In 2007, an elderly woman suffered a horrible accident at a Kohl’s in Willimantic, Connecticut. In April of 2007, a retired school social worker was hospitalized after a shopping cart incident – the wheels on her shopping cart suddenly stopped, causing her to fall and essentially shear off the front of her shins. The 74-year-old woman suffered a number of injuries including facial lacerations, leg lacerations, and leg hematomas. The leg hematomas that the woman suffered required extensive surgery as well as skin grafting.

In 2011, the woman, 78-years-old at the time, was awarded a $258,000 verdict for the harm that she suffered. Kohl’s was found negligent – as the shopping carts were unsafe for customer use. According to the victim’s legal representatives, the shopping carts were poorly designed; the wheels were likely to become jammed, suddenly stopping the carts and causing innocent shoppers to fall.

Were you or a member of your family harmed in any way because of a shopping cart? If a shopping cart suddenly stopped and caused you or a member of your family to fall and suffer any sort of injuries, you should consider the possibility of pursuing a claim. Depending on the details of the incident and the harm that you or a member of your family suffered, you might have grounds to pursue a claim – you might also be eligible to recover monetary compensation.

If you would like to explore the option of pursuing a claim against a department store, for example, for the harm that you or a member of your family suffered because of a shopping cart, do not hesitate to contact the experts at Downtown L.A. Law Group at your earliest convenience.

At Downtown L.A. Law Group, our personal injury lawyers have many years of experience handling all sorts of claims; our lawyers are committed to representing interests of our clients, always helping them to recover the compensation that they are owed. Our lawyers are ready to evaluate your claim and provide you with all the information that you need to take action against the party or entity liable for the harm that you suffered. If you would like to discuss your current situation with the experts at our law firm, do not hesitate to contact us immediately.

Why are Shopping Carts So Dangerous?

Without a doubt, shopping carts are supposed to make our shopping experience easier – instead of trying to carry everything in our arms or holding a small basket, we can put our items into a shopping cart and simply push forward. Shopping carts are typically heavy; if we try to push against them if the wheels are jammed, the cart will not move.

Most of us have encountered at least a few questionable shopping carts – some that veer to one side or some that simply will not move forward. If we notice these issues immediately, most of us simply choose a different shopping cart. However, many shopping carts never appear to have issues until it is too late – until they suddenly jam and come to a stop that causes unsuspecting shoppers to fall and suffer injuries.

Understanding Premise Liability and Shopping Cart Incidents

Do you have the right to file a claim if you or a member of your family suffered a shopping cart incident at a store? To understand whether you have the right to pursue a claim, you must have a thorough understanding of premise liability. What is premise liability? How does premise liability affect your right to pursue a claim?

Based on premise liability, property owners as well as property managers owe their guests a duty of care. This applies to stores, including convenience stores, department stores, and grocery stores. Essentially, this means that store owners and managers have a duty to ensure that their shoppers remain safe while on their premises (store premises usually include the store, the parking lot, and even nearby sidewalks). Therefore, their premises must be free of any hazards that could put shoppers at risk of injury.

How are shopping carts related to premise liability and the duty of care owed to shoppers? Shopping carts are provided for shoppers to use on the premises; therefore, they must be safe to use. If shopping carts are not regularly maintained, repaired, or inspected, for example, the shopping carts can represent a hazard on the premises.

Because property owners and managers have a duty to their guests, they must exercise their duty of care and do everything within their reach to ensure that their premises are safe – this includes ensuring that shopping carts are safe. By failing to address hazardous shopping carts, property owners and managers are breaching their duty of care. The breach of duty could lead to an incident, which could cause harm to a shopper – this would make property owners liable for the harm suffered.

To learn more about premise liability, do not hesitate to seek legal assistance with the experts at our law firm at your earliest convenience. Our lawyers are ready to provide you with all the information that you need to better understand your right to pursue a claim on the basis of premise liability.

You Can Sue and Recover Compensation

Do you have the right to recover any form of monetary compensation after suffering any sort of harm because of a shopping cart incident? If the shopping cart incident and the harm that you suffered was a direct result of the negligence of a party or entity, you will likely have grounds to sue; upon a successful claim outcome, you could be eligible to recover monetary compensation.

If you are considering the possibility of pursuing a claim, you might have already considered the likelihood of recovering monetary compensation. How much compensation could you be eligible to recover? What type of compensation could you receive? Although these questions are perfectly valid, they are better reserved for an experienced attorney – as the answers to those questions depend strictly on the details of your claim.

Although every shopping cart incident is different, some of the types of compensation that could be available for recover could include the following:

• Medical costs
• Lost wages
• Pain and suffering
• Loss of consortium
• Funeral and burial costs
• Property damage
• Punitive damages

To learn more about the type and amount of compensation that you could be eligible to receive if you or a member of your family suffered any sort of harm because of a shopping cart incident, do not hesitate to seek legal assistance with the experts at our law firm at your earliest convenience. Our lawyers are ready to fight for your right to recover the highest amount of compensation for your claim. Contact us today.

What Important Steps Should You Follow?

You were injured because of a shopping cart; now, what? What can you do? What should you do? Depending on the details surrounding the incident, you might have grounds to pursue a claim. However, the likelihood of pursuing a successful claim depends on whether you act appropriately immediately after the incident.

All affected parties should do the following (to the fullest of their abilities):

• Call for help immediately (before even attempting to get up)
• Ensure that a store manager or an employee acknowledges your accident (and sees you on the floor, if possible)
• Take photos of the entire scene of the accident, including the shopping cart that caused you to fall
• File a written incident report with the management (request a copy)
• Take notes of everything, including the date/time of the incident, any surveillance cameras that could have captured footage of the incident, and the names of the managers and employees that you spoke with
• Speak to any witnesses and gather their contact information (be prompt because witnesses are often quick to leave the scene)
• Take photos of all injuries sustained
• Seek medical attention immediately
• Seek the expertise of a lawyer as soon as possible

When you follow the different recommendations listed above, you are preparing to pursue your claim – you are gathering the tools necessary to start building your claim. For more information about what you should do and why you should do it, do not hesitate to seek legal assistance with the experts at our law firm at your earliest convenience. Our lawyers are ready to provide you with the legal representation that you need.

File Your Claim within the Appropriate Timeline

If you or a member of your family suffered a shopping cart accident, you might have the right to pursue your claim. However, did you know that failing to take the appropriate legal actions on time could result in losing the right to sue? All claims are subject to a statute of limitations; a statute of limitations establishes the specific length of time that claimants have to pursue their claims – if claims are not filed within the time allowed by the applicable statute of limitations, claimants will lose their right to sue.

If these deadlines apply to all claims, what is the deadline that applies to your claim? In California, injury claims (including those arising from premise liability) are subject to a two-year statute of limitations. This means that claimants only have two years to file their claims. If they fail to file their claims within the two years allowed, they will likely lose their right to sue – and their right to receive any form of compensation.

Failing to understand the deadline that applies to your claim could result in losing the right to sue. It is also important for you to have a thorough understanding of any applicable exceptions to the statute of limitations. These exceptions (strictly based on the details of your claim) could toll or pause the deadline. For more information about the applicable statute of limitations as well as possible exceptions, do not hesitate to seek legal assistance with the experts at our law firm at your earliest convenience.