This summer, a mother and her toddler were walking down the sidewalk when an awning being installed on a neighborhood building fell and injured both of them. Who is responsible for their injuries? Is it the mother’s fault for walking near a construction project? Is the awning installer or manufacturer to blame? How about the business owner? What about the landlord?
Figuring out who is responsible when a passerby or visitor is injured by falling objects is not always an easy task. At Levin & Malkin, we help Bergen County residents who have been injured by falling objects and collapsing buildings get the compensation they need to treat their injuries and move forward with their lives. This involves gathering evidence that shows what happened, who is to blame, and how badly our client was hurt.
How we can determine fault?
Our team has lots of experience investigating falling object and building collapse cases. We begin by visiting the site of the accident and taking photographs of the scene. This is one of the reasons why it is helpful to contact an attorney as soon as possible after an accident. Evidence of what happened is often quickly cleaned up or repaired, which can make it harder to figure out exactly what happened and prove a particular party was at fault.
If materials from the accident are still available, it can be useful to call in experts to examine them for defects, poor craftsmanship, or shoddy maintenance.
If first responders were called to the scene, we pull the resulting reports, which may provide evidence of what happened at the time of the accident, or reveal the identities of potentially responsible parties or witnesses. We then check in with the local government to see if the building had been condemned, cited for building code violations, or was officially under construction. Government documents often play an important role in these cases.
Our goal is to build up evidence that shows what caused the accident so the appropriate parties can be held accountable. We do all of this while our client focuses on getting medical treatment and healing.
Seeking appropriate medical treatment, and then following the doctors’ orders is critical. For one thing, a doctor is the only one who can fully assess internal injuries or injuries that may worsen over time if not properly treated.
From a legal perspective, medical records become important evidence in the case. The goal of the civil justice system is to put the injured party in the position he or she would have been in if the accident had never occurred. The main tool for doing this is monetary compensation, and one of the measures of how much compensation is appropriate is the cost of medical treatment. Medical records provide evidence of the extent of injuries and the cost of injuries.
Contact Levin & Malkin, PC Today
If you have been injured by a falling object or a collapsing building, and you want to hold the responsible parties accountable and get compensation for your injuries, the Levin & Malkin team is here to help. Please contact us so we can schedule a free initial consultation.
Posted in: Personal Injury