of the above mentioned points, not all are always applicable, and the court rarely orders a hundred percent compensation.

Mode of Payment
There are several different ways or modes of payment, with the help of which the settlement amount is paid. Usually, the court orders the defendant to pay a specific sum as a settlement. This settlement can be paid in two ways, that is either as a lump sum or as a structured settlement. A lump sum means that the whole amount of compensation is paid in a single go. A structured settlement is a different kind of payment, where the entire amount that is to be compensated is paid over a span of time, with the help of several installments. In some cases, the plaintiff and defendant may reach an outside the court settlement, where the amount is paid without the court orders.

The slip and fall settlements have become so unexpected, that organizations that are likely to be sued avail a separate liability insurance, so as to cater to such settlements. Good Luck!