What To Do If You Get Injured In An Accident At A Supermarket
The COVID-19 pandemic has put a damper on lots of people’s social lives for the past two years, so you might find yourself complaining to your friends on video chat that you never go anywhere, but chances are that you have made quite a few trips to the supermarket. Unless you are a true foodie, grocery shopping is a mundane errand and not an exciting excursion or recreational activity. Although it is easy to take your surroundings for granted in supermarkets, these retail behemoths can be the site of life-changing injuries every bit as much as trampoline parks and rock-climbing gyms can. The owners and operators of supermarkets are legally responsible for the physical safety of their customers, and you have the right to seek damages for your accident-related losses if you get injured in a preventable accident at a supermarket or other place of business. If you got injured while grocery shopping, contact a Columbia premises liability lawyer.
How Dangerous Is Grocery Shopping?
Last month, a court ordered Walmart to pay millions of dollars to April Jones, a woman who suffered debilitating injuries after stepping on a nail on the floor of a South Carolina Walmart store where she was shopping. The wound became infected, eventually requiring amputation of one of her legs. While her injuries were especially severe, and therefore the judgment amount was very large, incidents like what happened to Jones are fairly common. The supermarkets where you buy groceries every week might contain any of the following hazards:
- Floors that are slippery because of food spills, mopping, or water drips from freezer or refrigerator cases
- Uneven flooring
- Unstable shelves
- Defective doors
- Poorly maintained shopping carts with dangerously sharp edges
It is the responsibility of the retail store company to ensure that its premises are safe for shopping. Store managers must maintain adequate staffing so that employees can inspect all areas of the store frequently enough to clean up spills or make dangerous areas inaccessible to customers until the hazards can be removed or repaired. Failing to keep a supermarket safe for ordinary shopping constitutes negligence, and a customer who gets injured in a poorly maintained supermarket has grounds for a premises liability lawsuit.
Building Your Premises Liability Case
If you get injured in an accident at a supermarket, gather evidence at the scene. Take pictures of the area where the accident occurred, so you have proof that there was a water spill on the floor or the floor was uneven. You should also get medical treatment promptly; go to an emergency room or urgent care clinic on the same day as the accident. This way, if your injuries seem minor at first but the pain gets worse over time, you will have evidence that the supermarket accident is the true cause of your injuries.
Let Us Help You Today
The personal injury lawyers at the Stanley Law Group can help you seek damages if you suffered preventable injuries in a slip and fall accident at a supermarket. Contact The Stanley Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina or call (803)799-4700 for a free initial consultation.
Source:
yahoo.com/lifestyle/south-carolina-woman-wins-10-210049053.html
