Demand Letter Example for a Slip and Fall Injury Claim

Use our sample demand letter to the insurance company as a guide when writing your own demand for compensation after a slip and fall injury.

When you’re visiting a home or business, the party who controls that property has a legal duty to keep their property safe.

When you’re injured by a slip and fall on someone else’s property, you have the right to seek compensation from the negligent property owner.

Usually, that means filing an injury claim with their homeowner’s insurance or liability insurance company.

Severe injury claims should be handled by a personal injury attorney to maximize compensation for the victim.

Most minor injury claims can be handled directly with the insurance company, if you take the time to learn how to negotiate with patience and persistence.

When handling your own claim, the negotiations phase gets underway when you send a formal demand packet to the insurance company.

Putting Together Your Demand Packet

You won’t be ready to negotiate your insurance claim until you’ve recovered from your injuries. By that time, you should have copies of the following documentation:

  • Medical records and bills
  • Receipts for out-of-pocket expenses
  • Lost wages statement from your employer
  • Witness statements
  • Photographs and video evidence

Photographic evidence should include pictures of your injuries taken after the incident and throughout your recovery.

If you fell in a commercial location, like a store, there might be video footage that captured your fall or shows the hazard before your injury. However, you probably won’t be able to get copies of surveillance camera footage without a subpoena.

You’ll use the bills, receipts, and wage loss statements to calculate the value of your injury claim.

Make copies of all your evidence and proof of loss to send with your demand letter. Keep the original documents organized in your injury claim file.

Sending a Polished Demand Letter

Most claims adjusters are working dozens of injury claims on any given day, so you want your demand letter to stand out. With a little attention to detail, there’s no reason you can’t craft your letter just as professionally as an attorney.

  • Use the review functions in your word processing program to be sure your letter is free of grammar and spelling errors.
  • Double-check the spelling of names and addresses.
  • Remember to check your math and make sure dollar amounts are typed correctly.

Your demand letter should include:

  • Statement of Facts: Describing the circumstances just before, during and after you were injured
  • Liability: Explain why the evidence shows the insured is directly responsible for your injuries
  • Injuries: Describe your injuries, emotional distress, and pain and suffering
  • Damages: A cost list of your special and general damages

Print your letter on good quality bond paper. Sign the letter in blue or black ink and make a copy of the complete packet for your records.

Send the letter by USPS certified mail, return receipt requested to confirm the date the insurance company receives the letter. When the green card comes back, attach it to your copy of the demand letter.

Sample Slip and Fall Demand Letter

Your demand letter will summarize the facts supporting your claim and make your first demand upon the insurance company to pay you a specific amount of compensation.

Here we’ve created a sample demand letter for injury compensation after a slip and fall. Our fictional injury victim is demanding compensation from the insurance company after falling on a wet floor in the grocery store.

Click for hints to help with writing your demand letter. 

Andrew Milligan
1567 South Mill Ave
Scottsdale, AZ 85017

June 10, 2020

Your letter date should be the day you mail your demand packet.

ABC Insurance Company
1010 High Street
New York, NY 10007
Attn: Margaret Dodd

Your Insured: Adolf’s Supermarket

Re: Injury on March 15, 2020

The insurance company may refer to your injury date as the “Loss Date,” “Date of Loss,” or “DOL.”

Claim Number:  456456B

FOR SETTLEMENT PURPOSES ONLY

Adding “For Settlement Purposes Only” at the top of your letter indicates the content of your letter should not be used as evidence if your case proceeds to litigation.

Dear Ms. Dodd:

As you know, I was seriously injured on the morning of March 15, 2020, by a slip and fall due to a wet floor in your insured’s supermarket. The evidence shows your insured’s negligence is directly responsible for my injuries and related damages.

If not for the negligence of Adolf’s Supermarket, I would not have suffered injuries that kept me in pain and out of work for four full weeks.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

On March 15, 2020, at approximately 10:00 a.m., I was shopping at Adolf’s Supermarket located at 1010 Main Street, Scottsdale, Arizona, 85017. I was moving at a leisurely pace, pushing a small grocery cart, and perusing the grocery items, just like any normal shopper.

I had no way of knowing I was walking into a dangerous situation. No signs were cautioning other shoppers or me about the wet floor, nor was the area where I fell cordoned off.

Many slip and fall injuries could be prevented by visible caution signs or roping off a dangerous area. The lack of such preventative measures strengthens your claim.

As I walked into the produce aisle, I noticed the misting machines were constantly misting the fruits and vegetables. As I approached the center of the produce section, I suddenly felt my legs go out from under me. As they did, I was viciously hurled downward onto the cement-like floor.

Using descriptive words like “viciously” or “cement-like” serves as a graphic reminder to the adjuster how serious your fall was.

As I plummeted downward, my right knee turned unnaturally to the left. I immediately felt an intense and searing pain in my right knee. I could feel wetness soaking into my pants as I sat on the floor. I realized run-off water from the mister had puddled on the floor, causing me to slip and fall.

Fortunately, another shopper saw me fall and immediately came to help. Her name is Susan Smith. Ms. Smith told me to stay still and went to get the store manager.

Ms. Smith returned with the manager, John Blevins. I explained to him that I slipped and fell on the pooled water and injured my knee. Mr. Blevins said he had been “having trouble” with the store’s mister.

Susan Smith saw me fall and confirmed she saw pooled water underneath me. She also witnessed Mr. Blevins admitting the water mister had caused problems. A copy of her statement is enclosed.

