We’ve seen it happen before where a Chicago business’s customer slips, falls, and injures themselves. Workers, managers, and owners feel terrible. What could they have done differently. Sometimes these cases are very real. Businesses hate to think they’ve made a mistake or that a trusted employee made an oversight, yet sometimes it happens. Other times, they’re not at fault and the slip and fall is fraudulent. How can you protect your business from fraudulent slip and fall cases?
You can’t tell what’s fraudulent and not from a lawsuit. Many people who truly get injured because of a business’s oversight will sue in order to help them cover their medical bills and any work they have to miss because of their injury. Anyone who planned a fraudulent slip and fall sues in order to make money. The lawsuits will look the exact same. Perhaps you can uncover a history of similar lawsuits, but this doesn’t necessarily happen as often as it does on TV.
The key is CCTV coverage. CCTV protects you from fraudulent lawsuits. There are many indicators to look for, and your business’s attorney will be able to identify these. In many cases, this means simply turning over CCTV footage to a law firm. They’re better equipped to identify relevant footage than your business. If you have a highly skilled security team, you can put their services at the disposal of your attorney, but in general, follow the attorney’s lead.
CCTV protects you from fraudulent lawsuits in a few different ways. The most obvious is recognizing that a slip and fall is staged. Sometimes, you’ll just see someone lie down on the ground, or ease themselves down in an obviously fake fall.
Yet those who make fraudulent lawsuits often do so in front of witnesses, as this makes their case stronger. In this case, they’ll know how to make a fall look realistic. You may be able to find other evidence on CCTV, however. They may scout the area where they plan their slip and fall, or they may scout your CCTV coverage days prior. They may wait for certain circumstances to play out, and only act just after an employee’s mopped or moved something.
Never assume a slip and fall is fraudulent before you have the information. This can make people who have really slipped and fallen less forgiving, or less willing to work with you if your business is at fault. CCTV coverage gives you and your business’s attorney more information. More information makes you better able to prove those lawsuits that are fraudulent, and better informed as to how to change an element of your business so that a real incident doesn’t repeat.