What is good settament on fall at restaurant

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What is good settament on fall at restaurant

Tripped on board that was sticking up
at a restaurant. 72 yrs old and still
hurting from it.been 9 months. Nothing
broken but stiil in pain.

Asked on March 10, 2016 under Personal Injury, Texas

Answers:

S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 8 years ago | Contributor

Your settlement should compensate you for your medical bills and pain and suffering which is an amount in addition to the medical bills.  I assume that you are retired, but if not, you should also seek compensation for wage loss.
Compensation for the medical bills is straight reimbursement.  The medical reports will document the nature and extent of your injury and will be used to determine compensation for pain and suffering.  Compensation for wage loss is straight reimbursement.
There isn't any mathematical formula for determining compensation for pain and suffering.  It just depends on the facts of the case.  If you need future medical treatment, that should be mentioned in the medical report and the estimated cost of future treatment discounted to present value.
You don't want to settle the case until you are either released by the doctor upon completion of treatment or are declared by the doctor to be permanent and stationary, which means having reached a point in your medical treatment where no further improvement is anticipated.  Once the case is settled, you can't go back to the restaurant's insurance company and ask for more money.
I would ask for quadruple the medical bills to compensate for pain and suffering, but NOT EXPECTING to get that.  That would be a starting point in negotiations.  The insurance company will respond with a much lower offer and you can continue negotiating to try to get more.
If you are dissatisfied with settlement offers from the restaurant's insurance carrier, reject the settlement offers and file a lawsuit based on premises liability against the restaurant.
Since nine months have elapsed since your fall, you want to be aware of the statute of limitations.  Whether or not you are still receiving medical treatment, you cannot miss the statute of limitations.  If the case is NOT settled and the statute of limitations is approaching, you need to file your lawsuit against the restaurant because if the statute of limitations expires, you will have lost your rights in the matter forever.
If the case is settled, NO lawsuit is filed, but again if it has not settled, you must file your lawsuit prior to the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations or you will lose your rights forever in the matter.
 


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