Don't Deal With a Personal Injury On Your Own

2 Things to Know About Cash Settlements for Slip & Fall Cases

13 October 2014 by Joan Bradley

If you were injured from a slip and fall incident while shopping at a store, the store might offer you a cash settlement in exchange for agreeing not to sue. When this happens, you may wonder why the store is doing this, and whether or not you should accept the offer.

Why Do Businesses Offer Cash Settlements?

After falling and injuring yourself inside a business, the business will be aware of the incident. You will probably call for help and file a report at the business, and the business will most likely start investigating the incident right away. To do this, the business may:

• Immediately go to the floor where the slip occurred—they will look to see if the floor was wet, slippery, or uneven. They may take pictures of any evidence they see.
• Review video surveillance—they may also look at the videos of this particular part of the store, and they may even hire a professional to investigate the footage.

If all of the evidence found proves they are at-fault for this slip and fall case, the business may want to settle with you. When a business offers a cash settlement, it will keep the case out of court. This arrangement can offer benefits to you and the business, and the business is likely to do this for three reasons:

1. It's cheaper—if they have to go through a court battle, it will cost a lot of money to hire attorneys for representation. The end settlement amount may also end up being higher than it would be through settling.
2. It's quieter—publicity can be good or bad, but this is the type of publicity many businesses like to avoid. If they can settle outside of court, fewer people will end up hearing about it.
3. It's faster—a personal injury case can often take months or years, and business owners might not want to have this lingering on for that long. When they settle, it can be over almost immediately.

Before you accept an offer, you may want to make an appointment with a personal injury lawyer to find out what you should do.

Should You Accept the Cash Settlement?

Your attorney will review the case and evidence and will give you his or her opinion. There are times when accepting a cash settlement is the best route for an injured person, but there are other times when this is not a good option.

To determine whether you should accept it or not, the attorney will look at:

• The amount they are offering you
• The damages and injuries you incurred from this incident

If the amount of the cash settlement is more than sufficient for covering your injuries, the attorney may tell you to accept it. If the amount is close, the attorney may send a demand letter to the business asking for more money.

Your attorney will assist you through this by helping you obtain the largest cash settlement available. If an agreement cannot be reached, the attorney will help you prepare a lawsuit against the business. If you have a situation similar to this and have not yet talked to a lawyer, you should contact a law firm such as Cantini Personal Injury Law Firm before you agree to anything the business offers. 

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