Shopping for furniture and other home accessories can be very exciting. Many people go out to find affordable, modern options for their home. Yet, what would you do if you were shopping at a furniture store and got hurt? You planned on paying for furniture. You did not plan on accumulating unexpected medical bills.
What Happens If You’re Hurt While Shopping at a Store?
If you are hurt while shopping and want to file a claim, it will generally fall under an area of law called personal injury. Personal injury is part of our civil law. It is based on a concept known as negligence. It means that someone does or doesn’t do something that they should and someone else is hurt as a result of it.
Building Your Personal Injury Claim
Negligence, which is the core of personal injury cases, has four elements. In order for you to be able to take a personal injury claim to court, your claim must meet the following four elements. If you believe that your injury while shopping meets the elements, you should talk with a qualified personal injury attorney to have your claim evaluated.
- Any furniture retailer must have a duty to protect its customers. One of the easiest ways to explain the concept of negligence and person injury is to look at the slip and fall. Let’s say that there were some boxes with rips and that screws were on the floor. The duty could be seen as the store's employees have a duty to keep the floors free of hazards that could cause shoppers to slip and fall. In this case, there would be a duty to make sure that the screws were not a danger to customers.
- The store must breach their duty. Using our slip and fall example, if employees knew of the screws, but did not pick them up or otherwise protect shoppers from the hazard, this may be seen as a breach of duty.
- A shopper must receive an actual injury. An actual injury can be physical, emotional, or financial. In the example of a slip and fall, it would most likely result in a physical injury. This could be a broken foot or leg. It could be a concussion that happens if a customer hits their head on the floor. Without this crucial element, there is no personal injury claim.
- The injury must be caused by the breach of duty. The final element involved in negligence and personal injury is to test for what is known as causation. This is sometimes done using a sentence designed as the “but-for” test. But for employees neglecting to pick up the screws that they knew were on the floor, the plaintiff wouldn’t have slipped and broken a hip.
Get Legal Help in Your Claim
If you were hurt during a shopping trip, you should get legal help from an experienced personal injury attorney as soon as you can. Your attorney will help you receive compensation for damages, such as:
- Medical bills
- Pain and suffering
- Property damages
Each state has a law that says you only have a certain amount of time in which you can file a claim. Don’t wait. Protect your legal rights by talking to a personal injury attorney.
*The content of this article serves only to provide information and should not be construed as legal advice. If you file a claim against Ikea, or any other party, you may not be entitled to any compensation.
