Staten Island Supermarket Accident Lawyer
Injured in a Grocery Store? Our Staten Island Supermarket Accident Lawyer Can Help You
Shopping at grocery stores, convenience stores, and other supermarkets is a weekly or sometimes daily experience for most of us. Although we almost always complete our shopping without an incident, our Staten Island supermarket accident lawyer knows that is not always the case. Unfortunately, sometimes stores fail to reasonably maintain their premises in a safe condition. As a result, some shoppers may be caused to slip and fall, trip and fall, or otherwise be injured by conditions in a store such as falling items from a shelf that’s being restocked from the other aisle. Many people do not realize how dangerous falls can be, but statistics reveal that almost 47,000 people die in fall accidents every year in the United States. According to other statistics, retail trade accidents resulting in personal injuries result in almost 39,000 injuries from contact with objects or equipment (i.e., falling objects) and over 34,000 for slip and falls or trip and falls. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, over 2 million falls each year are related to the type of flooring used by a store which contributes to the accident.
Here at the O’Connor Personal Injury Law Firm, our personal injury legal team understands that a trip to the supermarket shouldn’t result in a lifetime of pain and suffering. But when the negligence of a defendant does cause serious or catastrophic personal injuries, our Staten Island supermarket accident lawyer is happy to speak with you and your family to explore your legal options. Unlike other bodily injury law firms, the O’Connor Personal Injury Law Firm is built on dedication to our clients and their families. That’s why we offer free case reviews and, if we accept your case, we pay the upfront expenses of litigation which are only reimbursed after we recover compensation for you. The same is true of our legal bills, which are only calculated from a percentage of what we recover for you – and only after we make such a recovery. To hear more about how we can help you, contact us today to schedule your free appointment.
Common Causes of Supermarket Accidents in Staten Island
Staten Island supermarkets are busy, busy places. There is a constant flow of customers coming and going, some at all hours of the night as their shifts start and end at different times. This is particularly true in Staten Island, where many people who live here work a variety of different jobs and different shifts in New York City.
As a result, most grocery stores and supermarkets in high-traffic areas never close and are always busy. This means there is also a constant changeover of staff and restocking, usually at expected lulls in foot traffic. However, that does not always happen, especially around the holidays or when staff call out, trucks are late, or there are large events taking place. Additionally, inclement weather can also have a huge impact on supermarkets too, including how accidents can occur.
Indeed, there are many factors that dictate the common causes of Staten Island supermarket accidents. Some of the most common causes of supermarket, grocery store, convenience store, and other business accidents include the following:
- Product spills that aren’t timely cleaned up
- Debris on the floor, including boxes or pallets that are tripping hazards
- Produce on the floor, such as grapes, lettuce leaves, berries, and other objects
- Produce misters and overspray on floors
- Uneven flooring
- Inadequate lighting
- Leaking refrigerator units
- Excessive soap or floor wax that was improperly applied or not cleaned up/buffed
- Wires or cords on the ground (such as for vacuuming)
- Stock carts, pallets, forklifts, and other devices that were improperly located or operated
- Tracked in rain or snow that melts, and
- Other common causes of slip and falls, trip and falls, or accidents in supermarkets that our Staten Island supermarket accident lawyer can handle for you.
Proving Liability in a Supermarket Accident in New York
In order to recover compensation for a supermarket accident in New York, a victim will need to establish liability against a defendant. Also known as fault, the first step in a supermarket accident case is often identifying who is responsible for the area where the victim was injured. Although New York law creates a “non-delegable duty” for property owners, meaning that property owners are generally always responsible, there are some exceptions. These exceptions are common in supermarket and store accident cases.
Specifically, the following types of people, businesses, or other entities could be responsible for a supermarket accident, including:
- Tenants (i.e., the store that rents a place from the property owner who owns the shopping complex)
- Property managers (i.e., those who are responsible for the premises, usually inside and outside, but sometimes just limited to a specific area such as a parking lot)
- Repair companies (i.e., refrigeration repair companies)
- Maintenance companies (i.e., cleaning crews for inside a store), and
- Third-parties who exercise control over the space, such as a vendor who completely displaces a property owner or tenant in a store.
Once a defendant, or multiple defendants as is more common in premises liability cases, a victim will need to prove that there was a dangerous condition on the premises, the defendant(s) had notice, and that such dangerous condition was a substantial factor (cause) of the victim’s injuries.
