When you slip and fall in a supermarket and suffer severe injuries, you might be able to file a claim to collect monetary damages. Call Law Office of Irene H. Gabo, P.C. to find out if you can file a claim.
Thousands of people in New York suffer severe injuries in supermarkets every year. Even in stores that look well-maintained, dangers lurk everywhere. There are slippery floors to navigate. There are crowded aisles to navigate. When you consider how many times a year, the average consumer takes a trip to the supermarket, the risk of getting hurt is significant.
Supermarkets have legal responsibilities to customers. They must ensure the premises are safe. This duty resides with the owner of the supermarket, the owner of the property, management, and employees. They all should avoid unduly harming the people in and around the store. When a dangerous condition exists that someone knew about or should have known about, and you suffer injuries, you might have a claim against the supermarket.
If you suffered injuries in a supermarket, a personal injury lawyer who understands premises liability could help you collect the maximum compensation. The Law Office of Irene H. Gabo, P.C. represents individuals in New York when they slip and fall in supermarkets. Our firm has a track record of success litigating supermarket accident claims and negotiating with insurance companies. The goal? For victims to receive fair compensation to cover their financial, physical, and emotional injuries. That compensation in a supermarket accident case should include money for current and future medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
How Do Slip and Fall Accidents in Supermarkets Occur?
Consider how often you visit the supermarket. Think about all of the opportunities for accidents to occur. Every supermarket slip-and-fall case has different details, but many accidents and injuries result from similar circumstances.
Common supermarket accidents that result in claims occur because of:
- Broken or defective shopping carts
- Wet floors from mopping
- Wet floors from spills
- Failing to display warning signs or safety notices
- Broken glass from dropped items
- Items falling from shelves
- Broken or uneven floors
- Broken shelves
- Poorly maintained stairs or escalators
- Weather conditions that cause slippery floors
- Dangerous conditions outside the store from ice, broken sidewalks, or curbs.
- Faulty doors in and out of the supermarket
- Violations of building codes
If you suffered injuries in a supermarket and one of the above factors contributed to your accident, it is possible negligence played a role in creating a dangerous condition. Speaking with our experienced premises liability lawyer at Law Office of Irene H. Gabo, P.C. is an excellent first step toward finding out if you have a personal injury claim against the supermarket.
Supermarket Accidents Can Result in Severe Injuries
Supermarket accidents often involve slips and falls and result in all the injuries that accompany those things. Falling items and shelves also contribute to many injuries. Some common injuries that result from supermarket accidents are:
- Cuts
- Sprain injuries
- Bruises
- Broken bones, especially ankles and wrists
- Fractures
- Back injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Concussions
These types of injuries can be mild to severe. In some cases, treatment is quick and easy. In others, however, treatment can include the need for surgery, physical therapy, medication, hospital stays, and months or years of time to recover. In the most extreme cases, injuries from a supermarket accident can result in a lifetime of medical problems and even death. Proving negligence in all supermarket slip and fall cases is essential to collecting maximum damages the laws allow. It is especially important when the victim is going to suffer the effects of the supermarket accident for a long time.
Proving Negligence When You Get Hurt in a Supermarket
Proving negligence is crucial to any successful supermarket slip and fall case. First, to hold anyone liable, there must be a duty. In premises liability, the store owner, landlord, employees, cart manufacturer, and others have duties to keep customers and visitors reasonably safe. When someone breaches the duty, the result is negligence.
Also, your injuries must result from negligence to hold the supermarket legally responsible, or liable, for damages. Negligence occurs when someone did or did not do something they were reasonably expected to do, and the act or failure to act causes injuries.
To prove negligence in a supermarket personal injury case, your premises liability lawyer will have to demonstrate:
- The party owed you a duty,
- There was a dangerous condition on the premises,
- That someone such as a manager or employee knew about the dangerous condition and failed to take reasonable steps to correct it or
- That someone such as a manager or employee should have known about the dangerous condition
- That the dangerous condition caused your injuries
An Example of Supermarket Negligence in Slip and Fall Claims
The following is an example of premises liability in the event of a supermarket accident:
Facts:
- There is a spill in aisle 6.
- The store manager told an employee to clean the spill.
- The employee did not clean the spill, and a customer slipped and fell, suffering a broken ankle and concussion.
Proving Negligence:
- The store and employee owe a duty to keep customers safe
- The spill created a dangerous condition
- The manager and employee knew about the spill
- The manager took the step of telling the employee to clean the spill. It may be that the manager acted reasonably by doing stopping there.
- However, you can argue that the manager could have gone a step further and marked the aisle with a sign or cone, or made an announcement to warn customers of the danger.
- The slip and fall on the spill resulted in your injuries
- The store can be liable because the manager and employee knew about the danger and failed to act reasonably to maintain a safe environment for the customer.
Other types of negligence in a supermarket slip and fall claims might include failing to fix broken carts, overstocking shelves, not performing building inspections, and negligent hiring of employees. Others include employees leaving dollys or carts unattended in the aisle and people trip over them. I other cases, many supermarkets have parking lots that are not properly paved, with indentations, holes, depressions, on them and people coming out of their parked vehicles often fall.
Unfortunately, there are far more ways people can be injured at the supermarket than we can identify here. If you have been injured, contact our attorneys to discuss whether you have a legal right to collect damages for your injuries.
Contact our Premises Liability Lawyer Handling Supermarket Accident Cases in New York
If you suffered a slip and fall accident in a supermarket in New York, call our experienced premises liability lawyer at Irene H. Gabo, P.C. Irene H. Gabo is a focused, dedicated personal injury lawyer with the skills to litigate, negotiate with insurance companies, and enforce your legal right to compensation for your injuries.
Call Irene H. Gabo, P.C. at (800) 560-0214 for a free evaluation of your supermarket slip and fall claim. Time may be of the essence, so call our supermarket accident lawyer today.
