While shopping in a supermarket, you may not expect to be met with hazardous conditions that could lead to an injury. If you are injured in a slip and fall accident in a supermarket, a personal injury claim may be able to help you receive damages for lost wages, medical bills, as well as pain and suffering.
If your slip and fall incident did take place inside of a grocery store, there is certain information available to you that will be helpful when filing your claim to help you receive the compensation you need to get back on your feet.
All grocery retailers, is required to maintain safe premises in their stores for customers. Although there are most likely certain employee guidelines in place to ensure that customers have a safe shopping experience, such as routinely cleaning the floors, frequently checking for spills, and putting up wet floor signs to warn of a potential hazard – slip and fall accidents still may happen.
There are many possible situations in which a customer could be injured in a slip and fall scenario. These may include:
- A spill from another customer that has not been cleaned
- Food items on display that fall into the pathway of the customer
- Unsecure floor mats at the store’s entrance
- Spills in the aisles from dropped products or cleaning fluids
- Accumulated snow, ice, or rain at the store’s entrance
- Poor lighting in the store that leads to poor visibility conditions
How are Slip and Fall Cases Settled?
If you slipped and fell while shopping, you could receive compensation in terms of a settlement.
There are a couple of factors that go into slip and fall injury settlements are taken into consideration. You would first need to file a lawsuit stating that you believe that the store's negligence is what caused the slip and fall.
The second thing that determines a slip and fall settlement is liability. There needs to be proof that the supermarket has responsibility for the property and any incidents that occur on their property. The last thing that is taken into consideration in a slip and fall claim is to prove that the plaintiff most prove that all the liability in their slip and fall claim.
Damages that you could be rewarded as apart of your settlement is pain and suffering, mental anxiety and loss of companionship.
A lawyer will help you understand your rights, help you correctly file a claim and seek the right amount of damages, and generally help you through the claims process.
How A Personal Injury Attorney Can Help Your Claim Against A Grocery Store
If you have suffered a slip and fall in a grocery store, odds are that the store and/or its employees were negligent and that was the leading cause of your injuries. A personal injury attorney will investigate your accident and work to prove that your fall was caused by the negligence of the store.
For your personal injury claim, you will need to show that all four elements of negligence apply to your specific situation. The four elements of negligence are duty, breach of duty, causation, and damages. When you have proven that all four elements apply to your specific slip and fall accident, you can recover compensation for your damages.
Your accident injury attorney will review the details of your case and determine which damages you suffered because of the slip and fall. You will want to recover compensation for your past, present, and future losses. An attorney has strong negotiation skills and will know how much you should receive for your losses because of the slip and fall.
Many large grocery and supermarket chains have their own legal team, and their insurance company will also have legal representation. Those lawyers will just be looking out for the grocery company and the insurance company, so they will work to get by paying out as little as possible for the damages you suffered. When you retain a personal injury lawyer who handles slip and fall claims, you are leveling out the playing field and getting someone who looks out for your interests.
Proving A Grocery Store’s Liability
For your personal injury claim after a slip and fall to be successful, you will need to prove that the grocery store is liable for the damages that you suffered. All supermarkets have the duty or responsibility to maintain a safe environment for customers. Any maintenance issues should be promptly addressed, and any spills or messes should be cleaned up as quickly as possible.
To be successful with your claim, you must show that the grocery store had enough time to be made aware of the issue and take care of the problem. For example, if there was a soda spilled on the floor and it had been there only a minute before you slipped and fell, it is going to be difficult – if not impossible – to show that there was ample time for the employees to be aware of the issue and then address it.
However, if you can prove – through witness statements and surveillance video – that the spill had been there longer, such as an hour and two employees had walked past it and never bothered to post a warning sign or try to clean it up, you can successfully prove that your slip and fall was because of negligence and that the supermarket breached its duty by failing to clean up that mess.
You will need as much supporting evidence as possible, so your personal injury attorney may subpoena the recordings from nearby surveillance cameras that may have caught some or all your slip and fall on video. These recordings can also help determine how long the hazard existed before your slip and fall accident.
For your claim to be successful, you will need to provide supporting documentation. If you are physically able to do so, you should get photos of the accident scene and of the damages and any visible injuries. Ask any witnesses to provide you with written statements and be sure to get the names of witnesses along with their contact details. The accident should be reported to the employees, preferably a manager. They will complete an accident report.
Be sure to establish medical care right away. If you wait, it will be difficult to prove that your injuries were directly caused by the slip and fall. Keep copies of all medical records and all medical bills. This includes physician visits, hospital expenses, x-rays and scans, laboratory testing, medical devices, prescriptions, physical therapy, and anything else associated with medical care.
You need to maintain documentation that shows your missed work and lost wages. All your losses should be itemized and then added up to determine the value of your claim. You will want to ask for a higher amount than the minimum you will settle for because there should be room for negotiations. If you can provide hard evidence that shows your injury was the grocery store’s fault, they will be willing to negotiate a settlement out of court to save them time and legal fees.
There is a big difference in a spill just happening and someone immediately falling and there being a hazard there for 30 minutes or so without any kind of warning posted, such as a wet floor sign. You must show how long the hazard existed, and statements from witnesses and employees, as well as surveillance video may be able to help you prove that successfully.
Getting Your Slip and Fall Claim Underway
When you enlist the help of a personal injury attorney, you will not have to pay anything upfront. Instead, accident injury attorneys work on a contingency basis. That means that your lawyer will not be compensated for his or her services until you win your claim and get a judgment or a settlement. At that time, he or she will get the percentage that was agreed on when you hired them.
Your attorney will investigate your accident and will help you gather the supporting evidence and documentation that you need to complete with your claim and recover compensation for your damages. Complete the free case evaluation form on this page to share the details of your case with an accident injury lawyer in your area. A lawyer who handles slip and fall claims in your area will help you determine the best way to proceed with your personal injury claim after you slipped and fell.
*The content of this article serves only to provide information and should not be construed as legal advice. If you file a claim against Kroger, or any other party, you may not be entitled to any compensation.
