When You Need Medical Attention After a Fall on an Icy Surface, Who Foots the Bill?

(KNSI) — When you slip, fall and get hurt on an icy sidewalk, driveway or steps, who pays the medical bills?

Ice build-up on driveways, steps, and sidewalks has made walking treacherous in some spots. When you take a tumble and need medical attention, St. Cloud area personal injury attorney Mike Bryant says who pays depends. “That’s why you need to get into the facts right away. It’s worth calling somebody. It’s a free consultation to figure out what happened and why it happened. There’s some people who believe just because it happened on somebody else’s property you have a claim, and that’s not the case. There has to be negligence.”

Bryant says almost all falls are accidents, but that doesn’t mean no one is to blame. “Most people who fall don’t go into saying ‘I’m gonna fall or I want to fall.’ They get hurt and they have no interest in being hurt. The question is, why did it happen and if so, can you show it to be someone else’s fault.”

Bryant says negligence can be hard to prove, and because of that, many law firms won’t take slip-and-fall cases.

Ultimately someone’s insurance company and its premium payers will end up footing the bill for a fall. Bryant says some homeowners could have Med Pay as part of their insurance which could help to cover anyone hurt on that person’s property. Other people, like delivery drivers, would be covered under their company’s workmen’s comp policy.

If you’ve fallen and need legal advice, click here.

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