Many of us visit the grocery store at least once a week. Whether it’s your favorite or least favorite place, grocery stores are a necessity to keep your home well-stocked. Perhaps a bit surprisingly, grocery stores can also be dangerous, particularly when it comes to slips and falls.
Grocery stores typically have smooth, tiled floors that make it easy for shoppers to push carts. These same floors can become extremely slippery when wet from a spill or simply from customers bringing in precipitation on their shoes or dripping from their coats and umbrellas. If you are hurt in a grocery store slip and fall, our Long Island personal injury lawyers will fight for your right to full compensation.
Based in Melville, The Odierno Law Firm Accident and Injury Lawyers represent accident victims throughout Suffolk and Nassau Counties. We offer free initial consultations and handle all cases on a contingency fee basis, which means that you will never pay a fee unless we recover money for you. To learn more or to schedule an appointment with a Long Island slip and fall attorney, contact our law firm today.
Filing a Lawsuit for a Grocery Store Slip and Fall
In New York, property owners have a legal responsibility to maintain their property in a reasonably safe condition. This is particularly true for businesses that are open to the public, like grocery stores. If a grocer fails to keep its store free of hazards, then it could be liable to the accident victim in a premises liability lawsuit.
The basic theory behind premises liability laws is that people who own, occupy, or otherwise control a piece of property have a responsibility to prevent harm to people who come onto that property. This duty is based in part on the reason why a particular person is on the property.
Broadly, property owners owe the highest duty of care to people who are on their premises for business purposes, known as invitees. Patrons of a grocery store are considered invitees. When it comes to invitees, property owners have a duty to not only fix or warn about known hazardous conditions, but also to inspect their property to learn about any potential dangers.
If a person falls at a grocery store because of an unsafe condition, such as a recently mopped floor that didn’t have a hazard sign, then they could file a premises liability lawsuit against the store. In this type of personal injury case, the accident victim (plaintiff) will have to prove that the grocery store (defendant) was negligent in some way. This requires introducing evidence of the following:
- The defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care to maintain their property in a reasonably safe condition;
- The defendant violated that duty of care by failing to fix or warn about an unsafe condition that they either knew or should have known about;
- The plaintiff suffered an injury; and
- The injury was caused by the defendant’s failure to meet the duty of care.
In most grocery store fall cases, the defendant will owe the plaintiff the highest duty of care: to not only fix or warn about known dangers, but to regularly inspect the property to find any potentially unsafe conditions.
For example, in New York, winter storms are not uncommon. A grocery store will typically have an obligation to maintain its sidewalks or parking lots, keeping them free from ice and snow. The manager or other employee should take steps to make sure that these areas are safe, such as by regularly checking to see if the sidewalks need to be salted. If a grocery store customer slips and falls on an icy sidewalk outside the store, then the store may be liable for their injuries.
One of the challenges that many plaintiffs in grocery store slip and fall cases face is proving that the grocery store either knew or should have known about the hazard before they fell. This can be difficult in cases involving temporary hazards, such as spilled food or drink. In these types of cases, the plaintiff will have to show one of two things: that this type of spill occurred regularly and was foreseeable, or that the grocery store could have learned of the hazard with the exercise of ordinary care.
For example, consider a situation where a grocery store has a juice bar in the produce department. Because employees are making and handing out drinks to customers over a counter, it isn’t unusual for there to be spills. In this situation, because spills are foreseeable, the grocery store might have an obligation to monitor the area and clean up any dropped drinks immediately. If they fail to do so, then it could be considered negligence.
Alternatively, if a person slips and falls after another customer drops a bottle of olive oil in an aisle, that might not be foreseeable. The store’s liability for the fall may be based on how soon after the spill the fall occurred. If the person fell on the oil spill within a few minutes of it happening, the store might not have had enough time to learn about it. If the fall happened an hour after the spill, there is a strong argument that with the exercise of ordinary care, the store should have learned about this hazard and either cleaned it up or warned patrons about it.
Another potential issue that arises in New York slip and fall cases is contributory negligence. This legal concept allows a person to recover for their injuries even if they were partially at fault for the accident. However, their total recovery will be reduced by the percentage that they were to blame.
If a grocery store shopper fell when they tripped over something in an aisle, they could file a lawsuit for their losses. However, if they had been looking at their phone when the fall occurred, a jury might decide that they were 20% at fault because they probably would have seen the object if they had been paying attention while walking through the store. In this case, their total recovery would be reduced by 20%.
In New York, slip and fall cases (like all personal injury claims) are subject to a 3-year statute of limitations. This means that you have 3 years from the date of the accident to file a claim. If you have been hurt in a slip-and-fall, you should reach out to a Long Island personal injury attorney as soon as possible to get the legal process started.
Compensation in New York Slip and Fall Cases
If you were hurt in a fall at a Long Island grocery store, you could recover financial compensation for your losses. Known as damages, this compensation is divided into two main categories: compensatory and punitive damages. Compensatory damages will be available in all personal injury cases, while punitive damages are only awarded in cases involving intentional or reckless conduct.
Compensatory damages include both economic and non-economic damages. These damages is meant to compensate an accident victim for both their financial and psychological losses. They may include:
- Economic damages: money for property damage, lost wages, reduced earning capacity, medical bills, and future medical treatment.
- Non-economic damages: money for pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, scarring, disfigurement, and emotional distress.
Economic damages are often far easier to document through bills, invoices, and estimates. Non-economic damages can be harder to prove, but they are just as important when it comes to making a person whole again. Insurance companies often focus more on economic damages because they are easier to quantify. As Long Island premises liability attorneys, our job is to work with estimates and use our knowledge of similar cases to build a strong claim for both economic and non-economic damages.
Punitive damages are permitted in more unusual cases involving intentional or reckless conduct. The goal of punitive damages is to punish someone who behaved egregiously rather than compensating an accident victim. While there may be situations where a grocery store slip-and-fall was caused by intentional or reckless behavior, it isn’t common. Our Long Island slip and fall lawyers will analyze your case and determine if you might be able to seek punitive damages based on the facts of your claim.
The best way to get maximum compensation for your personal injury claim is by working with a skilled attorney. Remember: insurance companies have their own teams of lawyers and adjusters. You can level the playing field and protect your interests by having your own legal representation for your case.
Help for Victims of Grocery Store Falls in Long Island
A fall can cause surprisingly serious injuries, including brain injuries, broken bones, and spinal cord injuries. It can also cause emotional trauma as you deal with the aftermath of the accident. Our law firm can help you get justice as we work to help you recover maximum compensation for your injuries related to a grocery store slip-and-fall.
At The Odierno Law Firm Accident and Injury Lawyers, we zealously represent the interests of our clients, fighting to help them get the money that they deserve for their injuries. We handle all cases on a contingency fee basis, which means that you will never pay a fee unless we recover money for you. To learn more or to schedule a free initial consultation with a Long Island slip and fall lawyer, call our law offices today at 631-973-6221 or fill out our online contact form.
Related:
Shopping Mall Slip and Fall Injuries in Long Island – Pursuing Liability Claims
Slip and Fall Accidents in Long Island Restaurants – Your Rights & Legal Options