what kind of lawyer do i need if i was injured in a store?

Should I hire a lawyer for a retail store injury?

Hiring a lawyer depends on the extent of the injury. Most injuries suffered at retail stores are minor, soft tissue injuries. They include bumps, cuts, abrasions, mild lacerations, bruises, and sprained tendons, ligaments, and muscles.

What legal protection do I have if I’m injured in a store?

Your legal protection includes the right to seek compensation for injuries caused by the store owner’s failure to take reasonable steps to prevent harm to others. A duty of care is a legal obligation to avoid causing harm to others.

How can a personal injury attorney help me?

A skilled and knowledgeable personal injury attorney will be able to assess your case, represent your interests in court, and help ensure you receive the compensation you are due. Ken joined LegalMatch in January 2002.

What should I do if I’m injured at a grocery store?

If you have been injured at a grocery store, you will need to prove to the court that the grocery store was negligent in some way. A skilled and knowledgeable personal injury attorney will be able to assess your case, represent your interests in court, and help ensure you receive the compensation you are due.

Is the legal responsibility for an injury?

If you show that you were careful and the other person was careless, the careless, or negligent, person must typically pay your injury damages. If a negligent person causes an accident while working for someone else, the employer is also legally responsible.

What will you do if there is an injury in the shop?

What to do if You are Injured in a Retail Store?Report your injury to the facility manager or an employee. ... Avoid making statements to anyone on the scene. ... Gather evidence like photos of the scene and the hazard that caused you to fall.More items...

How much do I get paid for injury on duty?

If the employee is booked off due to an IOD for 4 days or longer, but less than 3 months, the employer must pay the injured employee at a rate of at least 75% of his earnings, from the first day, until the employee returns to work.

Who should properly respond to an accident that happened in the shop?

Should an employee witness an accident and any type of injury occurs (even non-life threatening), they must report it to their supervisor so that the appropriate actions can be taken.

Why do injuries have to have occurred in a retail store?

Additionally, their injuries must have occurred because the store breached its duty to them. In terms of retail store negligence, if the injury occurred while the plaintiff was in the store, the court will look at whether the store owed a duty of care to them. This is dependent on whether the court determines that the plaintiff had ...

What is a common defense in a store?

The store could argue that the plaintiff contributed to their own injuries. Another common defense is to claim that the plaintiff failed to mitigate (reduce) damages. An example of this would be if a plaintiff fell in the store, but refused medical assistance when offered by the store.

What is retail defense?

A commonly utilized defense by retail stores is that the plaintiff was somehow comparatively or contributorily negligent in causing their own injuries. Meaning, the plaintiff took some action that caused them to be at least partially responsible for the injuries they sustained.

What is negligence in law?

In legal terms, negligence is the theory that allows injured people to recover for the carelessness of others. Alternatively, a person is negligent if they were careless given the circumstances of the situation. The most obvious example of negligence is personal injury, like a car crash. However, negligence may also be described as a flexible idea.

What is personal injury claim?

Personal injury claims commonly relate to slip and fall accidents, resulting from structural defects, weather hazards, and other issues. This gives rise to a premise liability claim with the burden of proof typically on the party who is suing for damages.

What evidence is needed to prove negligence?

Some specific types of evidence that could help with a plaintiff’s case include: Security camera footage; Witness statements; and/or, Doctor’s notes and hospital records.

What is an example of a duty of care?

An example of this could be wet floors. The store must have known about the condition, but failed to remedy the condition in a timely manner.

What to do if no one works at the store?

If no one that works at the store saw you fall, it’s important to notify someone right away. Most department stores have company policies that require employees to create official accident reports after someone is injured on the property. Find any employee and let them know what happened—even if the employee you talk to is not trained to write one of these reports, she should be able to call the appropriate parties.

What happens if you fall in a department store?

If you fall in a department store, chances are that there will be at least one person who witnessed the incident. Talk to this person and ask if you can have her contact information in case you need to ask her questions about what happened later on. The property owner may try to claim that you are lying about what happened, so having a witness that supports your side of the story could be important to your case. Even if the witness did not see you actually fall, her testimony could be helpful because she could provide information about the store’s lighting, the employees’ response to your fall, or the hazard that caused you to fall.

What is retail store injury?

Retail store injuries fall under premises liability laws. Retailers are responsible for maintaining a reasonably safe property for all guests. They must address any hazards they know about and those they should have known about, or warn guests about the potential hazards. If you were not acting carelessly at the time of the accident, ...

