Getting Help on a Walmart Bodily Injury Claim in Los Angeles

Walmart has 5,200 stores across the United States, and an estimated 138 million customers enter those stores weekly. At least 160 of the retailer’s stores are scattered around California. The gigantic size of Walmart stores and low staffing coupled with the number of customers in the stores 24 hours a day make accidents inevitable. The accident victims are usually Walmart customers. Although these accidents usually occur inside Walmart stores, they can happen outside too in any parking lot or on any sidewalk.

Exterior Accidents

The general rule is that the owner of real estate that has a parking lot and sidewalks is responsible for their care and maintenance. Those areas must be reasonably safe for the people using them. This includes adequate lighting, repairing uneven surfaces, patching cracks that people might trip over and filling holes that they might trip in. While we do not get snow in Los Angeles, if a slip and fall on a store or trip and fall occurred in a part of California that’s prone to seasonal snow and ice, the general rule is that the owner or occupier of the land has no duty to remove those accumulations. If that owner or occupier chooses to remove snow or ice, removal cannot be done negligently.

Interior Accidents

The causes of interior Walmart injuries and accidents are as diverse as those who shop there. To be successful with your cause, you must prove that Walmart caused a situation that led to any of these situations:

• Oily or wet floors
• Uneven floors
• Merchandise or debris in aisles
• Shelving or rack bases obstructing aisles or the surrounding area
• Falling storage on high shelves, racks, displays and merchandise
• Electrical accidents

Walmart’s Liability for Accidents

The general rule in California is that a business isn’t liable for every injury that occurs inside or outside of the premises that it occupies. It might be held liable if:

• A Walmart employee knew or reasonably should have known of a dangerous condition or dangerous situation that presented an unreasonable risk of harm
• Property owners failed to take reasonable measures to eliminate the condition and guarantee complete safety
• If the condition could not be readily eliminated, they failed to take reasonable measures to warn of the condition
• The failure to take such reasonable care resulted in injuries

What to Do in Case of an Injury

If you’re injured in an accident in Walmart, your top priority should be to call paramedics so you can be transported to a hospital and receive immediate medical attention. Paramedics will detail all subjective and objective symptoms in their medical records, and emergency room personnel will provide further diagnostics, medical care, and medical treatment. By far, that’s the best way to start documenting your accident and injuries for a personal injury claim. Don’t provide Walmart with a recorded statement before you file a claim and contact a Los Angeles Walmart injury lawyer.

Walmart Is Self-Insured

Victims of Walmart accidents who make a personal injury claim with Walmart might be contacted by insurance adjusters from Claims Management, Inc. (CMI) which is the legal claims administrator for any claim against Walmart and a subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. The adjuster from CMI will immediately want a recorded statement from the claimant. The CMI representative might imply that he or she has a right to a statement. Neither CMI nor Walmart has such a right then. He or she might also state that giving a statement will help get the claimant’s lost wages and medical expenses paid. That’s simply not true either. When Walmart becomes its own liability insurance company, its goal is just like most companies. That goal is to pay out as little on liability claims, personal injury claims, and premises liability lawsuits as possible. Never give a statement of any kind to any Walmart representative about how an accident occurred or the nature and extent of your injuries without speaking to a personal injury attorney first.

Don’t Think That Walmart Has Accepted Liability

Many people infer that Walmart has accepted responsibility for their accident after speaking with a CMI representative and cooperating with CMI’s investigation. Sometime in the future they learn that their personal injury claim has been denied. Again, there’s no legal duty to cooperate with an opposing insurer’s investigation of an injury claim. People often severely damage their Walmart lawsuits by cooperating. They may not know or understand the premises liability lawsuits and litigation processes or the type of people that they’re dealing with.

Comparative Negligence

CMI might argue that all or part of your injuries were your own fault because you weren’t watching where you were going. In premises liability law, that’s known as the law of comparative negligence. California is what’s known as a pure comparative negligence state. Even if you are 51 percent at fault or more for an accident, you can still recover for your non-economic damages (pain and suffering), lost wages, and medical bills. We will carefully consider any allegations of comparative negligence against you to see if you can receive full compensation.

Related Questions

What Is the Average Time It Takes Walmart to Settle a Claim?

Walmart settlements can take months or even years to complete. You can expect to receive your settlement check within six weeks or less after resolving your claim. It usually takes a few weeks to receive your check. It is necessary to go through the claim/case resolution process before receiving a settlement check.

How Often Does Walmart Settle Out Of Court?

Walmart stores, like other big box stores, often litigate slip and fall cases instead of settling them prior to the filing of a lawsuit in order to discourage people from filing fraudulent claims. This is why they vigorously defend these types of cases so that others do not attempt to make a financial recovery on a frivolous claim.

Contact a Los Angeles Personal Injury Attorney

Remember that from the moment you’re greeted at the entrance to any Walmart store until you leave, you’re on camera. Surveillance footage might be the best witness that you have in a Walmart injury or property damage case. Rather than giving up your rights, take reasonable steps to protect and invoke them by contacting our offices to receive personal attention and a free consultation and free evaluation right away after suffering an injury on Walmart's property. If the Law Offices of Steers and Associates retained to represent you, sue Walmart and seek compensation, we don’t even get paid any legal fees unless we obtain a settlement amount to recover damages or a favorable outcome for you. There’s no reason not to contact our law firm. Our experienced attorney team knows the Walmart claims process and how to take legal action against Walmart.

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