New York premises liability lawyer explains premises liability. Long Island, New York (NewYorkInjuryNews.com) — Going to the supermarket can be just as dangerous as trying to cross the street in the middle of the block. All kinds of things can happen to you, such as a “train” of shopping carts breaking loose and striking a person or a shelf collapsed and fell on you while reaching for an item or having a person injured while slipping on produce or water from a leaking refrigerator unit.
If you have been injured in a store there are some things you should know to protect your rights if you want to bring a lawsuit to recover damages for your injuries.
In the first place, it always helps to make sure your accident is documented. You should insist that a report be made out by a manager or others in authority. Why? Because you would be surprise to learn that in some instances the supermarket might later say, “we have no record of that accident”, and therefore deny your claim. An accident report goes a long way in establishing that an accident happened and in maintaining your credibility. Are there witnesses? – Get their names and phone numbers and don’t leave it up to the store employee.
Remember even though they may help you in getting medical assistance, they may not have as their objective protecting your legal rights. And if you have a cell phone camera video, or other devices and you have your wits about, you take a picture of the condition, which caused you to fall or be injured. You know what they say about one picture being worth a thousand words. Contemporaneous photographs can be critical in any lawsuit brought to collect money damages for your injuries.
The rules of law to establish your case really do not change because you are hurt in a supermarket. Basically with conditions on a floor such as dropped or discarded produce you must prove what we lawyers call “notice” that is, that the supermarket knew that the condition was there long enough before your accident to have taken action to eliminate the condition. This can be proven in many ways. Suppose near where you fell you see a bucket and mop to clean up that area. That might be considered circumstantial evidence that the supermarket knew of the condition. Or assume the manager said something like “I told him to clean up that mess”?
Besides notice, you can prevail if you can prove that the supermarket “caused and created” the condition. For example, suppose an employee didn’t put up that display shelving correctly and it falls on you. If we can prove that you don’t need to provide notice because now you can show the Court and jury that the supermarket affirmatively created the condition that caused your accident.
So next time you go to the supermarket BE CAREFUL! But if you get hurt do what you need to do to protect your rights – including consulting attorneys who understand the applicable law in these cases and who have experience handling these.
Contributor: Christoper McGrath – Long Island Premises attorney- Leading Trial Attorney, New York City, Long Island. If you have been injured in New York in a slip and fall accident or other types of personal injuries write to New York Injury News. Complete the form below and our New York premises liability lawyers are always able to assist.