Vermont & New Hampshire Injury Blog

Accidents in Retail Stores

There was recently a 7 million dollar recovery for a woman who was seriously injured when an automatic door at a Target store malfunctioned knocking her to the ground and causing a serious head injury.  The elderly victim suffered a serious brain injury and could no longer take care of her special needs adult daughter. Learn more about the incident in this article from the Chicago Tribune website.
In our accident law legal practice we have handled many claims that occur when retail stores are negligent in maintaining their premises in a reasonably safe condition for  customers. While retail stores don't guarantee the safety of customers it makes sense that they should be required to take reasonable steps to make sure dangerous conditions on the property are corrected. In this case it was a malfunctioning door that knocked the elderly woman to the ground and caused the injury. In other cases it can be allowing slippery conditions on store floors to exist without reasonable effort to clean them up. Other cases involve tripping hazards in store aisles and falling boxes. Retail stores want our business and invite us in to look at the products on the shelves.  It makes sense that they should provide safe places for customers to walk when they are expected to look at the products on the shelves, not at the floor. To learn more about premises liability law click here to go the premises liability section of our website.

Injured on someone else’s property? The basics of premises liability law.

Premises liability is an area of civil law that holds a person responsible when someone is injured on his or her property.  Some people commonly refer to these situations as “slip and fall” cases, however that name should not mislead the legal consumer into thinking that these are easy cases.  To the contrary, it takes a skilled and experienced personal injury attorney to assess a premises liability case. 

There are multiple factors that an attorney must take into consideration when determining whether or not you have a viable claim. For example, your attorney must evaluate whether or not the so-called defendant was truly the possessor of the land and premises at issue.  Second, your attorney must evaluate the premises liability law in your particular jurisdiction to determine whether you are classified as an invitee, licensee, or trespasser. These classifications will relate to the duty the defendant owned to you.  Usually a property owner (or person in control of the property at issue) has the duty to use ordinary care and to protect and warn persons on their property of harm, if such harm is unreasonable.  Included in this duty is the obligation to inspect the premises so that a property owner will become aware of potential hazards.  

Interestingly, property owners whose premises abut sidewalks and public roads can be held responsible when dangerous conditions existing on those premises harm members of the public who are passing by. 

Van Dorn & Curtiss frequently represents individuals who have been harmed by dangerous conditions existing on someone else’s property.  If you would like to find out more about these types of accidents, injuries, or insurance claims, visit our website. 

What is premises liability?

vMost people do not know that premises liability covers a wide range of liability cases.  Most people assume that it covers accidents or negligence that occurs on a personal property, i.e. someone house.  However, premises liability covers accidents that occur on any property.

FindLaw.com states that premises liability holds owners and occupiers of property legally responsible for accidents and injuries that occur on that property.  So what does this mean to you?

This means that if you are hurt on anyone's property, be it a residence or a public space, and the negligence of the property owner caused your injury, then they can be held responsible.

Premises liability covers any injury that occurs on someone else's property.  This includes but is not limited to:

• Amusement parks
• Big box store
• Grocery stores
• Residential properties
• Hotels and hotel security
• Nightclubs and restaurants
• Sports arenas and stadiums
• Parking garages or structures
• Playgrounds and play areas

As premises liability is so far reaching, only an experienced lawyer can effectively battle insurance companies and corporate lawyers.  If you live in New Hampshire or Vermont and have been injured on someone's property and believe that the property owner is to blame please contact us today.