Falling Merchandise Injury Lawsuit
Have you suffered a serious injury due to falling merchandise in a California retail store? Are you struggling with the pain and the financial burden of medical bills? Has the injury forced you to take time off work?
You may be eligible to file a premises liability lawsuit and receive substantial financial compensation for your injuries, providing a ray of hope in a challenging situation.
At big box stores like Costco, Sam's Club, Lowes, and Home Depot, the product stock needs to be readily available, so it makes sense to keep it onsite.
This stock is enormous, and warehouses are only so big that many of these stores start stacking it high up to the ceiling—or, if it's outside, high up toward the sky.
Sometimes, these stacks can reach fifteen feet, tenfold, increasing the risk of them falling on their customers. Unfortunately, there's usually no warning as to when something might fall.
Walmart has reported that it receives an average of 2,500 customer injury claims because of falling merchandise each year. If you or someone you love has been the victim of falling merchandise, contact our personal injury lawyers for a free consultation to understand your rights.
You should not have to pay out of pocket to seek treatment for these injuries, and an attorney can help you. Remember, you have the legal right to hold the store owner accountable for your injuries due to their negligence. The compensation you recover could help you cover medical costs, lost wages, and the trauma you have suffered.
Risks of Stacking Merchandise So High
The merchandise at big box stores in California is stacked high and often unstable. Pair that with poorly trained employees, and you have a recipe for disaster. Often, employees and customers climb the shelves to reach the product, causing a flood-like effect when the product falls.
And remember, it's not just toilet paper and paper towels being stacked that high. Many times, it's heavy bags of mulch, packages of water bottles, appliances, power tools, and boxes of canned soup. If even one of these items fell from a shelf, never mind a pile of highly stacked merchandise, it would cause an injury.
There are numerous reasons why store merchandise will fall and cause injuries to a customer, including:
- High-stacked products,
- Over-stacked merchandise,
- Unevenly stacked merchandise,
- Poor merchandise shelving,
- Improper maintenance of shelving,
- Merchandise protruding from shelves.
Injuries from Falling Merchandise
Falling merchandise from store shelves can cause serious bodily injuries, including the following:
- Head and skull injuries,
- Broken bones,
- Back injuries,
- Dental damage,
- Facial fractures,
- Shoulder or chest wounds,
- Lacerations,
- Degloving injury,
- Crushing injury,
- Amputation injury,
- Paralysis,
- Brain injury,
- Spinal cord compression,
- Wrongful death.
If you have been injured by falling merchandise, it's crucial to seek immediate medical attention. Your health is the top priority, and prompt medical care can significantly impact your recovery.
Stores are Liable for Falling Merchandise Injuries
When you shop at a retail or warehouse store, you never expect to get injured and presume the premises are safe. However, under California law, property owners must follow specific rules to ensure the safety of their customers. This means that store owners have a legal duty to ensure a hazard on their property won't harm their customers, empowering you with this knowledge.
They are obligated to inspect and repair potential hazards routinely. When a store owner fails to keep you safe from harm, they might have breached their duty of care. This means you could be entitled to compensation through a premises liability lawsuit. For a premises liability lawsuit to be successful, several factors must be proven:
- Store owner owned or had control of the premises;
- The owner was negligent in maintaining the premises;
- You sustained an injury due to the owner's negligence;
In other words, it must be proven that negligence by the store owner was a primary factor causing your injury. Store owners can be found negligent under the following circumstances:
- Failed to examine the store, merchandise, and equipment regularly;
- Failed to provide customers of potential hazards in the store;
- Failed to train and supervise their employees properly.
Investigating the Cause of Your Falling Merchandise Injury. Determining the exact cause of your falling merchandise injury is crucial for a successful premises liability lawsuit. Our experienced lawyers can conduct a thorough investigation to identify the specific reasons and who can be held liable for your injuries.
How Can a Personal Injury Attorney Help You?
In California, the store owner must ensure that the customers they invite into their store are safe from unreasonable risks of harm. If you are injured while in their store, you are eligible for damages if you can prove the store was negligent.
As stated, California imposes specific requirements on store owners to ensure the premises do not pose a hazard to customers. The stores must regularly check for potential hazards and fix or warn of risks they are aware of.
If the store owner breaches this duty – doesn't check for potential hazards at regular intervals or fails to warn or fix hazards they know of – you are entitled to compensation for any injuries you sustain because of those hazards.
The law of negligence governs most falling merchandise cases. To prove the store was negligent, you must be able to show:
- The store owed the customer a duty of care – the customer is an invitee who is shopping in the store;
- There was a breach of that duty – there was a known hazard that wasn't warned of or fixed, or they failed to check for hazards regularly;
- The breach of duty caused the merchandise to fall– you were hurt because of the failure to check or fix the hazard;
- The falling merchandise was the proximate cause of your injuries– you were hurt by the falling merchandise, or the falling merchandise set some event in action that caused your injury;
- The customer suffered legally recognized damages– medical expenses, loss of wages, loss of future earning capacity, property loss, loss of a normal life, and more.
Understanding Comparative Negligence in Falling Merchandise Cases. In many cases, stores may allege that the plaintiffs were injured due to their own negligence, commonly known as shared fault. If the court finds this to be true, they may reduce the award of damages by a certain percentage. Our lawyers can help you navigate these complexities and ensure you receive the compensation you deserve.
This concept, known as comparative negligence, is important to understand as it can affect the amount of compensation you receive. For instance, if the award would have been $50,000 if it were found to be entirely the store's fault, but in fact, they find you to be 25% negligent, the award will be reduced to $37,500.
Available Damages for Falling Merchandise Victims
Falling merchandise from a high shelf could cause serious injuries, even if they are small objects. If you are a victim due to the negligence of a store owner, you have the right to seek financial compensation. Our falling merchandise accident injury lawyers will pursue any damages you are entitled to receive, including:
- Medical and hospital expenses,
- Rehabilitation and therapy,
- Disability,
- Plastic surgery,
- Lost wages,
- Reduced earning capacity,
- Pain and suffering,
- Emotional distress
Our attorneys need to review all the specific details first to determine what damages and compensation you might be eligible to receive.
Contact a Los Angeles Falling Merchandise Injury Attorney
Falling merchandise injury cases are much more prevalent than big box stores would like you to think. If you are subject to an injury while shopping because of falling merchandise, call our offices today for a consultation. At Injury Justice Law Firm, we have years of experience navigating personal injury cases in California.
We will work diligently to ensure the best possible outcome for your case. You shouldn't have to live with the consequences of an injury that the retail owner could have easily prevented. We can help you understand all your legal options and eligibility for financial recovery.