Maison Law represents California slip-and-fall victims hurt at fast food restaurants. We help victims hold restaurant chains fully accountable when their slippery floors and unsafe sidewalks cause customers to fall and get hurt. To find out how to hold a fast food chain fully responsible for your pain, contact a skilled, local California fast food slip-and-fall lawyer and schedule a free, no-obligation case consultation.
Do I Need a Lawyer After Falling at a Fast Food Restaurant?
If you slip and fall at a fast food restaurant and your injuries are serious, you may need the protection of a California slip-and-fall accident lawyer. A serious injury can include a broken wrist, a hip injury, or even head trauma. When your injury was caused by the negligence of restaurant owners or a corporate owner, you can seek full compensation for your recovery costs.
Unfortunately, when recovery times are long and as hospital bills grow, insurance adjusters and corporate lawyers will fight even harder to get owners off the hook. 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 submits all evidence to force a business to accept responsibility and pay the maximum in compensation available.
Fall Hazards at California Fast Food Restaurants
Restaurant owners and operators owe every guest a safe journey through the parking lot, to the front counter, and to their booths. They must show a legal “duty of care” to protect everyone they invite in from hazards an employee may create and any dangers another customer could leave behind.
Employees at places like McDonald’s and In-N-Out Burger should constantly monitor for spills on the floor. A hazard like spilled ice should be cleaned up and marked with a “wet floor” sign in a reasonable amount of time before you can come along and have your feet taken out from under you.
Tripping hazards like trash and broken pavement outside must also be cleaned up or repaired before you run the risk of falling forward to land on a kneecap or land face first to suffer facial injuries.
A fall on any hard surface or near sharp edges can lead to major injuries. These are just a few of the hazards at fast food places that can lead to injury claims and lawsuits:
- Fast Food Spills — Customers will dribble sodas all the way out the door and spill everything you can think of. Children can drip ice cream everywhere. Food and condiments are always a risk to end up on that hard tile. Water leaking onto floors in the bathroom is another possible threat to your safety. Rain water can build up near doors. The slip-and-fall dangers should be mopped up and wet floor signs should be out.
- Floor Hazards – Broken tile or folded-up floor mats can trip anyone up. Floor displays and other clutter can also pose tripping threats.
- Dangers in the Parking Lot – Restaurants are also responsible for hazards in their parking lots and on sidewalks. An oily residue from the constant stream of cars could cause you to slip and fall and hit your head on a cement pylon. Potholes and crumbling sidewalks are also trip-and-fall hazards. High curbs might be challenging for some customers to navigate, leading to a fall backward, even into traffic.
- Landscaping Debris – This is another obstacle customers might fail to step over. Lawn mowing equipment and power washing cords will lay in the way of guests. Landscaping timbers and bushes are an added tripping risk that owners are responsible for.
- Crowd Control – Restaurants like Jack-in-the-Box must act to provide safe lines and prevent overcrowding inside restaurants. They must also see to the safety of pedestrians around long lines at the drive-thru’s when a fall into traffic could cost customers their lives.
These are just a few of the dangers that fast food employees can fail to monitor for and remove. And if you fall, lawyers for fast food chains will try to say you were clumsy or that your shoe tread was worn down. These are weak arguments but they can work when you don’t have a skilled Maison Law attorney protecting your interests and backing your case with strong evidence.
What Should I Do After Falling at a Fast Food Location?
You can secure powerful evidence for your case at the scene of your accident. This is often necessary because proof of the obstacle that sent you to the ground will often be gone as soon as you leave. It will be cleaned up or repaired long before you can alert a lawyer about your accident.
If you are physically able, try to gather these important elements for your case:
- Dial 911 if you are hurt. Alert paramedics to examine every pain you have. Go to the emergency room if necessary. If you must leave, ask someone with you to help you gather details on the scene.
- Alert a manager. A large chain like Chipotle, will likely require managers to fill out an incident report. This report can serve as strong evidence in your case.
- Don’t accept blame for your fall or say that you’re all right. You might later realize that a restaurant owner was at fault in your fall. You might also find that you are injured more seriously than you think when you wake up with new pain the day after a fall. Don’t make statements that an insurance company can twist and use against you later.
- Take cellphone photos. Document the obstacle that caused your fall. Take pics of any visible injuries. Show any caution signs or caution tape that are present or the lack of these safety measures.
- Talk to witnesses and jot down contact information.
- Get checked out by your physician even if you’ve been to the emergency room. Follow the doctor’s orders. Keep medical invoices.
- Contact a California fast food slip-and-fall lawyer. Restaurants are usually part of a corporate chain, and those businesses will have corporate lawyers. Those lawyers are paid to either convince you to drop your claim for support or to pay you off quickly leaving you with far too little compensation to cover your recovery costs ahead. A personal injury lawyer protects you from these tactics and works to make sure you have everything you need to recover physically and financially.
Below are a few of our articles focused on what to do if you fall at one of the many fast food chains found in California:
Slip and falls at Jersey Mike’s
Slip and falls at In-N-Out Burger
Slip and falls at Round Table Pizza
Slip and falls at Little Caesars
Slip and falls at El Pollo Loco
Slip and falls at Baskin-Robbins
Slip and falls at Panda Express
Slip and falls at Jack in the Box
How Much Can I Ask for After Falling at a Fast Food Restaurant?
Reaching an accurate estimate of what your injury is worth will be difficult until you can fill a lawyer in on what happened and your lawyer can investigate the accident. Your settlement total will usually depend on a few things. How long it takes you to heal will be one factor insurance companies must consider. How much your injury will affect your life in the short term and long term is another factor.
These and other details will determine how much an insurance company will offer you in a fast food injury settlement check:
- All current medical expenses and those expected in the future.
- The lifelong expenses associated with a permanent disability.
- Compensation for the physical pain suffered and perhaps chronic pain for a lifetime.
- Compensation for emotional trauma. The anxiety and depression that can develop during a difficult recovery. A patient’s enjoyment of life may be affected if mobility and freedom are lost.
- All wages and benefits lost at work while the patient is unable to perform job duties.
- Travel costs accumulated to attend doctor visits while immobile and unable to drive.
- Wrongful death benefits. Support for families after a loved one has died from injuries suffered in a slip-and-fall accident.
Injuries can heal over days or it may take you years to fully recover. Some injuries are permanent and never fully heal. Your Maison Law attorney will fight to make sure you have full support for your injury no matter how long recovery will take.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Can I still seek support if I was partially responsible for my slip-and-fall?
Yes. In California, the victim and the business can share responsibility. Even if you are found to have been a bit careless when you fell, a fast-food restaurant can still bear partial liability, and be ordered to provide partial or full support.
How long do I have to file a fast food injury claim?
California grants victims up to two years to file a claim. Waiting to contact a lawyer is not recommended though. A delay can mean that valuable evidence disappears and witnesses become harder to find.
What if I can’t afford to pay a slip-and-fall lawyer?
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 a fast food chain must provide you and your family with.
Contact a California Fast Food Slip-and-Fall Attorney
After a slip-and-fall accident, be sure to discuss your case with an experienced California Fast Food Slip-And-Fall Accident Lawyer. You should be able to focus on your recovery without worrying over the hospital bills piling up and the paychecks you’re missing while out of work.
Allow Maison Law to go to work on your case to secure the most compensation possible for your recovery. Contact us today for a free case evaluation to find out how we can assist you. There’s no obligation and your case review is completely confidential.
