Suppose you slip, fall, and injure yourself on a wet floor in the place you least expect: your local grocery store. It wasn't your fault; there weren't any signs warning of the fall hazard, and no employees had cleaned it up. In that case, you need the best Tampa lawyers for grocery store slip and fall cases to help you get the compensation you deserve for your injury.
Video Transcript:
Hi, I’m Mike Hancock and today I want to share with you the five most important things you need to do after you’ve been involved in a slip and fall accident.
The very first thing, and most important thing, that you need to do after being involved in a slip and fall accident is actually take photos of what caused you to fall. Everybody now has cell phones with them, and it’s sufficient just to take your cell phone out after you’ve gathered yourself and take photos, take video, and take as many as possible to help us help you later on to be able to determine that it was the store’s negligence that caused you to be injured and fall.
The second thing you need to do is make a report with the store employees. Most often, a lot of our clients who have slipped and fallen in somebody’s store, such as a Publix, Target, or Walmart, actually end up with significant injuries.
Most often, what will have happened is that you have fallen, people have come to your aid while you’re still on the floor, and the store manager comes by and actually makes a report.
What also happens on occasion is that our clients fall and get back up very fast, and one of the reasons they do that is they tell us that they felt embarrassed and just wanted to move on.
So if that happens, get back up, gather yourself, take photos of what happened or what caused you to fall, but then immediately go seek out some type of store employee and make a report to the manager of the store.
They’ll have what they call an incident report, and they will fill out your name, address, and contact information. They may actually have you write down what happened, or they may write it down for you. They may have you sign it, and sometimes they don’t. But regardless, always attempt to get a copy of the report before you leave.
Also, before you leave, ask the store employee or store manager for the name of their insurance company, not just the name, but obviously the contact information for you to call and make a claim to their insurance company.
The third thing that is extremely important after a slip and fall is for you to obtain the names and contact information for any witnesses that may have witnessed you fall or come to your aid immediately after you fell.
Also, try to find out from these witnesses - and that includes the store employees - an idea of exactly why this substance was on the floor.
In slip and fall cases, the law in Florida, §768.075, talks about a foreign transitory substance. It’s pretty self-explanatory, but “foreign” meaning something that wasn’t supposed to be there, “transitory” meaning something that is on the floor at one moment but not the next, and “substance” meaning that it has to be some type of substance that is on the floor.
So Florida talks about, in slip and fall type cases, there being a foreign transitory substance on the floor. We have to prove that that foreign transitory substance - whether it’s water, whether it’s a soda that someone had spilled, whether it’s something that had fallen off a shelf such as soap - had been there long enough that the store employees should have known about it and failed to clean it up or failed to put any type of warning signs to warn you of its presence, or we have to prove that they were the ones who actually allowed it to be there.
Sometimes it’s not a substance that came from a product. Sometimes it’s a substance such as water that is dripping from a refrigerated unit in the store, such as on a dairy aisle or on a frozen food aisle.
You want to look at not just what it looks like, but what’s the color, what’s the feel, is it a watery feel, is it a thicker substance?
We also want to know whether other people walked through it. We want evidence as to whether it had been there long enough for other people to have walked through it.
Some of the evidence that we typically get in that regard are photographs and video of the substance. We might see, if it’s a grocery store, the little wheels from the grocery cart. We might see that the substance tracked and left a dirty print of the cart wheels through the substance and down the rest of the aisle.
You might also see other footprints in that substance that walked in the substance and then footprints leading down the aisle.
So we want to find any evidence as to how long that substance had been there, and that will allow us to more easily prove that the store was negligent.
The fifth thing that is extremely important is to seek medical care immediately after you’ve been injured.
So those are the five most important things that you can do for yourself immediately following a slip and fall accident to help us help you have a successful case.
If you have any other questions that you would like to discuss, please give me a call at 813-915-1110. I'd be happy to consult with you and answer any questions you might have. The consultation's always free.
Common Causes Of Slips and Falls At Tampa Grocery Stores:
As per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 3 million people are treated in emergency rooms across the country because of falls. Another 800,000 people are hospitalized. Although most falls don’t cause serious injuries, about 20% of them involve broken bones or head injuries. Many of those falls involve slips and falls on commercial properties, especially grocery stores.
Most of us are at a grocery store once or twice a week. We certainly don’t expect to be injured when we make those stops, but people are injured at Tampa area grocery stores just about every day. The majority of those injuries involve slip and fall accidents. Here are some of the most common causes of slip and fall accidents at Tampa area grocery stores:
- Spilled Food, Liquids, and Beverages: Accidents happen at grocery stores, and those accidents often cause more serious accidents. When food, liquids, and beverages are spilled on grocery store floors, they’re likely to leave a slippery hazard that customers can slip and fall on. Some of the liquids are clear, so customers might not realize or see the condition, especially when their attention is focused on merchandise that’s placed at eye height.
- Floors that Have Just Been Mopped: We’ve all seen the “Wet Floor” signs at grocery stores. Sometimes, employees fail to place those signs, and customers slip and fall because of wet, freshly mopped floors and no signage or warnings of their condition.
- Washroom Floors: Water, wet paper towels, plumbing leaks, and even urine can be tracked all over a public washroom facility and cause a slippery walking surface. These public areas must be periodically checked and cleaned.