What is the duty of a store owner?

The store/property owner has a duty to provide you with a reasonably safe environment. When stores fail to adequately address hazards or warn their customers, they are responsible for injuries you sustain and you have the right to fair compensation.

What is a slip and fall accident?

Slip and fall injuries are commonly associated with retail store accidents, but stores may face liability for many other types of accidents, too. If you’re in a large hardware store featuring shelves of inventory overhead and something falls on you, the store is responsible.

What to do if a store doesn't file an incident report?

If they don’t take steps to file a report right away, ask that they do so and provide you with a copy. Do not leave the store until you are satisfied the manager has taken appropriate actions to fill out an incident report. 2. Don’t reassure witnesses and store employees you are “fine.”.

Can you recover from a retail store accident?

Anyone who suffers a head or spinal cord injury may never fully recover. Fractures, lacerations, and burns are all possible injuries in retail store accidents.

Why are people injured in stores?

Still, customers are injured every day because of unsafe conditions on retail properties. Slip and falls are one of the most common shopping accidents.

How to prove that the owner is negligent?

To prove the owner was negligent and liable for your injuries, you’ll need to show: A dangerous condition caused your injuries. The owner knew of the dangerous condition or should have known. The owner failed to eliminate or repair the dangerous condition. You didn’t do anything to contribute to your injury.

What did the claim adjuster ask John to send to the insurance company?

The claim adjuster asked him to send copies of his photographs, medical bills, written statements from Sam and Sally, and any other proof of his damages. John took all the necessary steps to prove the store was negligent and establish the scope of his injuries. The insurance company accepted his injury claim.

What is a breach of duty of care?

Negligence is a breach, or violation, of the store owner’s duty of care. That violation makes the retailer liable for his customer’s damages. Damages can include medical and therapy bills, out-of-pocket expenses for medicines, lost wages, and the customer’s pain and suffering.

What is a hard injury claim?

Hard injuries are high-dollar claims.

What is the most common shopping accident?

Slip and falls are one of the most common shopping accidents. Older customers are particularly vulnerable to serious injury. Millions of seniors are treated annually for slip and fall injuries, often suffering from broken bones or head injuries. ¹.

What is duty of care?

A duty of care is a legal obligation to avoid causing harm to others. It means retail stores must do everything reasonably possible to ensure their customers are safe from dangerous conditions that might cause injuries.

Basics of Slip and Fall Accidents

Slip and fall accidents can happen anywhere but especially in a department store, where there are numerous obstacles or issues that might cause slip and fall incidents. Products that fall into the walkways, defective stairs, poorly lit hallways, or even potholes or cracks in the sidewalk can all cause serious injuries.

Getting Medical Attention

It might not occur to you that you have sustained a serious injury in the immediate aftermath of the accident. You might not experience any symptoms right away, especially because you may still be recovering from the shock of the accident.

Gather Evidence

It may not occur to you in the immediate aftermath to gather evidence at the scene. If you are able to, however, try to gather evidence at the scene of the accident so that you can at least identify the hazard that caused you to fall. This will often become the basis of your entire slip and fall injury claim.

Let the Store Know About the Accident

If no one who works for the company saw you fall, it is very important to notify a person right away. Company policies often exist in stores which require employees to create an official accident report when someone is hurt on store property.

Get a Lawyer

Anyone who has been seriously hurt in a slip and fall accident in a store should communicate with a personal injury lawyer immediately. This is because you have a limited period of time in which to file a legal claim, but you also want to avoid making any mistakes that could compromise the integrity of your slip and fall legal claim.

What happens if you get injured in a store?

Injuries that are a result of the negligence of the store can be serious, leading to long recovery times, costly hospital bills, and even permanent pain. What happens when you are injured in a store largely depends on your ability to prove the store’s negligence.

What is the obligation of a store to maintain a safe premises?

Obligation to Maintain a Safe Premises. When a store is open to the public, it is obligated to keep the premises safe for patrons. If the store does not adequately maintain the premises, anyone who is injured may have cause to file a lawsuit to recover damages for injuries.

How to prove negligence?

To prove your case, you will need evidence, often in the form of witness testimony, photographic or video evidence, and official documents, like a police report. If you want to give your personal injury case a chance, you must gather as much evidence as possible.

What to do if you can't get evidence?

In the event you cannot get the evidence yourself, ask someone you trust to act on your behalf. In some instances, you may not be able to recover any evidence. When that happens, you will need an experienced attorney to handle your case.