A STORE’S LIABILITY FOR SLIP AND FALL ACCIDENTS

A store that welcomes customers onto its property has a duty to keep them reasonably safe. An “unreasonable” condition that contributes to a fall can lead to an injury claim against the store.

 

If you slip, fall, or are otherwise injured in a store, you may have a valid legal claim against that business. Here’s why: Businesses that welcome the public onto their premises have a legal duty to keep them “reasonably” safe.

 

Whether it’s a “big box” nationwide chain like Walmart or Target, a grocery chain like Stop & Shop, Market Basket or Shaws, or a local independent retailer, any business that invites the public onto its premises is obligated to take certain steps to keep customers out of harm’s way. Customers who are injured in slip and fall accidents on store premises may have a valid legal claim against the business, but the case may not always be a smooth one. This article looks at slip and fall claims against common types of retailers, and key issues to consider.

 

DUTY TO MAINTAIN SAFE PREMISES

Like all businesses that open themselves up to the public, stores are legally obligated to maintain reasonably safe premises for the protection of their customers. When a slip and fall accident happens at a department store, grocery store, or even a local “mom and pop”, the business may be liable for injuries if it can be shown that the slip and fall occurred due to unsafe conditions on the property. The store’s responsibility for compensating a customer who slipped and fell often depends on the specific facts of the particular accident, but there are a few common conditions that lead to slip and fall accidents in stores.

 

COMMON IN-STORE SLIP AND FALL ACCIDENTS

Injuries from slip and falls at a store can happen for a variety of reasons. A customer might fall on an accumulation of snow or ice in the entry way of the store or could trip over an errant floor mat. Items on display might be haphazardly placed and can fall in the pathway of a customer. The store might have poor lighting leading to poor visibility, or a prior customer’s spilled latte could have left a puddle in an aisle. The possibilities are endless, but regardless of the cause of the slip and fall accident, the legal responsibility of the store will depend on whether it had, or should have reasonably had, notice of the unsafe condition and failed to take prompt action to fix the problem.

 

 

NOTABLE CASES INVOLVING INJURIES IN STORES

To better illustrate the variety of issues that come up, here are some notable cases involving customers who were injured while visiting retail stores.

 

Costco Employee Negligence

In 2012, a jury in California sided with a plaintiff who slipped on a puddle of liquid soap and shattered her kneecap in a Costco store. According to the injured woman, multiple Costco employees already had passed by and ignored the spill. Costco was ordered to pay more than $400,000 for the woman’s medical expenses, pain, and suffering.

 

The Costco “Pot Sticker” Case

In a 2011 slip and fall known as the “pot sticker” case, a woman sued a Costco store in California after slipping on food and injuring her tailbone. Costco employees had been passing out free food samples nearby. The injured woman alleged that Costco should have been conducting inspections of the floors more frequently than once an hour since customers were walking around the store sampling food. The jury disagreed and sided with Costco. It found that hourly inspections of the floor were adequate.

 

Hartner v. Home Depot

In the famous 2002 Hartner v. Home Depot case, a woman injured her knee when her shopping cart tipped over after hitting a manhole cover obscured by water. Home Depot argued that the plaintiff was to blame for her injuries because the danger was open and obvious. The Pennsylvania jury disagreed and found that Home Depot was 95% at fault. After the jury determined the amount of damages to be $1,000,000.00, the court ordered Home Depot to pay $950,000 for the woman’s injuries.

 

Lowes Employee Forklift Accident

A customer at a Lowe’s Home and Garden Center in West Melbourne, Florida was injured badly when, while standing in the checkout line, a store employee driving a forklift ran into the customer from behind. The man suffered a variety of orthopedic injuries and ultimately received a $600,000 payment.

 

 

Slip and Fall at Walmart

In November 2011, a jury in Colorado awarded a Wal-Mart slip and fall plaintiff $15 million dollars when her fall caused her to become disabled and lose her job as a truck driver.

HOLDING THE STORE LIABLE

A store can be legally responsible for unsafe conditions under a few different theories. The store owner may be liable if it created the unsafe condition, by using an exceptionally slippery wax to clean its floors, for example.

 

The owner may also be liable if it knew of the condition, even if it did not create it, but failed to take steps to remedy it. For instance, if one customer spills a drink in an aisle, and another customer injures her back after slipping on the puddle and falling on the floor, the store may be liable for the injury. In that circumstance, the injured person will have to show some evidence that the store knew or should have reasonably known of the condition. There must be some evidence that the spill sat there long enough for the store to have become aware of its presence and have a reasonable opportunity to clean it up and prevent an accident. The injured party may also demonstrate that the store knew (or should have known) that spilled products were common, but failed to have a system in place for monitoring and cleaning up such spills.

 

In addition, the injured customer will likely have to show that the condition was not so open and obvious that the customer should have taken steps to avoid the unsafe condition. For instance, a customer can generally not recover for injuries sustained from tripping over a large display when the display was clearly visible in the customer’s pathway, and the use of such displays is commonplace in similar stores. In other words, a customer is required to exercise reasonable caution to protect him or herself, and can’t hold the store accountable for every last thing that goes wrong. The key question to ask is whether a reasonably careful customer would have noticed the unsafe condition and avoided it. If so, then the store may not be held liable for the injury.

 

EVIDENCE OF LIABILITY IS KEY

In the real world, if a customer slips and falls in a store – or any business that regularly welcomes customers in — and can show valid and documented injuries from the incident, he or she can likely expect to receive some amount of injury compensation for losses stemming from the accident (unless the incident appears to have been staged or was blatantly avoidable). The fault issue — whether the store should have remedied a potentially unsafe condition or whether the customer should have noticed and avoided the condition — will be the focal point of settlement negotiations, and will be a key determinant in the size of the settlement award.

 

If you or someone you know has been injured a slip and fall accident, call us at (855) 645-3782 for a free consultation.