Did You Obtain Injuries Slipping And Falling In A Grocery Store? How Your Cell Phone Can Help Your Case

Following a slip and fall accident in a grocery store, it is important that you obtain evidence. This evidence may be needed later on to show that the store was at fault, how and why the accident happened, or whether you had any fault in the accident. Fortunately, obtaining and preserving evidence can be made easy with the assistance of one item that you likely already have in your pocket or purse. A cell phone can be used in different ways to help you preserve evidence following a slip and fall accident in which you sustained injuries. Here is how you can use your cell phone to assist you with this.

Take Pictures or Video Of the Accident Scene

Following a slip and fall accident in a grocery store, it is imperative that you document the scene. Maybe you slipped in some spilled soda or tripped over an uneven door mat or fell because poor lighting caused you to miss a step down. Regardless, there is a good chance that the problem will be corrected by the store quickly to ensure no other customers are injured. The spill will be mopped up, the floor mat will be straightened or the dead light bulb will be replaced. This can hinder your claim in the future, as it becomes your word against the stores as to what caused your slip and fall. If you have your phone, take it out and snap a few pictures of the accident scene, or shoot a video. This helps document what the scene looked like when the accident occurred, which can help bolster your claim.

Obtain Witness Information

Following a slip and fall accident, you should obtain contact information for any witnesses who saw you slip and fall. When you are injured in a slip and fall accident, the store's insurance company may try to pin some or all of the blame on you. They may say you slipped because your shoe was untied, because you were running, or because you were looking at your phone and not where you were walking. This can help to minimize the amount of money they have to pay you for your injuries. However, if witnesses saw what happened, they can corroborate your story as to what happened in the moments leading up to the accident and what caused the accident. But once the witnesses leave the store, tracking them down again can be hard. As such, following a slip and fall accident, grab your phone and input witness information into your contact list. If you write it on a piece of paper, you may lose the paper. Storing it in your phone helps to decrease the chances of you losing important witness information.

Record Statements With Employees and Managers

The last way your cell phone can help you if you are involved in a slip and fall in a grocery store is that it allows you to record statements with employees and managers. Following your accident, you will want to report your injuries to an employee or manager. As you do so, you may want to consider recording your interaction with that employee. You are legally allowed to to do this without the other parties consent unless you reside in California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington. If you reside in any of these states, they have a two-party consent law and require the other party to consent to being recorded. Simply ask the party if you can record the conversation to ensure you are following the law. The reason this is helpful is because some employees or managers may make an admission of guilt when you talk to them. They may ask you what happened and then admit that they knew the lighting was bad or that a spill had occurred and they hadn't had the time to clean it. Unfortunately, if you aren't recording, it becomes your word against theirs if they later recant this statement.

The actions you take immediately after a slip and fall accident occur can affect a personal injury slip and fall claim. However, you may be unsure of how to document everything that is occurring. Luckily, your cell phone makes it easy. If you were injured in a slip and fall claim in a grocery store, you can take photos or videos of the accident scene, store witness information and record statements with employees and managers using your cell phone. This information can then be passed along to a personal injury attorney who can use it to help you win your personal injury claim.

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