In Los Angeles, getting ready for the busy week ahead can mean a quick trip to a local supermarket. Going down your shopping list as fast as possible to grab things like lunch meat and cereal may leave you little time to notice where you place your next step.
This can be a major issue when an aisle at a place like Whole Foods or Ralphs has been neglected for too long. A spill by a previous customer could have left a puddle that’s waiting to take your foot out from under you.
In an instant, you could find yourself on the ground with a head injury or a fractured hip. Suddenly, you are a Los Angeles grocery store slip-and-fall accident victim and you may have no idea what to do next.
A Free Consultation with a Los Angeles Slip-And-Fall Accident Lawyer
Suffering a slip-and-fall or tripping injury along a neglected aisle at a grocery store like Ralph’s or Sprouts Farmers Market will derail your life for days and perhaps much longer.
Once you’ve been hurt, it’s important to seek the best healthcare available. It’s also crucial to know where payment for your medical care is coming from. When a grocery store’s negligence is to blame, victims should bear no financial burdens for their recovery.
Unfortunately, most supermarkets are part of giant corporations with teams of lawyers who are well practiced at denying responsibility after an accident. You need to know what you’ll be up against when asking for help. The best resource to turn to is a free case consultation with a skilled Los Angeles Slip-and-Fall Accident Attorney.
Contact Maison Law today to discuss the benefits available to you and your family after an accident at a Los Angeles grocery store. Your case evaluation comes with no obligation. However, if you do allow us to represent your case, rest assured you won’t need any upfront money. Our attorneys don’t get paid unless they win your case for you.
Los Angeles Grocery Store Trip-And-Fall Dangers
Grocery stores maintain a lot of floor space and a lot of customers trek across those floors each day. A shopping rush can be a lot like a traffic jam on a local freeway. You will see a lot of people acting carelessly and creating the perfect conditions for an accident.
Grocery store owners and operators don’t get excused for unsafe conditions in their supermarkets though. They owe shoppers a “duty of care” to protect them from hazards for their entire visit. That means from the parking lot to the back aisle.
Proprietors are supposed to fix or clean up the dangers they create and they are also responsible for inspecting their stores for hazards customers leave behind. These hazards must be removed in a reasonable amount of time. If you or a family member come along and are hurt, stores can be held fully accountable.
These are just a few of the dangers you or a loved one could suffer an injury from:
- Trip-and-Fall Common Hazards at Grocery Stores – Messy stores are often the worst places for these accidents. Aisles become cluttered with stocking boxes or displays that may catch your foot or toe to send you flying forward. A box or product that ends up on the floor may be hard to spot until you trip over it. A folded-up rug at the front door is also a common hazard. In the parking lot, potholes and damaged sidewalks are prime spots to grab your foot and launch you forward.
- Slip-and-Fall Common Hazards at Grocery Stores: Liquids on those shiny floors pose the most frequent hazard to shoppers. A dropped jar, a spilled fountain drink, or leaking water may sit on the floor way too long until you come along and slip. A child may dribble a trail of hard candy along several aisles to roll your shoe out from under you. Bathrooms are also danger zones when soap ends up on the tile.
Common Injuries After a Los Angeles Slip-And-Fall Accident
Slip-and-falls hazards arise in all markets no matter how fancy they are. A dropped soda may end up on the floor at a place like Erewhon Market just as easily as along an aisle at a warehouse grocer like Smart & Final.
The key for victims is securing the proper amount of help after a Los Angeles Grocery store trip-and-fall injury. The consequences of a fall can be severe and long-lasting and injured victims may see thousands of dollars in recovery costs build up in just a few days.
These are just a few of the most common slip-and-fall and trip-and-fall injuries that are possible after an accident:
- Broken bones. A trip-and-fall could send a victim down to land with their full weight on a knee. A slip-and-fall backward or sideways may do serious damage to a hip or back.
