Articles

Spoliation refers to the destruction or failure to preserve evidence that is necessary to contemplate or pending litigation.   In the context of a slip and fall case, this most often involves alerting the store and insurance company to the presence of litigation.   Under a recent Supreme Court decision in Georgia, the court can find a duty to preserve evidence when the litigation is “reasonable foreseeably” to the party in control of the evidence, even if the party is not on notice of a specific claim.    While most injured folks tend to think about whether there is any videotape which depicts the fall, there are also a number of other things that we have found relevant.   We include these areas and document requests in a cover letter and fax it and send it certified mail to the premises owner and the insurance company so that no one…

Variable Factors If you slip and fall on someone else’s property, it’s highly advisable that you estimate the value of your claim before taking any legal action. This would allow you to get an upper hand and know beforehand what settlement would be fair and what would be unacceptable. There is no fixed value for a slip and fall settlement. It varies depending on so many factors. One has to know every single detail about the case in order to have an idea of what they should settle for, which is a difficult feat to achieve. Moreover, factors that contribute to slip and falls vary extensively from one case to another. The severity of the injuries for the injured party or the property damages of the defendant where the accident occurred all have to be considered before settling on the amount. It’s really nearly impossible to take them all into…

Slip and Fall Case Misconceptions One of the greatest misconceptions about slip and fall cases is that they are easy to win. Many people generally believe that because they slipped and fell on somebody else’s property, it automatically means that they should win the case. Truth is, slip and fall cases are actually very difficult to prove in a trial, and they end up taking months or years in court. According to courtroom statistics, only one in five of slip and fall cases result in a money verdict for the injured party. If one has to go into a trial for a slip and fall settlement, they have to greatly consider how much time, money and effort has to go into the case in order to realize a positive outcome. The Settlement Amount Even on winning the case, most of them settle for a lot less. It is generally believed…

Ponton Law has handled many bus accident cases. While it is always important to retain an attorney as soon as possible if you are injured in any sort of auto accident, it is very important to retain an attorney involving an accident on a bus. This is important for two reasons. First, many times there will be a limited amount of money to compensate all of the individuals who were on the bus at the time of the accident. For example, in the last bus accident case we did involving a Megabus on I-75, there were 22 claimants who claimed that they were injured. The total available liability coverage to satisfy all of the injured claimants was $1,000,000. With significant injuries, including multiple back and neck surgeries, a $1,000,000 might seem like a lot but would actually be exhausted fairly quickly. Thus, the first to file a claim and pursue…

(1) Disputed Liability   In cases where the other side is disputing fault for the accident, it makes it difficult to pursue a claim if the other party is claiming that you were at fault.   For example, the other party claims that they had the green light when they entered the intersection.   Some things you can do to combat this is to obtain copies of the 911 records to see if a passerby called into 911 to report what happened and obtain video surveillance of the area where the accident occurred.    For example, we recently represented an individual who was struck in a crosswalk in the City of Atlanta and was able to secure footage from barbershop across the street which depicted the area where the accident occurred. (2) No Visible Property Damage.    If you were rear-ended by another vehicle and there is no visible damage to…