Proving Notice in Supermarket Accidents in Staten Island
Like most other premises liability cases, supermarket accidents in Staten Island usually involve a dispute over notice. This is a legal element that must be proven by the victim of a slip and fall, trip and fall, or other property defect case. Without this element, a victim of a premises liability case may be unable to recover any compensation for his or her injuries.
The main ways to prove notice under New York law for supermarket accidents include the following:
Created or Caused the Defect
Sometimes notice is easy to prove when the defendant created or directly caused the defect. That includes when a defendant constructs a set of stairs that is defective, against code, and outright dangerous. That could be due to improper heights of the stairs, no handrail, inadequate lighting, or many other causes – including a combination. Other times a defendant could directly cause a supermarket accident, such as driving a stocking cart or forklift directly into a shopper, pushing stock on top of an aisle only for it to fall over onto the other side and injure a shopper, or otherwise directly harm a shopper in an accident.
Generally speaking, whenever a defendant has created or directly caused a supermarket accident, notice is usually easier to prove than the other types of cases. That does not mean, however, that a victim should not hire an experienced Staten Island supermarket accident lawyer, as a victim may still need to use expert testimony to prove that the creation of the defect was against code or the law.
Actual Notice
Where a defendant had actual notice of a defect, a victim has a strong case because it means that a defendant was actually aware and knew of the dangerous condition. This includes where a defendant came across the defect, such as inspecting the property and finding a spilled product on the floor. It could also mean that another customer – sometimes even the victim – told the defendant about the defect prior to the accident.
This type of notice usually means that a defendant will have a hard time defending a case, but that does not mean that a defendant will play fair. Unfortunately, some defendants may mislead or even outright lie about their knowledge of a defect. Sometimes this means that victims and their Staten Island supermarket accident lawyers will have to play detective by interviewing witnesses, subpoenaing video surveillance, and inspecting the premises for other evidence that could prove that a defendant knew about the defect.
Construction Notice
Often the most common type of notice in a premises liability or supermarket accident case, constructive notice is a type of notice that is imputed on a defendant who should have known about the existence of a defect but did not. Generally, this means that a defect existed for a sufficient period of time for the defendant to have inspected the premises and discovered the dangerous condition.
There is no magic number of minutes or hours for constructive notice to apply to the defendant. Indeed, courts have found that a defect which existed for 30 minutes in a supermarket may be sufficient to establish constructive notice in one case, but not in another case. That’s because it is a fact-dependent evaluation which depends on many factors, including the type of defect, how visible and observable that defect is, the cause of the defect, and how reasonable the defendant’s inspections were under the circumstances. Thus, it is critical that victims and their families hire an experienced Staten Island supermarket accidents lawyer to represent them and their families to help prove constructive notice.
Recurring Conditions
Technically a type of constructive notice, a recurring condition has been found to create awareness for a defendant in certain situations. Courts have started to handle this as a sub-set of constructive notice for that reason. For example, if the roof leaks in one stop every time that it rains, and then it starts raining, a defendant may be charged with having notice that the floor is wet in one area of the store. Thus, a defendant who fails to do anything about that wet floor, could be charged with having notice of the defect.
Another way that this often happens is when it is icy outside. This includes where snowmelt from a pile of accumulated snow starts to melt and then refreezes on a sidewalk or near an entrance. The same is true from gutters that leak and cause a slippery condition. In these situations, a defendant could be found to have notice of a recurring condition – whether or not it had an opportunity to inspect – because the condition nearly always repeats in certain instances.
Injured in a Supermarket Accident? Our Staten Island Supermarket Accident Lawyer Can Help You
Accidents in stores can be hard to prove because there are many causes. This includes third parties such as other buyers who are sloppy, reckless, or otherwise cause personal injuries for a victim. However, many supermarket accidents are caused by the negligent conduct of store employees, owners, and others who are responsible for the premises.
If you or a loved one suffered any type of personal injuries in a slip and fall, trip and fall, product falling, or another type of accident in a supermarket, grocery store, convenience store, or another type of business, call the O’Connor Personal Injury Law Firm for help. Our compassionate and skilled legal team can speak with you over the phone or in person at home or a hospital, answering your important questions about your fall. To learn more about your rights to compensation under New York law, call us today by dialing (866) 927-3809 or by sending us an email through our “Contact Us” box available here.