Grocery stores and supermarkets are among the most common locations where slip-and-fall or trip-and-fall accidents occur. This is especially true when stores fail to take the necessary safety measures to prevent such incidents. Slip-and-fall or trip-and-fall accidents often result in major injuries, and sometimes, even fatalities. Supermarket employees and owners and managers have a duty of care to their customers and to maintain the store in a reasonably safe condition. They are also required to warn customers of potential dangers in the store.
What Causes Supermarket Slip and Fall Accidents
Here are some of the top causes of supermarket slip and fall accidents:
Spills in aisles: Leaks from refrigerators or freezers and spilled liquids such as soft drinks, detergents or water in the aisles may present a number of hazards to customers when they are not promptly cleaned up. Sometimes, a customer may have spilled food or drink while shopping, leading to a slippery floor and an unsafe condition. However, it is still the responsibility of the store employees and owners and managers to make sure that all spills are cleaned up as soon as possible.
Lack of warning signs: When there is a spill in the aisle, waxed floors or some other dangerous condition, employees and owners and managers have a duty to alert customers by posting warning signs. For example, if the floors have been freshly mopped “wet floor” signs should be placed in the area to caution customers. Supermarkets that fail to take such safety measures may be held liable for negligence (carelessness) by a customer who has been injured in a slip and fall accident as a result.
Damaged flooring or carpeting: When a slip and fall or trip and fall accident occurs because of damaged or uneven flooring or torn carpeting, the store management and owners may be held liable because of the lack of proper maintenance.
Entrances and exits: These areas are frequently slippery especially when it is raining or snowing outside. Stores need to take appropriate safety measures to make sure these areas are not slick.
Parking lot accidents: When a parking lot is not properly maintained, there is also the risk of trip and fall or slip and fall accidents in these locations.
Inadequate lighting: When there is insufficient lighting or lack of lighting that results in slip and fall or trip and fall accidents, that forms a basis for a premises liability lawsuit in stores and supermarkets as well — whether it happens inside the building or in the store’s parking lot.
Contacting an Experienced Lawyer
If you have been injured in a supermarket slip and fall or trip and fall accident, call 911 or go to the emergency room right away. Visit your doctor as soon as possible even if you believe you have not suffered any injuries. Notify the storeowner or manger immediately and file an accident report. Get a copy of this report for your files. Use your cell phone to take photos of the area where you fell and the condition that caused your fall and injuries. Get contact information for the grocery store and any eyewitnesses to your fall.
If you were injured in a slip-and-fall or a trip-and-fall accident as a result of someone else’s negligence (carelessness), please remember that you have rights. Some of the damages that victims of such accidents can claim include, but are not limited to, medical expenses, loss of wages and benefits, cost of hospitalization, surgery, physical therapy, past and future pain and suffering, permanent injury, etc.
The experienced New York personal injury attorneys with the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options and also fight hard to recover just compensation for you. For over 51 years, our skilled accident attorneys have established a proven track record of helping injured victims get fair compensation for their losses.
Our law firm recovered $1,700,000 for a woman who slipped and fell and received no hospital or medical treatment for one month after the accident. We recently recovered $5,600,000 for a bicyclist who was hit by a van, and $2,550,000 for another victim of a truck accident, and $3,000,000 for a pedestrian who was hit by a car, and $2,000,000 in a hit-and-run accident, and the full $1,000,000 insurance policy for a pedestrian who was hit by a truck, and $4,625,000 for a driver who was in a car and was hit by a van, and $2,500,000 for a man who fell through an improperly secured hole. Also, one of our clients obtained a verdict for $43,940,000 and another of our clients got a verdict for $23,500,000, both in medical malpractice cases.
Please contact us TOLL FREE 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496). WE CAN EVEN COME TO YOU. There is no attorneys’ fee unless we recover money for you. We can also help with personal injury, lead poisoning and medical malpractice cases including, brachial plexus palsy (Erb’s palsy) and cerebral palsy cases in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. If you have been seriously injured in any of the 50 U.S. states, please call us and we will try to help you with your case.
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