- Store Entrances: The Tampa area often has heavy rains, and customers will track in water from parking lots and sidewalks. Mats need to be properly placed at entrances, and those entrances need to be periodically mopped, too. Proper warning signs must be placed at or near wet entrance areas.
- Parking Lots and Sidewalks: These pedestrian areas must also be checked for holes, cracks, and uneven surfaces that might be likely to cause trip and fall accidents.
- Leaking Coolers: We have seen slip and fall accidents at grocery stores due to coolers that are improperly functioning. This kind of hazard can be extremely hard to avoid.
Common Slip And Fall Injuries:
When a person slips and falls, he or she will ordinarily fall backward or to either side. Those types of slips can cause serious injuries. According to the CDC, more than 95% of all hip fractures are caused by falls. Here are some other common slip and fall injuries:
- Traumatic Brain Injuries: The CDC reports that falls are the leading cause of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). These types of injuries might range from a minor concussion to a skull fracture with bone fragments penetrating the brain, with either permanent or fatal consequences.
- Spinal Cord Injuries: The spinal cord extends downward for about 19 inches from the base of the brain. Vertebrae that are fractured and displaced or herniated spinal discs can tear or impinge upon the spinal cord. Even a partial spinal cord tear will lead to permanent paralysis.
- Miscellaneous Fractures: Aside from skull and spinal fractures, slip and fall victims can suffer from other broken bones, such as hand, wrist, arm, rib, and ankle fractures. Many of these fractures require surgery and fixation.
- Ankle, Knee, and Shoulder Cartilage Injuries: The sudden and violent jerking, twisting, and force of impact in a fall will cause unnatural twisting and turning of joints. Many slip and fall victims suffer cartilage damage requiring surgery. Others also suffer strains and sprains.
Video transcript:
Hi, Mike Hancock with Hancock Injury Attorneys. I know that one of your biggest concerns after being injured in a slip and fall or trip and fall or premises liability type of accident is: who’s going to pay for my medical bills?
Quite simply, the business where you were injured will have a policy of insurance known as a commercial general liability policy that will have coverage on it to pay for your medical bills.
That same coverage will also pay for your lost wages and pain and suffering, but for right now I know your biggest concern is who’s going to pay for my medical bills.
The one thing you need to realize about that policy is that that policy only pays for medical bills if we can prove that they are negligent.
The business’ negligence caused you to fall or caused you to be injured in that business.
So what we do for our clients that we represent in slip and fall and premises liability cases is we identify all of the insurance policies involved that provide coverage, and then we help prove that that business’ negligence was what caused you to be injured.
It’s only then that the insurance policy and the insurance company that provides the policy will agree to pay for your hospital or medical bills.
We’ve been able to successfully prove that businesses such as Publix, Walmart, Target, and Home Depot have been negligent in the way they have conducted their business that resulted in our clients being injured in their stores in slip and fall and trip and fall type accidents, and we’ve done that for many years.
If you want any help with your slip and fall or premises liability case, please give me a call at 813-915-1110. I'd be happy to consult with you and answer any questions you might have. The consultation's always free.
Proving Fault In A Grocery Store Slip And Fall:
The owner or operator of the premises where a grocery store is located can be held liable for damages caused by a slip and fall pursuant to Florida Statute 768.0755. The fact that a statute has been put in place that contemplates slip and falls at places that include Tampa area grocery stores doesn’t make proving liability for a slip and fall accident any easier, though. That’s because people who suffer slip and fall injuries in Tampa area grocery stores are expected to use due care and caution for their own personal safety at all times.
Both property and Tampa grocery store owners will argue that Tampa slip and fall accident claimants are partially or completely at fault for their accidents and injuries. Here are some of the common defenses that Tampa grocery stores and their insurers allege:
- The condition that caused the claimant to slip and fall was open and obvious, and the claimant simply wasn’t paying attention.
- All appropriate statutory and common law duties to keep the store premises in a safe condition had been complied with. There wasn’t enough time for the grocery store’s management or employees to learn of the danger.
- The claimant was comparatively negligent. He or she was distracted by a child, a phone call, texting, or even looking up to see which aisle he or she was in after asking a grocery store employee where a product was located in the store.
- The victim was injured in a part of the store that was off-limits to customers and non-employees.
Comparative Negligence:
After being injured in a grocery store slip and fall, the first defense that the store and its insurer will raise is that you simply weren’t watching where you were going, and you were partially at fault for the accident. Assuming that to be true, you can still have the store held liable for your accident and injuries.
For example, if you were 20% at fault for your slip and fall, you can still be awarded 80% of the damages in your case under the law of comparative negligence. But, if you are more than 50% at fault, you will be unable to recover damages. Nevertheless, don’t let their insurance adjuster place all of the blame on you.
Call The Best Tampa Lawyer for Grocery Store Slip and Fall Cases Today
If you were hurt in a slip and fall accident at a Tampa grocery store, including Publix, Walmart, Winn-Dixie, Target, or any local supermarket, contact our Tampa slip and fall attorneys right away. Grocery store injury claims are time-sensitive, and early legal guidance can help protect important evidence and strengthen your case.
We offer a free consultation and case review, and you pay no legal fees unless we win your case. Our firm handles every aspect of your claim, from dealing with insurance companies to pursuing full compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
Call us now at 813-915-1110 for your free consultation and let our Tampa grocery store injury lawyers handle the legal work while you focus on healing.