On Vacation in Florida and Fell in a Store: Now I Have a Broken Arm. What Do I Do?

You’re on vacation in Florida and fell in a store, you thought nothing of it until…. You find out you have a broken arm!

It happens, and when it happens in Florida while you’re visiting, it can feel extra overwhelming because you’re not at home. You don’t know the local doctors, you don’t know the rules, and you’re probably staring at a cast thinking, “How am I supposed to deal with this from out of state?”

Here’s what to do, step-by-step.

1) Get medical care immediately (and document the broken arm)
A broken arm isn’t a “wait and see” injury. If you haven’t already, go to an urgent care or ER and get proper imaging and treatment. If you already went and came back, keep everything:

Discharge paperwork
X-ray/imaging reports
Doctor instructions
Prescriptions
Bills and receipts (including copays, braces, slings, and medications)

Even if you’re thinking, “It’s obvious my arm is broken,” insurance companies still lean heavily on medical records. Your treatment timeline matters.

2) Tell the store and get an incident report—before you leave town
If you fell in a store, you want a written incident report from the manager or the corporate process. Be calm and direct. Give the basics:

Date and time
Where it happened (aisle, entrance, restroom, etc.)
What you slipped/tripped on (liquid, debris, uneven flooring, curled mat, clutter)
That you were injured and sought medical care

Ask for:

A copy of the incident report (some stores won’t give it, but ask anyway)
The name/title of the person you spoke to
The store number/location
Any claim number if they open one

If they won’t give you a copy, take a photo of the manager’s business card or write down their full name.

3) Take photos and video, as your case depends on it, because it might
Think of the scene like a melting ice cube. Spills get cleaned. Mats get moved. Warning cones appear after the fact. The conditions that caused your fall can vanish fast.

If you can (or if someone traveling with you can), capture:

The exact area where you fell (wide shot and close-ups)
The hazard itself (water, debris, broken tile, bunched rug, uneven threshold)
Any lack of warning signs (or where signs were placed)
Your shoes (yes—people will question them)
The lighting and visibility in that area
Your injuries (bruising/swelling) and your cast/splint later

If you were taken out on a stretcher or needed help, document that too. It tells the story of severity.

4) Get witness information before everyone disappears
Vacation crowds move on quickly. If anyone saw you fall or saw the hazard beforehand, get:

Name
Phone number
Email
A quick note on what they observed (even a text message from them is helpful)

Witnesses are especially important when the store later says, “We don’t know what caused the fall.”

5) Preserve what you were wearing and carrying
Don’t throw away the shoes. Don’t wash the clothes. Don’t lose the receipt if you bought something. Put everything aside in a bag. In many claims, stores and insurers look for any excuse to shift blame. Keeping items intact prevents arguments later.

6) Be careful what you say—and what you sign
After a store fall, it’s common to get a call from a store’s claims department or insurance adjuster. They may sound friendly, and sometimes they are. But they also work to minimize payouts.

A few practical rules:
Don’t guess. If you don’t know, say you don’t know.
Don’t downplay your injury (“It’s probably fine”)—you already have a broken arm.
Don’t give a recorded statement without legal advice.
Don’t sign medical authorizations that give unlimited access to your entire medical history.

And here’s a big one: don’t accept a quick settlement just because you want the headache gone. A broken arm can mean surgery, hardware, missed work, travel costs, follow-up care back home, and long-term stiffness or loss of range of motion. Once you settle, you generally can’t go back for more.

7) Track the “vacation costs” this fall caused
When you’re injured away from home, the expenses pile up in sneaky ways. Keep a running list of:

Medical costs and prescriptions
Transportation (rideshares, rental car modifications, extra flights)
Hotel changes or extended stays
Canceled tours or tickets
Extra baggage fees for medical equipment
Costs for help at home once you return (driving, childcare, household tasks)

These details can matter when your damages are calculated.

8) Understand the basic idea: stores must address hazards they knew or should have known about
In most store-fall cases, the key question becomes: was there a dangerous condition, and did the store fail to fix it or warn about it within a reasonable time?

Examples include:

Spills left on the floor
Leaky freezers or coolers
Recently mopped floors without proper warnings
Loose mats or uneven flooring
Cluttered aisles or tripping hazards

Stores often have surveillance video, cleaning logs, and incident records that can show what happened and how long the hazard existed. The catch is: those things don’t always get preserved unless action is taken quickly.

Why having a lawyer helps, especially when you’re from out of state:

A vacation injury claim sounds simple until you’re living it. You’re trying to heal, you’re not local, and you’re dealing with a corporate store and an insurance process designed to move fast and pay less.

When Tucker Law helps clients after a Florida store fall, our firm does the following:

Push to preserve surveillance video before it’s overwritten
Identify the correct responsible party (store, property owner, management company)
Collect incident reports, maintenance logs, and cleaning policies
Handle the calls and paperwork so you can focus on your recovery
Build damages properly—medical care, future treatment, lost income, pain, and limitations
Coordinate care and documentation after you return home

And we can do it without you having to keep flying back and forth just to be taken seriously.

If you’re on vacation in Florida, fall in a store, and break your arm, you don’t have to guess your way through the next steps. Call Tucker Law at 1-800-TUCKERWINS. We’ll listen, walk you through what matters, and help you protect the claim while you focus on getting better.