Whether shopping for necessities like groceries or for splurge items to help deal with stress, shopping should always be a safe experience. Unfortunately, there are many hidden dangers among the aisles at one’s favorite store. Most California shopper’s risk of being injured at a store is probably higher than they realize.
Understanding shopping injuries
A shopping injury is a term that refers to the types of personal injuries that often occur at stores. This may be at a grocery store, mall, big box retailer or more. A few examples of shopping injuries include:
- Head injuries caused by falling objects or poorly constructed retail displays.
- Overcrowding injuries caused by too many people in a store.
- Shopping cart injuries caused by poorly maintained carts that may tip over.
- Slip-and-fall injuries caused by wet floor, poor lighting conditions or uneven flooring.
Determining fault
Many store owners are reluctant to take responsibility for patrons’ injuries. Instead, they may try to shift the blame back onto victims. This puts an enormous burden on victims to demonstrate that store owners were negligent. Proving negligence will look a little different for every victim, but often involves things like showing that the owner was aware of the problem or that he or she did not take the proper steps to address the issue.
There are few experiences as overwhelming and confusing as being injured at a store. Recovery can be a physically, emotionally and financially exhausting process. This is not a path that California victims have to traverse all on their own, though. Compensation secured via a personal injury lawsuit can be an invaluable tool for many victims.
