Maison Law represents slip-and-fall victims hurt at supermarkets like Albertsons in Bakersfield. We help victims hold the store chain fully accountable when their unsafe aisles cause customers to fall and get hurt. To find out what you should be demanding from a grocery store after suffering an injury on its property, contact a skilled, local lawyer and schedule a free, no-obligation case consultation.
Do I Need a Lawyer After Taking a Fall at a Grocery Store?
If you slip and fall at an Albertsons and your injuries are very minor, you may not need the help of a lawyer. It’s when you suffer serious harm, like broken fingers or head trauma, that you may need the protection of a Bakersfield grocery store slip-and-fall lawyer. If owners and operators could have taken action to prevent your accident, you should be demanding help with your recovery costs.
When medical bills start to build, insurance adjusters and Albertsons corporate lawyers will fight even harder to get their bosses out of having to provide support. They may say your clumsiness caused your fall. They may try to convince you to sign off on a “lowball” settlement offer that doesn’t cover all of your recovery costs. Your Maison Law attorney is a safeguard against this treatment. Your lawyer will submit all evidence to force a business to accept responsibility and pay the maximum in compensation available.
Who Can I Sue If I Fall at Albertsons?
Supermarket chains like Albertsons unlock their doors each day to invite shoppers in. They hope to sell a lot of groceries and make profits at their local locations like on Brundage Lane or the Stockdale Highway.
However, according to California’s premises liability laws, store owners and operators must do more than just stock their shelves and count their profits. They also owe their visitors a “duty of care” to keep them as safe as possible as they park, walk in, and roam the aisles.
They must monitor for fall risks, like a puddle of milk, and fix or remove the issue before you come along and fall and endure a serious injury.
If you or a loved one are injured by a preventable hazard, your family can seek full compensation for medical bills, lost income, and many other hardships.
The obstacles that can cause dangerous falls and other accidents aren’t always confined to inside the store either. These are just a few of the places you could get hurt:
- Outside Albertsons – Parking lots can develop potholes to create trip-and-fall hazards. Crumbling sidewalks and curbs are also dangerous. Landscaping issues might send you to the ground for a hard impact. Items left in the parking lot or oil spills from cars could topple you. Rain only adds to the slippery conditions and foot traffic then tracks the water inside.
- Inside Albertsons – Puddles arise when customers, and sometimes children, dribble their drinks or drop items that spill onto the floor. Puddles are also produced by freezer units and by sprinklers in produce sections. These hazards are supposed to be spotted and cleaned up, but careless employees don’t always take the time or show the effort needed to prevent accidents. Floor mats are always a tripping hazard. Employees can leave items along the aisles to catch feet and store displays provide constant obstacles.
When Albertsons employees and managers don’t monitor for these hazards and get them fixed in a reasonable amount of time, they leave their employer vulnerable to lawsuits when people get hurt. Your Maison Law slip-and-fall lawyer isn’t afraid to take on a national corporate chain, take on their corporate lawyers, and demand the most in compensation available for a victim’s injuries.
Insurance Tactics to Watch for After a Slip-And-Fall
Dealing with the lawyers and insurance representatives for a large business like a supermarket chain will leave you vulnerable to their tactics designed to limit the support you receive.
Your personal injury lawyer will easily recognize these strategies and fight back immediately. But if you don’t have a legal representative safeguarding your case, it’s important to watch out for these common practices:
- Denying Fault – If Albertsons can get you to accept blame for your fall, they can often escape without paying one cent towards your medical recovery. Corporate lawyers may claim you weren’t looking where you were going when you fell. They might even say your shoes were worn and that’s why you fell. Keep your shoes after any fall and don’t wear them again until your lawyer tells you it’s okay.
- Delaying Response – Once they exhaust their flimsy accusations, insurance adjusters may just stop responding to you at all. This is as you receive more and more hospital bills and miss more and more paychecks at work. The plan is to get you feeling desperate.
- Extending a Lowball Offer – Once you feel the pressure of accumulating doctor bills, insurance companies like to extend a settlement offer to you. If they feel they can get away with it, that offer will be far less than what you need to pay your bills and rebuild your life. Sadly, when you’re behind on monthly bills like a car payment, you may feel pressure to accept the first offer you see.
Your lawyer is your safeguard against these tactics. Your Maison Law representative will be aggressively going after insurance companies when they delay taking action or try to turn the blame around on you.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to file a grocery store slip-and-fall claim?
After a knee injury or something as serious as a hip fracture, victims have up to two years to file a claim after a fall. If they wait longer than two years, the case will likely be thrown out.
What can I do to help my case after a fall at a grocery store?
Collect evidence at the scene if possible. Take photos of the obstacle that caused your fall. Alert managers so they can file an incident report. Have your own doctor check out your injuries in the days that follow.
What kind of support should I seek after a trip-and-fall accident?
Your attorney will seek money to pay all of your current medical bills and for any future medical care needed. The income you lose while missing work must be replaced. The physical pain and emotional trauma caused should must also factor into a settlement check.
Contact a Bakersfield Grocery Store Slip-And-Fall Lawyer
After a slip-and-fall accident, be sure to discuss your case with an experienced Bakersfield Albertsons slip-and-fall attorney serving all of Kern County.
Contact us today for a free, confidential case evaluation to find out how we can assist you. There’s no obligation, but if you feel we can help your family earn more, you won’t need any upfront money to pay Maison Law. Our lawyers work on a contingency basis. It means we don’t get paid unless we win your case. Then our fee comes out of the settlement check you receive.
