Slip and fall injuries are also known by some as slip and slide injuries, but they generally relate to injuries caused by people either slipping, tripping or falling as a result either as a design flaw on the walking surface, or a slippery surface caused by weather conditions or a spill and these arise in a variety of situations. 

One of the more common types is people injured while they are shopping, for example, when somebody simply spills oil on a floor around an aisle in the shopping centre and when you unfortunately happens to be the first person to walk along, you land up on your back or with some pretty serious injuries in some cases. We also represent clients who have been injured walking in parking lots by pieces of metal and obtrusive equipment protruding in places where it should not be. 

Each of these types of cases requires a factual examination and they are also very complex because many of these companies have a number of indemnities in place. In short, simply slipping or falling somewhere, does not guarantee you a claim at all and due to the complexities involved, we are prepared to handle these on a no success, no fee contingency basis, but we typically only agree to take on such cases when the injuries, and the loss that you have suffered are fairly large. In other words, if you simply suffered bruising, and went back to work without any loss of income, we would not take on such a case although you may well find a smaller firm may. 

If you have any queries in this regard, please write us at personalinjury@onlinelaw.co.za .
 

All personal injury claims consist of the same. The categories would always include things such as general damages, which are money for pain and suffering, as well as money for the past medical expenses that you have incurred. In addition to this, with the use of medico legal experts, and other experts such as actuaries, we will calculate what future medical expenses you require as well as any potential future loss of income, in addition to your past loss of income.

We handle cases on a contingency basis, meaning that clients can elect if they want to, that instead of having to pay fees as the matter proceeds as they would in an ordinary case, such as a divorce, they can pay us at the end of the matter. If we proceed on that basis, we agree on a fee in terms of the Contingency Fees Act or a common law contingency fee agreement whereby we take a percentage of the case at the end of the matter and in return, we take all of the risks and run the case on your behalf. We handle cases on a contingency basis within those Provinces that allow it, and these include the Gauteng area. Of course, if you want to, you can elect to have a normal fee agreement and can pay our fees on a monthly basis.

A claim against the Road Accident Fund for injuries sustained in a motor accident is probably the most common type of personal injury claim in South Africa, and it is the one that most people are familiar with. You can read more about these types of claims on our related website www.accidentclaim.co.za .

This is a common perception that people have, but it is not the reality and while it sometimes seems to be more common in smaller areas, it is certainly not the case in a large city where most of the experts we use are based. You certainly will, from time to time, find that a certain expert may not wish to give evidence against another expert, but by and large, one is dealing with professionals.

A lot of matters are referred to us by doctors, and in many cases, while it is important to them that justice is done, they do not want their name to come up in any subsequent proceedings. We are happy to assist and in such a matter we would suggest that you contact Michael personally at michael@onlinelaw.co.za or on (011) 788-7273.

We don’t want to tell you that that is not the case, but the truth is that any case that is worth more than R100 000,00, and we generally do not take on smaller cases, is going to proceed in the High Court. That would be the case for most divorces as well, and you cannot get a court case in the High Court much faster than approximately 2 years. So, unless the matter is settled, it is quite normal that it will be a number of years before it is finalised. On the other hand, you should not let that stand in the way of ensuring that justice is done.