You rarely hear of someone having a slip and fall accident in a store. It’s just not the sort of news that grabs the attention of the public. But even if it’s not very newsworthy (unless the victim is a celebrity, a sports hero or famous politician, of course), these accidents in fact happen all the time.
Quite often, they happen because property owners and the people who work for them do not take the public’s safety seriously enough and allow hazards to exist which cause people to slip or trip over, fall and injure themselves.
If this is what has happened, you should consider the possibility of making a claim for compensation with the help of an experienced personal injury attorney. This can go a long way towards compensating you for the cost of your injuries.
Pottery Barn Slip and Fall Accidents
Pottery Barn is a chain of up-market home furnishing stores with its headquarters in San Francisco, California. Pottery Barn is quite well known even if there is no store nearby as it is has been featured almost as a prop in several sitcoms, like Friends, Seinfeld and The Big Bang Theory.
The company has been around since 1949 and has diversified over time, with a mail order arm and a focus in specialized PBteen stores on teenagers. The company that owns Pottery Barn currently is Williams-Sonoma Inc.
Pottery Barn slip and fall accidents are unfortunately always a possibility when employees do not implement store guidelines to promote customer safety as well as they should.
Dangers Possible When Visiting a Pottery Barn Home Furnishing Store
Potential dangers in a home furnishing type store like a Pottery Barn may include one or more of the following.
- Maintenance work being carried out with materials and tools scattered around, but no warning to customers to avid the area or take care;
- Liquids, water or drinks spilled on the floor in one area of the store and not cleared up until an accident happens;
- Floor surface dangerously slippery outside store but part of their property’s responsibility;
- Electric cables, e.g. extension cords across area which is in the showroom area, presenting a trip hazard;
- Poor lighting or faulty lighting in part of the showroom;
- Goods being unpacked or moved from one part of the showroom to another without warning customers.
Hypothetical Personal Claim Against Pottery Barn
A personal injury claim against Pottery Barn may be justified if the store management or one of the store’s workers has failed to make a visit to the store by the public safe and secure. For example, consider the situation when there has been a severe snowstorm.
The store has opened up as usual to the public but has not done a very good job of clearing away ice that has formed at the entrance to the store. A customer slips over and cracks his or her head, causing concussion and a fractured skull.
The customer could reasonably claim that the store had been negligent in its duty to clear away the dangerous ice before customers were allowed to enter. This would be the grounds for a personal injury claim against the store’s management.
Consult with a Personal Injury Attorney
It is quite usual for large companies and their insurers to pour doubt on your version f the events leading to a serious accident. As a claim for compensation hinges on the availability of sufficient evidence as well as reliable witnesses prepared to give testimony that backs up your story, the more help you get from a legal professional the better.
*Disclaimer: The content of this article serves only to provide information and should not be construed as legal advice. If you file a claim against Pottery Barn, you may not be entitled to any compensation.
