As any Los Angeles resident can attest, the holidays are a time of shopping madness, people rushing around, and drivers with focuses elsewhere. As a consumer, this can mean extra safety hazards that put you and your loved ones at risk.
Take, for example, a busy department or retail store. With the extra shoppers pulling items off shelves and hangers and not putting them back properly, potential slip and fall risks abound. Thousands of innocent victims are injured in slip and fall accidents in California year.
If you were involved in an accident while holiday shopping, you might be able to recover financially for your injuries against the property owner or business. As an experienced slip and fall attorney will inform you, in order to be legally responsible for the injuries you suffered from slipping or tripping and falling on a third party’s property, one of the following must be true:
- The owner of the premises or an employee must have caused the spill, worn or torn spot, or other slippery or dangerous surface or item to be underfoot,
- The owner of the premises or an employee must have known of the dangerous surface but done nothing about it, or
- The owner of the premises or an employee should have known of the dangerous surface because a “reasonable” person taking care of the property would have discovered and removed or repaired it.
The third situation, where the property owner ‘should have known’ able the mess in aisle 4, is the most common. Liability in these cases is often decided by common sense, as in, did the owner make regular and thorough efforts to keep the property safe and clean? Judges and juries will look at whether the owner or occupier of property was careful by deciding if the steps taken to keep the property safe were reasonable.
Slip and fall accidents can result in serious injuries, including back and neck pain, broken bones, and emotional trauma. If the retail store or business is responsible for negligently causing your accident, you might be able to recover the costs of medical expenses, lost wages, therapy, and more.
To discuss your slip and fall accident, or related injury, contact the aggressive trial lawyers at BIKLAW today.