Premises Liability Attorney
What is the difference if my slip and fall incident happens at a Publix food store or at a friend’s house; in either case, who will pay my medical bills?
Answer:
Under Florida law, there really is no difference at all. The same duties
and responsibilities imposed on a commercial business like Publix, apply
to individual homeowners as well. The real difference lies in the
ability to collect money damages if you prove negligence on the part of
the property owner. It is virtually certain that if the fall happens at
a large commercial property such as Publix, Albertsons, Winn Dixie, JC
Penny, Bloomingdales, etc., that there will be insurance coverage
available for you to collect your out of pocket expenses, lost wages,
medical bills and past and future pain and suffering, depending on the
extent of your injuries.
If your injury happens at a friend’s house or at a private home, the
ability to recover your damages depends on whether a homeowner’s
insurance policy exists on the property. Many times a landlord rents out
the property to a tenant who takes over complete possession of the
property from the landlord. If you get hurt in the home while a tenant
is in possession of it, neither the landlord nor his insurance company
will be responsible for payment to you as a result of the negligence of
the tenant in failing to maintain the property in a reasonably safe
condition. The landlord’s insurance will cover you if the injury is due
to the negligence of the landlord – such as a dangerous condition on a
portion of the property that the tenant does not control – but the
landlord’s insurance will not cover you if their tenant throws a party
and a large spill remains on the floor for an hour causing you to fall
and fracture your hip, for example. Most tenants do not carry liability
insurance.
There are also some additional coverage's to insurance policies that may
apply to help cover some medical expenses for an injury on someone
else’s property. You need to hire an experienced lawyer in this type of
trip and fall or slip and fall case right away. Some critical decisions
must be made right away, such as whether you should use your medical
insurance to cover the bills, use the homeowners med-pay coverage to pay
the bills or have your lawyer sign a letter of protection – which is a
document that tells a doctor that if they treat you for free now, the
lawyer promises to get their bill paid at the end of the case out of any
settlement that is reached with the other side. This “letter of
protection” is commonly used in trip and fall / slip and fall cases
because many people do not have health insurance, and if the store
refuses to pay the bills right away (which they usually do) you will
have to pay cash for all your medical care until you are reimbursed in
the form of a money settlement at the end of the case. The “letter of
protection” will allow an injured party to get all the medical care they
need without having to come out of pocket for any expenses while the
treatment is ongoing. This can only be accomplished by having a lawyer
that has relationships with medical providers that are willing to take
these types of cases. Your letter of protection, without a lawyer
signing it, is useless to the doctors because they know the lawyer is
ethically bound not to disburse any money at the end of the case until
they get paid. I can help you find a really good doctor in the area of
specialty that you need, on a letter of protection, for the appropriate
case.