Slips and Falls in New Hampshire Grocery Stores
If you slipped and fell in a New Hampshire grocery store, you may be recovering from serious injuries. You might also be considering your legal options, especially if you face overwhelming medical bills and lost income. How do you proceed with a slip-and-fall lawsuit in this situation? Can a personal injury lawyer help?
What Are Some Typical Fall Hazards in Grocery Stores?
Grocery stores may be home to all kinds of fall hazards. Perhaps the most obvious is some kind of liquid spill. The classic case is a spilled carton of milk, but liquid spills may appear in many other ways. Fridges and freezers can leak, causing puddles of water. Sometimes, staff members fail to mop floors correctly and leave the floors slippery and unsafe.
Solid debris can also cause people to slip and fall. For example, a victim might slip on a banana or an orange that has fallen off a shelf. Many other types of food can cause people to slip and fall. Cardboard boxes and tools left behind by staff members can be equally dangerous. Other fall hazards include broken stairs, exposed cables, and various building code violations.
What Are Some Typical Injuries Associated With Grocery Store Slips and Falls?
Slips and falls can cause all kinds of injuries. Some of the most serious examples include traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) and hip fractures. A TBI can leave a victim with cognitive decline, depression, motor control issues, and memory loss. Some people with brain injuries need to re-learn how to speak, write, walk, and dress themselves. Certain TBI patients never fully recover.
Hip fractures can be just as dangerous in some situations. These injuries could be particularly harmful for elderly patients, as their bones could be more brittle than those of younger people. Sometimes, fractured hips become infected, and this can prove fatal. In other cases, victims suffer from permanent mobility issues after suffering hip fractures. Other examples include “FOOSH” (falling on an outstretched hand) injuries, twisted ankles, fractured ribs, and twisted knees.
How Do I Sue a Grocery Store for a Slip-and-Fall?
If you’d like to sue a grocery store for causing your slip-and-fall, you need to establish negligence. This means showing a duty of care, a breach of duty, causation, and injuries. In other words, you need to prove that the grocery store’s misconduct led directly to your injuries.
This may be harder than you think and we would suggest that you seek help from an experienced personal injury attorney. These legal professionals can help you gather evidence, such as surveillance footage, witnesses, and internal policies.
Can a New Hampshire Slip-and-Fall Lawyer Help Me?
A New Hampshire slip-and-fall lawyer may be able to help if you’re recovering from injuries after a grocery store accident. Business owners and property owners have a legal responsibility to keep grocery stores free from slipping hazards. If they fail in this duty of care, you may have the right to hold them liable. Contact Manning Zimmerman & Oliveira PLLC today to learn more.
Source:
jstor.org/stable/4184400
