A Maryland grocery store injury lawyer can assist you if you are hurt at a grocery store. Shopping is a normal part of many Marylanders’ routine. You may stop by the supermarket a few times a week or perform one big haul on Sundays. Whatever your routine, you have a reasonable expectation of safety when you show up at the store. You should not have to face physical threats to your well-being. You may have a family to feed and a job to tend to. Unfortunately, accidents do happen. But when they occur due to the negligence of a grocery store, it is critical to speak to an experienced attorney at Gelb & Gelb immediately to discuss your options. You may be entitled to significant compensation for your injuries. However, this will depend on the effectiveness of your legal team and the facts of your case.
Injuries in grocery stores can arise from various hazards, such as wet floors, improperly stocked shelves, or faulty equipment. At Gelb & Gelb, our Maryland grocery store injury lawyers have handled countless cases covering each scenario. We know precisely what is needed to build a successful case and settle with the grocery store’s insurance company. Moreover, we know how the insurance companies operate. We have been handling Maryland personal injury cases since 1954. During the last 70 years, we have handled over 10,000 cases for clients. This experience with the insurance companies lends itself to knowing how to negotiate to maximize the value of your case. A newer injury firm in Maryland may initially struggle to accomplish this.
Our supermarket attorneys in Maryland are here to fight for you. Call our office today for a free consultation and case evaluation.
Our Maryland grocery store injury lawyers handle countless variations of injury types in supermarkets. Below, we address the three most common causes of injury. While there may be others, these are the most likely causally linked to the supermarket and establish liability.
The main culprits of slip and fall accidents in Maryland grocery stores include wet and slippery floors, uneven surfaces, and clutter or obstruction set up by grocery store employees, such as a pile of boxes or cleaning supplies. Each of these scenarios presents unique challenges at trial. Let’s start with a pile of boxes. In general, you have a duty not to be contributorily negligent in Maryland if you wish to recover compensation. However, if the boxes are not obvious to a reasonably prudent person focused on the shelves, you may still have a case. The precise placement of the pile of boxes is critical in this case.
The second scenario is the slippery floor. This is the most common type of injury in a grocery store. If you slip and fall at a grocery store, you should immediately speak to a Maryland grocery store injury lawyer. The question becomes whether the grocery store was negligent in warning of the slippery floor or cleaning it up. They will be liable for injuries related to the slippery floor if one of two things happens. First, if they were on notice of the slippery floor and failed to act in a reasonable time. If this is the case, we should be successful in our case. The second scenario is if the spill had been there for an unreasonably long period of time. If true, the supermarket has breached its duty by omission and is liable for your injury.
As Maryland grocery store injury lawyers, an uneven surface causing your fall is the least likely of the three causes of a slip and fall accident we discuss here. It may require expert testimony, which is more costly. However, poorly maintained grocery stores may not have fixed a fault in the floor. If this is the case, speak to an attorney immediately.
A falling object may injure you if an employee negligently places an item on a shelf. Depending on the item, it may cause a serious brain injury. Of course, you will probably not be seriously injured if a cereal box falls on you. However, if a heavy can or glass bottle hits your head from several feet up, you may suffer considerable head trauma. A grocery store can be liable for this injury for one of at least two reasons. The first is the obvious reason. If a grocery store employee places the item on the shelf on the lip of the ledge, it may fall without any further action. The supermarket is liable if that happens and it strikes you on the head.
Secondly, even if another customer and not a grocery store employee places the item on the lip of the edge, the grocery store employees, acting as agents of the store, have a legal duty to inspect for hazardous conditions. In a grocery store, this includes these items.
Improperly maintained equipment in a Maryland grocery store that may cause injury can include damaged or broken fixtures, defective shopping carts, or left-out tools and equipment. First, damaged or broken fixtures can include exposed metal or sharp edges on shelving units, freezers, or coolers. The defense team may argue that you are contributorily negligent in scraping this while shopping. However, our Maryland grocery store injury lawyers have experience defeating these defenses. It is unreasonable to expect a shopper to look out for sharp walls while shopping. A shopper’s eyes are focused on the food displays that are carefully curated to garner the attention of shoppers.
Furthermore, an overly sharp edge can cut skin and cause lacerations with even the slightest pressure. This is an unreasonably dangerous hazard, and it is negligent to leave it out near shoppers. A grocery store should be held civilly responsible at trial if it causes an injury.
Additionally, automatic doors in a grocery store may cause injury. If this is due to improper maintenance, you may have a claim against the grocery store and the manufacturer of the doors, as well as any contractor responsible for servicing the doors. These doors move slowly enough that they typically do not cause significant injury, but it is something to look out for.
