These days, most residents of New York have probably seen at least one of those videos where someone intentionally falls so he or she can file a fraudulent premises liability claim, and such claims cost today’s home and business owners a substantial amount of time and money every year. At The Law Firm of Connors & Connors, P.C., we understand that some people regrettably fall on someone else’s property intentionally, and we have helped many people and businesses facing false premises liability claims get the full story on what transpired.
According to Elevanta Health, fraudulent premises liability claims are especially common in New York, which saw more questionable fall claims than any other state in the nation in 2010 and 2011, other than California. Fake slip-and-fall-accident claims also tend to increase during times of economic duress, with some people seeing a potential settlement as their ticket out of financial distress.
So, is there anything you can do as a business owner to help protect your lifeblood from fraudulent slip-and-fall claims? Ultimately, the more documentation you can gather about the incident in question, the better your chances typically are at proving the other party’s claim false. So, one of the first things you and your legal team might want to do is secure a written statement from the claimant that includes, in his or her words, an explanation of what happened and how he or she suffered an injury as a result.
You should get similar written statements from anyone who witnessed the incident, and you should also try to secure medical evidence that might help back up your argument a particular claim is fraudulent. You can find more about fraudulent premises liability claims on our webpage.