Dear Customer (name blocked for privacy),

Your attorney's experience is different than others. This is expected. I know attorney's in my state who specialize in slip and fall, and they have no problem reaching settlements frm 65,000 to 135,000. Your slip and fall may be hard to prove because of evidence. How do they know you fell.

I bet there are security cameras on the entire floor in that store and as part of discovery, you can ask to view the tapes.

You can dipose the janitor sevice as the ones who worked that day to discuss the presence of water on the floor.

Your attorney should assist in and notifiy witnesses to depose. If you like, you can hire a detective to find out who the janitors are.

Dear classicchazzz,

Having a corrabative witness is always helpful to a case. The issue you have is related to how strong your case is. If the defendents think you have a weak case, they will dig in thier heals for a low settlement. If you have a strong case, you can hold out for more. Your success depends, in affect for how good your case is.

Somtimes you have to cut your lossess, when you reach a point where you know it is not worth pursuing for more.

Using my own slip and fall for example:

I had a strong case. My case was strong because:

1. I had a security video tape of the fall
2. I had sustained a particularly bad fraxture with x-ray evidence
3. The defendents own physician gave me a determination of permance for future continued problems with my ankle and leg.
4. My phicisian gave me permanence
5. The managment and co-workers collaborated that the condidtion causing the fall was an ongoing problem.
6. The store had a previous law suit for the same issue two years prior
7. The store manager and staff did not perform due diligence befor opening the store to clear ice from the sidewalk.
8. and so forth.

In the negotiations we submitted a summary judgment based not on how much money I wanted, but rather on what I thought was fair market value for this type of injury. Attorney's do not like this approach because it makes it seem like there is value to breaking a leg. But, with "Freakenomics" we can say that it does.

We submitted a summary judgement for 156,000 dollars based on an average for cases similar to mine, for our county when they went to court. In deposition, all parties stipulated to the facts based on the strenghth of the evidence listed above. The defendents countered with 65,000 and we laughed. We restated the 156,000 figure. The attorney and I privately said I would be happy if I could go home with 60,000 in my pocket after attorney fees, court costs and satisfyhing liens from the insurance company. (that figure represented a total settlement of 96,000). We never waivered form the 156,000 until we were ordered to arbitration by the court. The court would not hear the case until we had gone to arbitration. The arbitrator gave me 115,000 and did not assign liability to me or co-defendents of the store owner. Both sides appealed the 115,000, us for being to low,and the defendents for being to high. We held out.

NOTE: During this time, the attorney;'s are negotiating between themselves on the merits of the cases and each has a figure in mind. They are negotiating for thier individual clients. My attorney kept me appraised of the current status of the negotiations and the other sides reactions. We finally got an offer for 132,000 (final offer), and I had a decision to make. At most, I could get maybe 10% more. I decided to settle on the 132,000 (82,000 to me after all is paid), because it was not worth the risk of going to court and having the court assign me a percentage of liability for my own injury, which is the trend these days. That would have potentially reduced my in pocket by as much as half.

Now, my example is for a strong case. An insurance adjuster friend tells me, that they typically settle these cases for 65,000 to 75,000. This is with severe injuries.

Compare your case to mine. How strong is your case. You may have to settle for something less. Typically, people believe they have a strong case worthy of a large settlement. They believe (I am not saying this of you, I am speaking generally), that because it is a big store and the store has insurance, that they can extract a large settlement. This is not the case.

You have to look at the merits of your case and what the maximum you can expect to gain from your circumstances based on what other with similar circumstances as yours, including extent of injuries, typically recieve if they go to court. Your settlement needs to be somewhat to a lot less than that inorder to get a satisfactory settlement without the risk of court.

My

Dear Customer (name blocked for privacy),

I think you have a moderately strong case. Your injuries are compelling, but your evidence is slight. You need to work on witnesses, and evidence, even current evidence. If you can find any tape for example, that demonstrates that they have a problem with the water.

The following witnesses are important:

1. Doctor's deposition about permanence.

2. Proof of how the injury interferes with your life. They call these life style witnesses. People who knew how active you were before and know how you are now.

3. Witnesses to the condition of the floor and A/C at the time.

4. Witnesses to the slip and fall it self.

5. Doctors reports

6. X-rays

etc. 10,000 is abdominal and you need to hold out for more than that. What will be difficult is not proving you slipped and fell, but that this injury has interfered with your job and ability to find work. You need to document your attempts to find work and the results. (does your profession require a fully functional limbs).