Slip and Fall Accidents
I’m Ed Smith, a Carmichael personal injury lawyer. Slips and falls can happen almost anywhere. However, major retailers such as Walmart, where shopper volume is high, may have an increase in the number of slip and fall accidents.
Why Is Walmart Different?
Grocery stores and other retailers carry liability insurance issued by insurance companies. Walmart insures itself. This means that when a claim is paid by Walmart, you are collecting from the company, not an insurance company. While no exact figures are available, it is commonly accepted that Walmart has more claims than other retailers. Walmart places second behind the government in the number of lawsuits. That means that Walmart is a party in a lawsuit thousands of times every year.
Walmart’s Mindset
Walmart, with nearly 5,000 stores across the country, is known to be aggressive when a claim is filed. The retailer does not automatically settle as many others do. Because of this, many law firms are reluctant to take on a case. This is where experience comes in. Walmart says it fights claims where it feels it was not responsible for another’s injury. The retailer’s determination makes it difficult for clients to recover damages, particularly if they try to go it alone.
Common Reasons for Premises Liability Claims
There are common reasons a slip, trip and fall accident may occur:
- Broken or chipped flooring
- Spilled food items such as flour, eggs or fruit
- Water at the entrance or around grocery bins, ice or flower sections
- Leakage around freezer compartments
- Parking lot potholes, broken pavement, unmarked dropoffs or failure to mark traffic bumps
- Oil residue on the floor in automotive section of the store
- Stacking of products in areas where customers walk
- Failure to remove carts or ladders from aisles
Things You Might Do After a Fall
There are things you can do after an accident that will help in a claim:
- Take a picture of the reason you fell: This is important since the spill or object may be cleaned or removed.
- Look around for video cameras, and jot down where they are or take a picture. This is important for two reasons. One, the video may have captured your fall. Two, video footage will document that a spill was present for some time before you fell. This is important since retailers should have employees look out for hazards, and clean them up as soon as is reasonably possible.
- Talk to witnesses who saw you fall or may have seen the hazard present earlier. If a witness notified employees that a hazard was present and it remained until you fell, make note of that.
- When you get witness statements, try to get the name and telephone number of the individuals. It will come in handy later on.
- Ask to fill out an accident report. Make sure a photocopy is obtained.
Injuries in Slip, Trip and Fall Accidents
Injuries that are commonly seen in slip, trip and fall accidents:
- Fractures, including pelvic fracture
- Traumatic brain injury
- Upper extremity injury
- Facial injury
How to Prove Fault in a Premises Liability Case
A premises liability case rests on proving that the owner or party of interest failed to take reasonable care to keep customers safe. To do that, one needs to show that the owner knew or should have known that the danger/hazard existed. This disregard for customer safety is seen as a breach of duty a store owner/responsible party has. When a customer is injured due to this negligent behavior, the injured party has the right to recover financial damages secondary to his or her injuries. These include: payment for medical expenses, lost wages and pain and suffering. It is also possible to recover payment for rehabilitation, nursing care at home, medications and the cost of travel to a doctor or medical facility.
Carmichael Personal Injury Lawyer
I’m Ed Smith, a Carmichael personal injury lawyer. If you have beeen seriously injured in an accident due to negligence on the part of someone else, reach out to me at (916) 921-6400. If you are not in the area, use my nationwide number at (800) 404-5400. I am available to provide friendly and free advice about your options and answer your questions. If you’d rather contact me online, please do so.
I have served clients in Northern California, including Carmichael, since 1982. I have helped them with traumatic injuries such as truck and car accidents as well as wrongful death claims.
If you want to see how I’ve done, go to my settlements and verdicts page. You can see reviews by former clients and peers at Avvo, Yelp and Google. You might be interested in the Million Dollar Advocates. I belong to this group of trial lawyers who have won settlements and verdicts of $1 million or more.
You may also peruse my site, AutoAccident.com, to read more about legal topics. I founded this website to help clients understand the law.
Photo Attribution: https://pixabay.com/en/grocery-store-market-supermarket-2619380/
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