- Head and Brain Injuries. Skull fractures and traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are possible after taking a blow to the head from the floor or a piece of shelving. TBIs can result in severe concussions, seizures, memory loss, and sensitivity to sound and light among other symptoms.
- A spinal cord injury can lead to a loss of control of the extremities or numbness.
- Hand, wrist, arm and shoulder injuries are common in trip-and-fall incidents. People fall forward and extend their arms out to catch themselves.
- Dental and facial injuries are also common in trip-and-fall accidents. Victims landing flat on their faces can knock teeth loose, break jawbones, cheekbones, and suffer a nasal fracture. Permanent disfigurement is also possible.
Most all of these potential injuries can lead to a permanent disability. Victims will have to learn to live with their injury and could be unable to turn to their previous careers. Home renovations and medical equipment may be a lifelong need and expense.
What Can I Receive Compensation for After a Slip-And-Fall Injury?
Victims in falls may be better after a night in the emergency room or they could face a long-term injury that will affect their lives for decades.
It’s important to have a Los Angeles grocery store slip-and-fall lawyer who has experience in personal injury cases and knows the wide range of potential care needs. Your lawyer will also be able to better anticipate how much you may spend on medical care in the future.
All of these present and future expenses must be included in a claim for damages to clearly list what grocery stores and their insurance companies should provide support for.
Your attorney will include some financial hardships you’ve faced that you may not have thought of:
- Hospital and medical expenses.
- Costs associated with a permanent physical disability such as medical equipment, renovations at home and at work. Potential costs for education to learn a new career.
- Emotional and physical distress. The physical pain you experience and the anxiety and depression that may follow a traumatic incident.
- Loss of enjoyment of life.
- Travel expenses. Money spent getting to appointments and seeing specialists that may be far away.
- Income you’ve forfeited while missing work.
- Damage to personal items.
Los Angeles Grocery Stores
Maison Law helps victims after falls at supermarkets of all sizes. We will fight to get you the compensation you require from a locally owned store or a store that is a part of a giant corporation.
These are just a few of the most common grocery store chains in Los Angeles where an accident could occur:
- Vons
- Ralphs
- Albertsons
- Trader Joe’s
- Whole Foods
- Erewhon Market
- Sprouts Farmers Market
- Walmart
- Target
- Smart & Final
Contact a Los Angeles Slip-And-Fall Accident Lawyer
A small, locally-owned supermarket or a national chain will likely have lawyers at the ready after any accident in their stores. You should not face off against lawyers or insurance companies without a legal representative on your side.
Let an experienced Los Angeles Slip-And-Fall Attorney handle all communication with opposing lawyers and insurance agents to make sure you don’t forfeit your chance to get what’s fair for what you’ve been put through.
Contact attorney Martin Gasparian for a free and confidential case evaluation. Mr. Gasparian works with victims to make sure they aren’t unfairly blamed for the negligence of a supermarket or any other business.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of evidence do I need in a grocery store slip-and-fall case?
Photos. Pictures taken with your phone after a fall can show solid evidence of the obstacle that took you down. Also, get contact info from all potential witnesses. Allow a store representative to write up an incident report for their corporate offices. This will be valuable evidence later.
Should I speak with an insurance adjuster after a grocery store trip-and-fall?
No. Insurance representatives will be calling you in the weeks after an accident. They’ll seek a recorded statement about what happened. Decline. This statement can be twisted to hurt your case later. Let your grocery store slip-and-fall lawyer handle all communication.
What if I was clumsy and partially caused my slip-and-fall?
You can still earn compensation. Liability can be shared by the victim and the store. A store may only have to accept 60% of the blame in a fall, but they’d still owe support for 60% of your recovery costs.
Resources:
Slip-and-Fall at Albertsons
Slip-and-Fall at Erewhon Market
Slip-and-Fall at Sprouts
Slip-and-Fall at Trader Joes
Slip-and-Fall at Vons
Slip-and-Fall at Whole Foods
Slip-and-Fall at Walmart
Slip-and-Fall at Pavilions
