Los Angeles Erewhon Markets Slip and Fall Accident Lawyer – Steers & Associates

No matter how safe a store is kept, slip and fall accidents are going to happen, and every store carries a risk for slip and fall injuries. If you’ve been in an Erewhon Market and were injured by slipping and falling down, you need to talk a Los Angele Slip and Fall Attorney right away. Slip and falls, also called trip and falls, happen for many reasons and can cause serious injuries. Erewhon stores are filled with shelves of products that can cause a fall injury. Anytime someone is looking at the store’s product and doesn’t seen an object or some liquid on the floor, they can be injured.

Common Causes of Slip and Falls

Just about anything can be spilled or left on a floor and cause a hazard. In looking at a history of cases, some of the common reasons people get injured are:

• Oils
• Fruit
• Sauces
• Wine
• Fallen Signage
• Mops/brooms/cleaners
• Wet Floor or Caution signs that had fallen or collapsed

These are just a few but they give you an idea on how a fall injury can happen.

How a Claim is Made

Making a successful slip/trip and fall case isn’t as simple as someone fell because of something on the floor in the store which caused physical injury. Rather, a case has to be made that the store created a hazardous condition which led to the person’s injuries.

Creation of a Hazard

Every retail outlet has a duty to keep its premises safe for those coming onto their property. To prove a slip and fall was the fault of the store owner, then it must be proven that the owner created a hazard. This doesn’t mean that you have to prove it was intentional, but through their negligence. California law allows for a hazard to be created in two ways:

1. The owner created the hazard through negligent maintenance or other means, or
2. The owner knew, or should have known of a hazard and did nothing (or did something inadequate) to fix the condition.

Proof of Injury

The also requires that the person seeking compensation prove that their injuries were caused by the hazard. It can’t be that they fell just by walking, or they passed out for medical reasons and fell. The hazard must have directly caused the injuries. Also, even if the person fell as a result of the hazard, the injury couldn’t have been caused by something else. If someone went into the store and fell on some liquid but their broken leg was caused by an early accident, then they can’t claim that it was caused by the fall at the store.

Defenses to a Slip/Trip and Fall

What makes it so difficult to determine if a store owner is liable for a slip and fall is because the law allows them some defenses. In all personal injury cases, the injured person must prove that the person being sued has done something negligent. To do this, they must show that the person didn’t do what a reasonable person would have done under the same circumstances. Put another way, if you fell in an Erewhon store, you need to prove that the store didn’t act reasonable regarding the hazard. For example, if one of the stores has a free sample of herbal teas, and a cup of it spilled on the floor and someone fell on the tea, but the time between the tea falling and the slip was a few seconds, and a store employee was already on the way with a rag to clean it up, it’s going to be difficult to show that the store was unreasonable in how they reacted.

Do I need an Attorney?

If you’ve been injured in a slip/trip and fall, you need an attorney to help you file a proper claim within the deadline under the law and to successfully prosecute the claim. Most stores have insurance that will pay out damages, and these insurance companies do not just hand over money. They will try to make it look like the fall was the injured person’s fault or that their client didn’t do anything negligent. Talk to an attorney at the Law Offices of Steers & Associates who can give you unbiased legal advice and evaluate your claim in a free consultation. They once satisfied that they are your best chance of getting compensation for your injuries, you can hire them to represent you. Call the Law Offices of Steers & Associates at 800 824 5416 to talk to a a Los Angeles Slip and Fall Attorney, or click here to contact us online to speak to an attorney about your case.  

Resource

• Grocery Stores