Not every slip and fall accident is fatal, but that does not mean these accidents should not be taken seriously. At Diaco Law, we understand that slip and fall injuries are always serious, and our Tampa slip and fall attorneys treat our clients with the respect and dignity that they deserve after suffering a slip and fall injury. For more information on our attorneys, call us today at (813) 221-7978 to schedule a free consultation about your case.
Meet Diaco Law Firm’s Tampa Slip and Fall Accident Attorneys
Joseph F. Diaco, Jr., Esq.
Founder & Attorney
Joseph F. Diaco, Jr. (Florida Bar No. 65201) is committed to helping injury victims in personal injury claims. Mr. Diaco began building a reputation as an aggressive advocate while litigating complex insurance cases early in his legal career beginning in 1995. For nearly 2 decades, Mr. Diaco has managed thousands of injury claims, deposed hundreds of experts (including doctors), and successfully handled dozens of jury trials.
Daniel S. Diaco, M.D., J.D.
Partner & Attorney
Throughout his career, Dr. Daniel Diaco (Florida Bar No. 127123) has worked as a medical expert evaluating the medical aspects of injury cases. Now, he is able to use his dual degrees in medicine and law and his 25 years of medical experience, education, and training to evaluate both the medical and legal aspects of personal injury and medical malpractice claims. Dr. Diaco has been an aggressive medical advocate for his patients for over two decades.
Scott A. Arthur, Esq.
Partner & Attorney
Scott A. Arthur (Florida Bar No. 15889) joined Diaco Law as a partner in 2020. Previously, Mr. Arthur was a shareholder at Gunn Law Group, P.A., where his practice focused on representing policyholders and the injured in claims against insurance companies, including cases involving disputed insurance coverage and bad faith. Mr. Arthur has jury trial and appellate experience in both state and federal court, and has litigated hundreds of personal injury and insurance cases on behalf of injured victims and Florida policyholders who have been denied fair compensation.
How Diaco Law Can Help You
At Diaco Law, our Tampa slip and fall attorneys are diligent, thoughtful, and creative in their pursuit of compensation for our clients. Here are just a few of the reasons our firm is the right firm for your slip and fall case:
- We will take your case on a contingency fee basis. Under the contingency fee arrangement, you do not pay our Tampa slip and fall lawyers unless and until we have resolved your case for the just compensation to which you are entitled.
- We have a track record of excellent results and grateful clients to back it up.
- Our Tampa slip and fall attorneys work with the only the finest experts who understand the pivotal safety codes and regulations in slip and fall cases.
If you have been injured in a slip and fall accident then do not hesitate to call us at (813) 221-7978 or through our online contact form (linked here) to schedule a free initial consultation about your case.
The Prevalence of Slip and Falls
In 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (the “BLS”) recorded almost 900 fatalities that were caused by falls, slips, or trips. These kinds of injuries accounted for almost 40% of all fatal injuries on construction jobsites in the same year.
What Causes Slip and Fall Accidents?
At Diaco Law, we want to be abundantly clear on this: slip and fall accidents do not just happen. They are caused by the negligence of other people, and they are almost always preventable. Here are a few of the most common ways that the negligence of other people cause slip and fall injuries:
- Failing to clean up spilled liquids on a jobsite or in a store;
- Failing to maintain an even, solid surface for people who enter into a business or jobsite;
- Poor or inadequate lighting that leaves people unable to see where they are going in a store, business, or jobsite;
- Failing to properly remove debris from walkways;
- Improperly stacked merchandise;
- Missing warning signs;
- No handrails on stairs or steps;
- Electrical cords or lines obstructing paths;
- Unmarked raise sidewalks or parking lots;
- Failure to abide by federal, state, or local safety requirements.
Who is responsible for slip and fall accidents?
Slips and falls sometimes happen by accident, but these incidents often occur as a result of unsafe conditions on a property. When the property owner or occupier fails to maintain their property in a safe way, that property owner can end up being held liable for losses.
The specific obligation the property owner or occupier has will depend on why people are coming to their property in the first place. Specifically, visitors are divided into three different categories, and the duty of care the owner owes depends on which category the accident victim falls into. Here are the different categories:
- Invitees: Invitees are visiting the property for the benefit of the property owner or occupier. For example, someone coming to a store to do business with the owner is an invitee. Invitees are owed the highest duty of care under the law. Property owners have an obligation to inspect the property for hazards, correct any defects when reasonable, and warn visitors of any potential hazards that exist.
- Licensees: Licensees are on the property for the benefit of both the visitor and the property owner. A good example of a licensee is a friend who comes to lunch or a neighbor who brings their kids over for a playday. Licensees are owed an intermediate duty of care, so property owners have an obligation to fix known hazards and warn of known risks.
