Shopping Hazards And Personal Injuries

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Customers have a right to a safe shopping environment, so if you have been injured while visiting a retail establishment, you may be eligible for money damages. No matter how careful you may be, if a store doesn't do enough to prevent injuries or to warn you about dangerous conditions, you may end up with a debilitating injury. To learn more about the ways that the stores you shop in can be held responsible for your accidents, read on.

A Shared Responsibility with the Customer

While it is not practical for a store to warn customers about every potential hazard, they do have a duty to warn about reasonable dangers. The courts will consider the possibility that, as a customer, you were aware of the hazard and did not do enough to avoid it. In many cases, the customer is found to be at least partially at fault in a store accident.

Consider the following scenario: It has been raining and the floor at a store entrance was wet. The store had placed warning cones in the area. If you slip down despite the warning, you may be deemed partially liable for your own injury. The store could not be reasonably be expected to keep the floor entirely dry when customers continuously tracked the water in and they did all they could to warn customers of the hazard.

A Shared Responsibility with the Store

A store may also share responsibility for accidents that were not directly caused by their actions. For example, if another customer spills a drink and you slip and fall, injuring yourself, the store may be held partially responsible. The store has a duty to maintain a safe environment, and therefore bears some of the liability for your slip and fall accident.

Common Retail Dangers

• Retail stores may be held liable for many types of accidents that happen on their property, including:
• Slips and falls due to accumulated ice or snow in the parking lot.
• Criminal acts that occur due to lack of security or insufficient lighting in the parking areas.
• Trips and falls due to electrical cords and cables across pathways, wrinkled floor mats and uneven pavement or pot holes.
• Injuries due to falling heavy objects, such as large displays of heavy cans in the store isles.

If you have been the victim of a store's negligence, see a personal injury attorney law firm, such as Putnam Lieb, as soon as possible. Valuable evidence could be lost if you wait. You have a right to be compensated for your injuries, so call today.

21 December 2015