Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog
It’s that time of year when we get a lot of calls regarding slip and fall cases. The calls come from all over. Toronto, London, Peterborough, Oshawa, Richmond Hill. You name the place in Ontario; one of our Personal Injury Lawyers has probably fielded a call over the past month from that locale.
Why so many slip and fall personal injury inquiries to Goldfinger Injury Lawyers around this time of year? Well, for starters, we’re pretty darn good at what we do. Every day, we help Ontario accident victims get the compensation they deserve for their personal injury claims. Having law offices in Toronto, London and Peterborough doesn’t hurt either.
On top of that, it’s just that time of year when all of the winter slip and fall cases in Toronto, London and Peterborough start to accumulate due to the poor winter weather conditions. People sometimes think their slip and fall injuries will heal. But sometimes they don’t. People are too injured to work; or too injured to look after their dependants. Pain medication isn’t working, or it’s upsetting to their stomach. It’s time for somebody to pay for their negligence, and that’s where Goldfinger Injury Lawyers comes in to the picture.
So here’s Brian Goldfinger’s list of things to remember following your slip and fall accident in order to maximize your pain and suffering award in your personal injury case. Failure to follow these simple rules will result in a diminished value to your case:
1. Get medical attention right away. This is the most important thing. Do your very best to document or paper the trail of your pain. Simply saying “it hurt” tells the Court nothing! Court’s are like the State of Missouri aka “The Show Me State“. Courts, like the State of Missouri aren’t easily convinced. Both need proof. Real, live, documented proof. Viva Voce or verbal evidence from the accident victim is NOT enough. The Court wants the ambulance call report, the emergency department record, the x-ray report, CT Scans, doctor’s handwritten notes, physiotherapist’s notes etc. If you don’t get medical attention, you won’t be able to properly document/paper your case. A Court will be skeptical that you suffered or were in pain as much as you say you are. After all, you have a vested interest in saying you were in pain, no matter how honest a person you are. Even if you have the best character witnesses corroborating your oral evidence; they’re not medical professionals; so what do they know. Don’t like it? Sorry. This is just how our Court system works. Got a problem with that? Then write to the Ontario Attorney General and find out what he has to say.
2. Take pictures of where you fell!!!! So many people forget they have camera phones. Use them. Use the camera on the phone people. Did you fall on ice? Take a picture of the patch of ice, because ice isn’t forever. It melts. And once it melts it’s gone forever so we will never know for certain how big the patch of ice was, how thick it was, and exactly where it was. If you were a Judge, or a Jury, wouldn’t you like to know these details in a slip and fall personal injury case? I sure as heck would. The age old saying “a picture’s worth a thousand words” also applies here. Judges and Juries and Insurance companies alike are more convinced by pictures, than they are of you telling us how big the patch of ice was. If the parking lot was like a skating rink, having a photo of that skating rink would really put the property owner/Defendant behind the eight ball. How embarrassing.
3. Get as many witnesses as you can. If somebody helped you up after you slipped and fell, thank them and get their contact information. They will be a witness in your case. Even if they didn’t witness the slip and fall accident first hand, at the very least they can corroborate that you did in fact slip and fall, that you needed help getting to your feet, that you were in pain and that you did in fact slip and fall on a dangerous hazzard instead of just being clumsy and tripping over your own two feet. Witness corroboration is important in any personal injury law case/slip and fall case.
4. Save your shoes or boots beause they’re evidence in your slip and fall case! If you slipped and fell in a pair of boots, don’t throw them away or even wear them. They’re evidence in your case. The Judge, jury and insurance company will want to see what sort of footwear you were wearing at the time of your slip and fall accident. The more you wear the footwear after the accident, the more it will wear down and assist the insurance company in proving that the footwear you were wearing at the time of the accident was inadequate, unsafe, or had improper treads. Yes, they always argue those points, so get ready to hear a lot of that sort of stuff.
5. Call Goldfinger Injury Lawyers and Brian Goldfinger right away! Yes, call us right away. The sooner you call, the better we can help you in preserving the evidence in your case, collect witness statements when they are fresh in the witnesses’ minds, set you up with medical treatment not covered by OHIP, and protect your limitation period before it expires. Limitation periods come fast and hard in slip and fall cases. Don’t let your limitation period pass you by. If it does, your case will be finished before it even has a chance to start. We see it all the time because people get complacent with their personal injury cases or don’t take these matters seriously. Personal Injury Cases and personal injury lawyers alike are serious. Don’t mess around with limitation periods. Call a personal injury lawyer (Goldfinger Injury Lawyers) right away so we can deal with them before they become a problem.
I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the Toronto Maple Leafs making the Playoffs. Bold prediction: The Toronto Maple Leafs will finish 1 or 2 spots out of the Playoffs. Toronto is NOT a Stanley Cup contender this year. So like the Toronto Raptors, let’s hope that the Toronto Maple Leafs lose more games to get a better pick in the draft. The only Leafs that will make a playoff run and have a chance at winning a championship this year, are my YAHL Leafs.
