The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) recently released a report that found there has been an increase in questionable slip-and-fall claims.
There is little doubt that these types of accidents do in fact occur resulting in people suffering serious injuries. However, there is also a criminal element that occurs with these same types of claims.
What is a Questionable Slip-And-Fall-Claim?
In the simplest of terms it is when a person creates a false and potentially dangerous situation with the intent to fake a slip or fall with the intent to cash in monetarily.
Although a majority of these types of claims are against large businesses, NCIB has discovered several attempts to extort money from small retailers with the threat of slip-and-fall litigation to obtain cash payments. In this instance, the slip-and-fall artist fakes an injury then tries to extort money from the shop owner by saying he needs medical treatment.
The five states generating the most slip-and-fall questionable claims from 2010-2011 were: California (667); New York (280); Texas (245); Illinois (230) and Florida (286). The five cities were: New York (134); Los Angeles (127); Philadelphia (99); Chicago (63) and Las Vegas (62).
The full report is available here.
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