- Trespassers: Trespassers are uninvited. The duty that a property owner has to a trespasser is very limited. A property owner can’t create hazards for trespassers, and must warn known trespassers of clearly dangerous conditions. If a property owner creates a risky situation such as putting a swimming pool on the property, it’s called an attractive nuisance and the property owner must take some steps to protect trespassers from that hazard.
If you are a slip and fall victim, then based on your status on the property, you’ll need to determine what obligation the property owner had to you and whether they breached it. If they did, then you should be entitled to get compensation for any losses resulting from their failures.
Diaco Law can provide invaluable assistance in pursuing a slip and fall accident case. Our legal team will work with you to establish what the property owner should have done, how they fell short of fulfilling their obligations to you, and how you were harmed as a result of their actions or failures.
Gathering evidence in a slip and fall case
If you are pursuing a slip-and-fall accident claim, it will be your obligation to show how the property owner failed and created unsafe conditions. There are a variety of different kinds of evidence you may be able to use to do that including:
- Photos from the area where the fall happened
- Security camera footage
- Eyewitness testimony from those who saw the slip and fall occur
- Expert testimony about why conditions were unsafe or about how the fall happened
- Maintenance logs showing when and how the property was maintained
- Police reports or accident reports, if applicable, depending on the situation
These are just some of the many different kinds of evidence that could help you to build a stronger case. You’ll also want things like medical records, which show how severely the fall harmed you and a pain diary to show how yoru injuries changed your life and diminished its quality.
Diaco Law can help you to gather all of these documents and other evidence. Our firm has extensive experience putting together strong slip-and-fall claims and we can work with you to give you the best possible chance of proving your claim and getting the compensation that you deserve.
Slip and Fall Accidents Cause Severe Injuries
Slip and fall accidents cause severe injuries such as the following:
- Broken or fractured bones;
- Soft tissue injuries such as torn or strained ligaments;
- Bruising;
- Scrapes and cuts;
- Sprained ankles;
- Torn ACLs or MCLs;
- Disfigurement;
- Dental Injuries;
- Catastrophic brain or spinal cord injuries that permanently alter the victim’s life;
- Death.
Sustained a Slip and Fall Injury due to somebody else’s negligence?
Contact a Slip & Fall Lawyer in Tampa, Florida.
Getting Compensation in a Slip and Fall Accident Claim
When you slip and fall because of the negligence or wrongdoing of a property owner, you have the right to be fully and fairly compensated for all of the harm you experience. Some of the different kinds of damages you should be able to collect include:
- Payment of all bills for medical care. If you need ongoing medical care, you should be compensated for those future bills as well as for any healthcare you have already paid for at the time that your claim is resolved.
- Payment for lost income and lost future earning potential. When your injuries cause you to take any time from work, even paid sick leave or vacation, you should be compensated for that resulting loss of income or saved hours. You should also be compensated if your ability to earn a living in the future will be impacted on an ongoing basis by your injuries
- Pain and suffering compensation. While it can be hard to put a price on the physical pain you endure due to your slip and fall injuries, you should still be compensated for it. Sometimes, you’ll be paid a daily rate by insurers for your pain or offered compensation calculated using a pain multiplier, which means multiplying actual economic damages by a number between 1.5 and 5 based on how badly you were hurt
- Emotional distress. Emotional pain is a very real type of pain and many people suffer lasting mental harm from a slip and fall. This could include things like depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder. You should be compensated for this loss as well
If a slip and fall injury is fatal, surviving loved ones also have the right to collect wrongful death damages, which can include things like lost companionship, funeral costs, and a lifetime of lost earnings.
This compensation can be collected by pursuing a legal claim in court, or you could settle outside of court if you receive a fair settlement offer.
Most likely, the money will come from the homeowners’ insurer, property insurer, or liability insurer of the property owner, and Diaco Law can negotiate with the insurance company on your behalf to try to get a settlement offer that gives you the money you deserve.
Our team is also experienced at slip and fall litigation and is ready and willing to go to court on your behalf to fight for your rights if there’s no fair settlement offer on the table.
Call Our Slip and Fall Lawyers Today to Discuss Your Case
People fall on a regular basis, and while many of them are not injured, our Tampa trip and fall attorneys at Diaco Law understand that the people who come to us for help were injured so badly that they cannot just get up and walk it off. Our clients are people who were seriously injured by the negligent conduct of a store, business, or employer who failed to keep their environment safe and caused a very serious injury.
Those negligent actors must be held accountable for the damage they do to other people, and we are proud to represent those they have injured. If you or a loved one were injured in a slip and fall accident then call our Tampa slip and fall attorneys today. You can reach us at (813) 221-7978 or through our online contact form, which is conveniently linked right here.