If you slip or fall on someone else’s property, you may be able to recover compensation for lost wages, medical bills, and other expenses. Proving your case without witnesses is difficult, but not impossible. Here is how to proceed with a personal injury claim after an Indiana slip and fall accident despite a lack of witnesses.
Steps to Take After a Slip and Fall Accident With No Witnesses
You can increase the chance of a successful claim by following these steps:
- Report the incident: If possible, avoid leaving the premises before speaking to a manager. If you leave before reporting your slip and fall injury, there may be no documentation or record of what happened.
- Get medical attention: The sooner you seek out medical attention, the better. Even if you think you doubt you were seriously injured, a physical examination can uncover injuries that you might not have felt in the moments after your fall. The information you report to your doctor can help solidify your case.
- Contact an attorney: It’s important to have a legal advocate on your side to help you navigate the ins and outs of your personal injury claim. Even without witnesses, an Indiana slip and fall attorney can gather evidence to prove your case.
How to Collect Evidence Without Witnesses
While having eyewitness testimony is ideal, it’s not the end of the road for your case if you don’t have it. Slip and fall lawyers can still collect evidence aside from what an observer at the scene may have shared.
Alternative sources of evidence include:
- Video surveillance footage: Many commercial establishments have strategically placed security cameras at entrances and exits, so there’s a decent chance that a security camera captured the incident.
- Medical records: If you go to a doctor immediately after your slip or fall, you can use this information to prove you were injured. After all, why would someone go to the doctor for an injury if they weren’t, in fact, injured?
- Other third parties: If your injury prevented you from getting up to seek help, emergency responders might have been on the scene to transport you to a hospital. The testimony of the emergency responders or employees who assisted you after the fact can be used in your claim.
How an Attorney Can Help With a Slip and Fall Case
Even in situations with plenty of witnesses, slip and fall accidents can be difficult to prove. The reason is that just because you fall on someone else’s property, it doesn’t automatically mean the property owner is liable. To recover damages, you’ll have to prove the property owner’s negligence.
Proving negligence involves four elements:
- The property owner owed you a duty of care. In general, property owners owe a duty of care to all people who are on their property legally. In some situations, there could be some protection for trespassers. This duty requires property owners to keep their premises safe or alert visitors of hazardous conditions.
- The property owner breached the duty of care. If the property owner does not act in a manner consistent with keeping the premises safe, they have breached their duty of care.
- The breach of the duty caused your injury. There must be a link between the condition on the property and your injury.
- You suffered damages as a result of the injury-causing breach. For this element, virtually any injury associated with the incident would suffice.
Contact an Experienced Indiana Slip and Fall Attorney
At Stewart & Stewart Attorneys, our Indianapolis slip and fall attorneys have a long and successful track record helping clients who have been injured on another person’s property. To discuss your case, please contact us at 317-827-7934 for a free consultation.