Statements made by a property owner, store manager, or employee that they were aware of a hazardous condition are “admissions against interest” that help prove their negligence.

I asked Mr. Blevins if he was going to create an incident report for my fall. He said he would. When I asked him to give me a copy of the report, he said he would have to check with his superior. When I later contacted Mr. Blevins about the incident report, he said he wasn’t allowed to give me a copy. I am sure you have reviewed a copy of that report.

Stores and insurance companies aren’t required to give copies of incident reports to victims. If your claim can’t be settled and you file a lawsuit, your attorney can subpoena the report.

The pain in my right knee was so excruciating that I could barely stand. I felt nauseous. I asked Mr. Blevins to call an ambulance. The paramedics arrived several minutes later. After stabilizing me, they transferred me to the Scottsdale General Hospital Emergency Room.

Do your best to incorporate your own facts and experience into the demand letter, without exaggerating or bending the truth. You want to paint a vivid and graphic picture of the events surrounding your slip and fall.

INJURIES AND TREATMENT

Sarah Dolan M.D. examined me at the Scottsdale General Hospital’s Emergency Room. After an initial examination, Dr. Dolan ordered an MRI of my right knee. The MRI showed that I had sustained a severe sprain to the ACL in my knee – a “grade 1” injury.

Wherever possible, use accurate medical terminology to describe your injuries and treatment, just as an attorney would.

Before March 15, 2020, I had never injured my right knee or ACL, or any part of my legs or feet. I was healthy, sober, and clear-headed when I walked into Adolf’s Supermarket.

This statement rules out any argument your current injury was an exacerbation of a previous injury, or that there were intervening factors that could have caused the injury.

Dr. Dolan advised me to rest and see an orthopedist as soon as possible. She said I’d be off my feet for several weeks and would most likely need physical therapy once the swelling went down.

My knee was wrapped, and I was given crutches. The doctor told me to stay off my feet and elevate my knee. I was prescribed three days’ worth of Tramadol for the pain to get me through until I saw a specialist.

Two days later, my roommate took me to see an orthopedic specialist, Dr. Mark Fletcher. After examining me and reviewing the MRI from the hospital, Dr. Fletcher confirmed the grade 1 ACL injury in my knee.

Dr. Fletcher ordered me to stay completely off my right leg for another week, then begin three weeks of physical therapy. He explained that to facilitate the healing process, I had to let the muscles recover, then slowly get them used to stretching again. The therapy would begin with small motions and intensify over the course of treatment.

Dr. Fletcher instructed me not to return to work at my job as a restaurant waiter during the weeks of therapy. He explained that going back to work too soon would exacerbate my knee injury and prolong my recovery time.

This makes clear to the adjuster you aren’t a malingerer. Instead, it shows that by following the doctor’s orders, you will heal faster and be able to return to work sooner.

For the next four weeks, I underwent a stressful and painful recovery. As ordered by Dr. Fletcher, I had my physical therapy treatment at the All-Care Clinic in Scottsdale.

When I completed my treatment at the All-Care Clinic, Dr. Fletcher released me to return to work.

LOST WAGES

I have worked as a waiter at the Happy Trails Restaurant five nights a week for the last two years. The enclosed statement from my employer shows that I was making $5 an hour and averaging $110 in tips every night I worked.

Because your insured was negligent, I was out of work for a full month, with no income. Being out of work was no picnic for me.

Because of the pain and physical limitations, I needed help to fix meals, get my laundry done, and most basic activities of life. Hiking with my friends or walking my dog was out of the question.

To make it all worse, I had to turn to family and friends to help me pay my bills.

Since my injury, I have suffered from extreme pain and discomfort, anxiety, guilt, and depression, all directly resulting from your insured’s negligence.

Don’t hesitate to describe in detail the emotional distress and mental anguish you went through while recovering from your injuries. These non-monetary damages are just as real as lost wages.

DAMAGES

The following is a list of my damages. Copies of the bills and other proof of my losses are enclosed.

Ambulance Service

$750

Hospital ER/ Dr. Dolan

$3,500

Dr. Fletcher

$700

Physical Therapy

$1,200

Lost Wages

$2,800

Pain and Suffering

$18,000

Total Damages

$26,950

DEMAND

To compensate me for the physical pain, emotional distress, and the financial losses I sustained because of the negligence of your insured, I demand the total amount of $26,950 to resolve my injury claim.

Please respond within fifteen (15) business days. I appreciate your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Andrew Milligan
Cell: 555-587-6698
Email: asm@example.com

If you decide to include an email address, use your home email rather than a work email address. Employers have the right to see all correspondence and attachments in your work email.

Legal Help is Always Available

Negotiating with the insurance adjuster is the hardest part of handling your own injury claim. Most of the time, you can get to a fair settlement after a few rounds of back-and-forth with the adjuster, but sometimes the negotiations process breaks down.

Maybe the adjuster refuses to pay all your bills or lost wages, or you might be stuck with a lazy adjuster who is letting your claim languish. No matter what’s holding up your injury settlement, you have the right to contact a personal injury attorney about your claim.

It’s amazing how fast some injury claims settle once an attorney gets involved. Adjusters will often raise their settlement offer rather than risk a lawsuit against their insured.

Legal help is always available. Most injury attorneys don’t charge injured victims for their initial consultation. It costs nothing to find out what an experienced attorney can do for you.