Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog
Winter time slip and fall cases caused by snow, ice or other slippery cold weather conditions are common occurrences in Ontario. But, just because they are common doesn’t mean that we all know what to do after a slip and fall takes place.
It’s common knowledge that when you’re involved in a serious car accident to contact the police. The great thing about police investigations in personal injury cases is that you have a third party making findings at the accident scene itself, and they will record contemporaneous notes. In fact, the police can go one step further and conduct a forensic investigation and event reconstruct the accident as well. But, it’s not so common knowledge to know what to do after a slip and fall accident. The police department does not examine slip and fall cases. There are no police officer’s notes, or reconstruction reports generated by the police after a slip and fall accident.
So, what do you do after a slop and fall accident; particularly in the winter time? Good question! The more you know, the greater chance that evidence will be collected and preserved to better advance and present a personal injury case.
Tip #1: Get the medical help you need right away. Your health is top priority. Don’t hesitate to call an ambulance, visit the hospital, or attend at an urgent care clinic to get the help you need for your injuries. If you don’t, insurers and their lawyers will wonder why you didn’t get help right away. They will likely draw some sort of negative inference given that you didn’t get immediate medical assistance and draw assumptions such as:
“The injury cannot be serious given that the Plaintiff did not seek out immediate medical attention”
“The injury is likely a fabrication, or unrelated to the slip and fall given that the Plaintiff did not seek out immediate medical attention”
“The Plaintiff is likely exaggerating his/her injuries given that s/he did not seek out immediate medical attention”
“The Plaintiff’s case is likely an elaborate scam to get paid based on deception and lies given that s/he did not seek out immediate medical attention”
In the insurer’s mind set, truly and legitimately injured people seek out immediate medical attention. Those who do not seek out immediate medical attention and thus neither truly, or legitimately injured as a result of the subject accident. Calling the ambulance has additional benefits. Sometimes, but not all of the time, the paramedic will note in his/her records that the Plaintiff fell on slippery ice, or a slippery surface. In fact, they may note that the surface where the Plaintiff was found to be lying on was slippery and not salted. The paramedics are helping out on the investigation itself for the Plaintiff’s case right then and there. This is wonderful evidence in support of the Plaintiff’s case, which would not have been recorded at all had the Plaintiff not called for the ambulance in the first place. These notations from the paramedic are very helpful for the Plaintiff’s case, and to the Court, in terms of better understanding how slippery (or not) the surface was. They will also note in what condition they found the Plaintiff. Was s/he in obvious pain? Was the leg obviously broken/twisted or displaced? All of these contemporaneous notes are helpful towards building a successful personal injury case.
Tip #2 Take photos of the hazard or surface upon which you fell. This is so important for a variety of reasons. For starters, knowing where you fell is very important. It establishes jurisdiction; meaning who owns the property itself so that you are identifying the proper Defendant. If the fall happened one foot east or west, you could be going after a completely different party the way that many property boundaries are drawn up. It’s also important because it shows the state of the surface at the time of the fall. Snow and ice melt! Capturing the state of the walkway at the time of the fall is crucial to better understanding how the fall could have taken place and to show whether or not the property was properly maintained, or not maintained at all. Having a Plaintiff state that the area was icy is NOT as effective as a picture showing the ice itself.
Tip #3 Save the shoes/footwear which you were wearing at the time of the slip and fall accident. The shoes/footwear which you had on will serve as evidence. The insurer wants to know what you were wearing. As does their lawyer. As does the Judge and Jury who might hear your case. They will have a different opinion of the case if you were wearing flip flops in the dead of winter on an icy surface as oppose to winter boots with a good tread. Loosing the footwear, or throwing it out is not a good idea. Photos of the footwear, meaning all four sides of it including the soles need to be taken. The footwear is evidence and ought to be treated as such.
Tip #4 Don’t assume that there are cameras everywhere taking video of your case. In most instances, the cameras, if they exist, either aren’t working, or aren’t pointing at the direction of the location where you fell, or the images aren’t clear, or the video is not preserved. In most cases, cameras are owned to benefit property owners. They exist to deter theft and other crimes. There is no benefit for a private property owner who is being sued to preserve a perfect video of your slip and fall. You cannot be naive into thinking that they will go out of their way to protect and preserve self incriminating evidence. The Defendant is not going to jail if they don’t have video footage of your slip and fall accident. The Courts cannot compel production of video which either does not exist, or which has been destroyed prior to reasonable notice of the slip and fall accident itself. Keep in mind that your slip and fall case is a civil case which is based primarily around compensation for an individual Plaintiff. It’s not a criminal case brought by the state against an accused for an alleged criminal offence.
