Retail Stores, supermarkets and grocery stores actually have a significant level of potential liability for personal injuries to customers. Every store owner has a duty to exercise reasonable care to see to it that conditions both inside and outside the store are reasonably safe for both employees and customers.
Store Liability for Customer Injury
Owners can be held liable for any injury that occurs on the property due to any sort of unsafe condition, whether they caused the unsafe condition or they failed to alleviate an unsafe condition they either knew or should have known existed.
Vigilance is the key; the storeowner should always be aware of hazards and must take steps to warn visitors of potential hazards that are less than obvious and to guard against hazards if they have reason to believe they could lead to injury.
- Injuries from accidents involving shopping carts;
- Slip and Fall Injuries – slip and fall injuries occur when customers slip and fall due to liquids or;
- Injuries from tripping over objects and displays that are stacked on the floor;
- Tripping that occurs due to sticky conditions caused by a mess that wasn’t cleaned properly or not at all.
- Injuries from products that fall off shelves or displays;
- Injuries from negligent security
The liability of most stores is much the same as the liability of any business that is open to the public;
- they have a legal obligation to maintain a safe environment and;
- protect their customers and visitors from injury.
From big box stores to your local mom-and-pop store, any store open to the public can be found liable if someone in the store is injured, and it can be shown that an unsafe condition on the store’s property was the cause. There are a number of factors that can lead an accident victim to show that the store was negligent. For example, if the injured party can demonstrate that the store’s owner or management knew or should have known about the hazard, the store will be held liable.
If you or a loved on was injured at a store, locally owned or owned by a corporation, contact the premises liability lawyers at Liggett Law Group to make sure your financial future is protected.