If you’ve been injured in a slip and fall accident at Market Basket in Boston, seeking assistance from a skilled legal professional is crucial. As a Boston slip and fall accident lawyer, we specialize in representing individuals who have been injured in such incidents. With the guidance of a Boston personal injury lawyer, we’ll thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding your accident and work tirelessly to ensure you receive the compensation you deserve for your injuries and losses.
Common Reasons for Slip-and-Fall Accidents
To better determine if you have a valid claim, it helps if you understand common reasons slip-and-fall accidents happen. Compared to other businesses, grocery stores have a higher chance of having wet floors if items leak or spill on the floor and employees do not notice the mess before someone slips. Market Basket employees may not wax the floors properly, which could cause a person to fall. You could also trip and fall over torn or unsecured carpet. Do you remember the weather when you hurt yourself? Snow and rain tracked into the store from outside could become a safety risk. Sometimes, places of business do not have adequate lighting, which could make it hard for you to see. If you hurt yourself in the store parking lot rather than inside the store, you could blame your injury on poor sidewalk or parking lot upkeep. With slip-and-fall injuries, store owners cannot control every circumstance, so they may not always bear liability for customer slips, trips and falls. For instance, if you slipped and fell on condensation tracked into the store from outside, those conditions may exist outside the store owner’s realm of control.
Proving Fault in Slip-and-Fall Accidents
With personal injury cases like slip-and-fall accidents, the victim must prove which party bears fault for her or his injuries to recover damages. You stand a better chance of winning your case if you show one of the following:
- An employee or the property owner caused the damaged flooring, spill or another dangerous condition.
- An employee or the property owner knew about the dangerous condition but did nothing to remedy the situation.
- An employee or the property owner should have known about the hazard because a reasonable individual would have noticed the hazard and taken steps to take care of it.
No matter how strong a case you have or the evidence you gather, the jury or judge has the final say in determining if the store owner should have known about the dangerous condition that triggered your injury.
Property Owner Prevention
While determining your claim’s validity, you must also ask yourself whether more care and attention on the owner’s part could have kept both your feet on the floor. For example, even if you fell on a puddle caused by a leaking roof and hurt yourself, the property owner could be off the hook for your injuries if she or he installed a grate or something similar on the floor to avoid slippery conditions inside the store. Customers also have a responsibility to keep themselves safe, which is an obligation Market Basket could use against you if you pursue a slip-and-fall accident claim. For instance, if you slipped and fell on a puddle marked by a “wet floor” sign, you likely do not have a solid case.
Reasonableness
Slip-and-fall accident victims must often show whether the defendant took reasonable steps to address a hazard. You and your legal team may need to consider how long the hazard went unaddressed before your fall. The longer the danger existed, the more time the store owner and staff had to take care of it. You and your attorney may also need to look into the Market Basket location’s daily cleaning and property inspection practices and request proof that the staff adheres to such practices and inspections. If you slipped and fell over something and hurt yourself, try to find out how long the object remained in its position before you become injured.
Comparative Negligence
Other than determining the staff’s and store owner’s level of fault, you must also consider your own. For slip-and-fall personal injury cases, most states rely on comparative negligence laws. Under these regulations, if you bear fault for the injuries you received, you may receive reduced damages according to your percentage of fault. Just as you and your attorney look into Market Basket’s degree of responsibility, you must also consider your level of negligence. For example, did you look down at your phone, or were you otherwise distracted when you slipped and fell? Did the store put up a sign or give a verbal warning about a hazard before you encountered it and hurt yourself?
Common Injuries in Slip-and-Fall Accidents
While building your case and gathering evidence, you must get a full inventory of all the harm you suffered. So that you and your doctor know what to look for, it helps to know common injuries suffered after a person slips or trips and falls.
Head Injuries
If you hit your skull during your tumble, you could have a concussion or a more serious traumatic brain injury. One vital fact to remember with TBIs and other head injuries is you may not immediately recognize symptoms. Therefore, you should have a doctor examine your head even if you feel fine.
Soft Tissue Injuries
It could take several days or weeks after your fall before you notice soft tissue injury symptoms. Examples of these injuries include wrist sprains, ligament and tendon tears, and ankle and wrist sprains. Soft tissue injuries require immediate medical attention. Otherwise, they could cause constant pain and lead to other harm.
Abrasions and Cuts
Slips and falls often cause arm and leg abrasions and wounded hips. You may only need minor treatment to recover from a cut or abrasion, but you could also require stitches. Depending on how hard you fell, you could have cuts or abrasions on top of more severe injuries, such as a broken bone or concussion.
Broken Bones
Slip-and-fall accidents may cause severe bone breaks or minor fractures. The injury may also trigger tissue injuries around the affected bone, which could require extensive therapy to avoid neuromuscular dysfunction and constant discomfort.
Spinal Cord Injury
If a fall compresses or severs your spinal cord, you may suffer a spinal cord injury. Not only may you require immediate medical attention if you endure harm to your spinal cord, but you may also need ongoing medical treatment. Usually, the higher the site of injury on the spinal cord, the more severe the damage. Someone who suffers a high cervical spinal cord injury could experience complete paralysis, while a person who endures an injury to the lower spinal cord may experience lower-limb paralysis.
Schedule Your No-Obligation Consultation Today
If you slipped and fell in a Market Basket, you cannot afford to take even minor injuries for granted. Jason Stone Injury Lawyers has dedicated and experienced trial attorneys and negotiators ready to protect your rights and help you secure fair damages. With our Stone Cold Guarantee, we only get paid after you get paid. To schedule your no-obligation consultation with one of our knowledgeable legal representatives, call 800-577-5188 or submit an online form whenever you feel ready. There’s No Obligation, Just Information (R).
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