Surveillance footage is valuable in any personal injury case. The reason is that you, as a plaintiff, carry the burden of proof. Generally, we use your testimony to establish how your injury inside the grocery store occurred. This can be enough to meet the burden of proof, that it is more likely than not the case that your version of events occurred. However, this burden is almost indisputable if you have surveillance footage to support your claim. However, we often encounter problems obtaining surveillance footage. First, cameras often do not work. While your instinct may be to see security cameras and think your case is set, this is not always true. Secondly, even if the cameras are functioning, we are not necessarily entitled to get the footage. If we ask for it, they may turn it over. Or, especially when the footage seriously aids our case, they may refuse.
When this happens, the only way to get the footage is to file a lawsuit against the grocery store and subpoena the footage as evidence. In the meantime, we would send a spoliation letter to the grocery store requiring them to preserve the footage. If they fail to preserve the footage despite receiving this letter, we can request a jury instruction in our favor. This is effectively as beneficial for your case as would be the video footage, if not more so, as there is no presumption that the footage was helpful, even if it was not.
Generally, you do want the grocery store to be liable for negligence of a third-party contractor. There is a higher likelihood of compliance and insurance coverage. For more severe injuries inside a grocery store, a large chain likely has sufficient assets to cover your damages even if your case’s value exceeds the policy limits. However, a grocery store is not liable for independent contractors. Thus, distinguishing between an independent contractor is key. Although, there are two broad exceptions for when a grocery store is liable for an independent contractor. The first is if the contractor is engaged in inherently dangerous activities. It is possible that it would be at a grocery store, but unlikely.
The second reason is for public policy considerations, such as keeping a business’s premises safe for customers. Sometimes a contractor is responsible for this, and sometimes not. Thus, a security guard may fit into this category, even if the guard is employed by a third-party company and not the grocery store itself. A grocery store employing a third-party contractor may also be liable for the store’s own negligence in selecting or supervising the contractor.
A reasonable example may be a refrigeration contractor leaving behind unsafe tools. If doing so leads to your injury, there is no question that the contractor is liable for your injury. But is the grocery store also liable? It probably would not be. However, if the grocery store was careless in selecting that contractor, then they could be joint and severally liable. If that contractor has a history of leaving tools behind and causing injury, the grocery store probably should have known that.
There is a difference between making a claim for injury against an independent grocery store versus a national chain. In one sense, your case’s value does not change at all. Your medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering damages remain the same no matter who the defendant is. On the other hand, the way a judge or jury calculates the non-economic damages may vary. Non-economic damages, in particular, are a subjective measure of your pain and suffering. One judge may rule differently on what these damages are worth than the next. Further, a judge or jury may show more compassion for a small business or independent grocery store than a national chain like Walmart or Giant. While this should not impact your case’s value, it may and should be weighed when deciding whether to litigate your case.
The second primary consideration when comparing an independent grocer versus a national chain is the amount of insurance coverage available. Invariably, a national chain will be a larger source of recovery than an independent grocery store. However, this does not always matter. For example, if your case is only worth $10,000, it does not matter if the defendant has a $500,000 or $ 1 million policy.
If another customer caused your injury in a Maryland grocery store, it is unlikely that you will be able to recover. Unfortunately, we get these calls frequently. The reason it is a problem is that there is generally no source of recovery. Even if we sue the individual and are successful, collecting a judgment against a mere individual can be challenging. At best, we have to retain additional counsel for collections. This is a gruesome process that may include garnishing the defendant’s wages. It can take several months, years, and be quite expensive. And of course, this is only if we win at trial. Thus, the best bet is to find a way to pin the liability on the grocery store. Unlike the individual, the grocery store has insurance. And even if it does not have insurance, the grocery store probably has sufficient assets to cover a judgment.
Meanwhile, the grocery store and the other shopper may share responsibility for your injury. For example, if an item is negligently shelved, and another shopper unwittingly knocks it over, the grocery store may share at least some of the blame. This is true even if the item is not negligently shelved by an employee. Grocery stores have an ongoing duty to inspect the premises and correct hazards, regardless of who caused them. Of course, the problem becomes proving by a preponderance of any available evidence that the grocery store either knew or should have known of the negligently shelved object. Video footage can be effective in this regard.
You have a right to compensation for your injuries so long as we can establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the grocery store or an employee acting within the scope of his job working at the grocery store causes you injury. Our supermarket injury lawyers will work to maximize your compensation so you do not have to pay for any medical expenses related to your injury. You are compensated for the pain and suffering you were forced to undergo. If you cannot work because of your injury, ensure your doctor excuses you, and we will include that in your claim. We will also consider whether you lose future earning capacity, depending on the nature of your injury and the type of work you are doing.
Our Maryland grocery store injury lawyers are here to help you should you have a viable claim against a Maryland supermarket. Contact our office today for a free consultation at (202) 331-7227.
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