Guide to Slip and Fall Incidents in Large Stores

When paying a visit to a large store, the only thing on your mind is the list of items you wish to purchase and the rest of the day thereafter. Therefore, it comes as a shock to those who experience slip and fall incidents due to the negligence of the stores themselves. Whether it is a spilled liquid or a mopped floor with no warning signs, these falls can lead to serious injury.

Whenever a public place like a supermarket expects to see hundreds of visitors per day, they have a responsibility for their safety which means fixing uneven floors, clearing all spillages, and fixing any other issues that arise on a day-to-day basis. If you have recently been involved in a slip and fall accident, the process moving ahead largely depends on the type of store so we have broken down the most common locations below.

Store Type - Often, people immediately think of a grocery store but sadly slip and fall accidents can happen anywhere. When a large brand name is involved, building a case can be difficult since they have more resources than all of us combined but here are some key examples of slip and fall locations.

Hotel - From one-star to five-star, these establishments include any that allow overnight accommodation as well as other services including meals.

Department Stores - Here, we have any large stores that sell various items segregated into departments just as the name suggests. For instance, they will normally hold clothing, bathroom accessories, home-ware, and others. In the US, we have the likes of Family Dollar and Rite Aid.

Restaurants - For now, we are excluding fast-food restaurants as they belong in a separate category but this is any restaurant where you enjoy a sit-down meal. With California Pizza Kitchen, Olive Garden, and thousands of others, you pay for the luxury of sitting at a table and having a meal cooked for you. Typically, these will be more expensive than the next category.

Fast-Food - Including Starbucks, McDonald’s, and KFC, these outlets tend to produce huge quantities of food in a quick manner. Normally, they will be franchises with locations all over the country although there will be the odd standalone business providing fast food.

Grocery Stores - Primarily, these stores deal with fresh, frozen, and packaged food and drink. Nowadays, grocery stores seem to be regional with no company yet making it national; for example 7-Eleven and Stop & Stop.

Home-Good Stores - Finally, we have Sears, Lowe's, and all companies similar who provide the products that will fix homes such as building supplies. Ultimately, they will provide paint, nails, doors, and everything else a home will need to keep running.

Finding Fault - With any slip and fall case, the priority needs to be determining fault because this will decide whether or not any potential case will be successful. If you tripped over something that wasn’t necessarily a hazard, you might struggle to receive compensation. On the other hand, a wet floor with no apparent warning signing is clearly the fault of the store and you will have a case. As well as covering medical bills, personal injury lawyers and slip and fall lawyers will also push for damages, pain and suffering, lost wages, etc.

Filing a Claim - In truth, there are several options available to those who want to pursue damages for a slip and fall incident. Firstly, you could contact the store directly and try to work something out between the two of you with no outside involvement. Unfortunately, this is extremely rare since they won’t want to give their insurance information away and they will try to record a statement from you downplaying your injuries. If you do happen to work with the company, their highest offer will never be enough to cover full compensation despite admitting blame. Essentially, they will offer just enough to cover their own backs because insurance companies don’t want to pay you any more than they have to.

Over the years, it has been made clear that the best option with a slip and fall case is to contact a specialized lawyer and this is what we do here at The Injury Firm. Since we have worked many of these cases through the years, we have the skills and experience to put you in a great position with your case. Although nobody could ever offer you a 100% guaranteed compensation, personal injury lawyers will know the industry and how to prepare your case successfully. Also, they will gather evidence to prove the fault stands with the store because they might try to reject this notion; this will include photographs, gathering witnesses, expert witnesses, camera footage, CCTV footage, and more.

When you work with the store, you might be able to recover some money but it will never be as much as what you could obtain when working with slip and fall lawyers. More than anything else, these lawyers will keep you protected whilst also working on receiving lost earnings, stress, pain and suffering, etc. Sadly, you will have to pay more than just medical bills after an injury so you need a lawyer who will stand in your corner and work hard to get the maximum payout possible!

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