Shopping cart accidents are one of the most frequent causes of injuries at malls. Parents often place their child in the cart while shopping. Often this is to prevent the child from running off or putting things in their mouth. Unfortunately, this can also be a risk in a supermarket environment.
According to a report by the National Pediatric Hospital of Columbus, placing young children in shopping carts is a common cause of pediatric injury. However, the number of shopping cart incidents is increasing among all ages, and the number of serious injuries is also rising according to the same source.
How Common Are Shopping Cart Accidents in the United States?
In the United States alone, an average of 24,000 children a year are admitted to the emergency room due to shopping cart accidents.
The majority of injuries occur when children fall out of shopping carts, when shopping carts collide with each other, with a shelf, and/or when the cart is overturned, leaving the child trapped.
As for areas of the body most affected, the head and neck had the greatest number of reported injuries at 78 percent. Of these most were concussions or internal injuries, and in the majority of cases occurred in babies or very young children.
Experts advise that parents should always be attentive to children when they are placed in shopping carts. In addition, it is recommended that parents and/or guardians ensure that shopping cart safety belts are used so that the seated baby or child can be well secured and, thus, manages to avoid these dangerous accidents.
Can Adults Get Injured When Dealing With Shopping Carts?
Yes, slip and fall incidents are common at local supermarkets, and often such events involve a shopping cart. Serious injuries in supermarkets can also be caused by a slip and fall on a wet floor or a trip and fall on goods or shelfs located in the hallway. Supermarkets have a legal duty to keep their stores in good shape, including the equipment for public use such as shopping carts, for the protection of their clients and their own employees.
However, most of the time with cases involving shopping carts, there is evidence that an employee either caused a hazardous condition on the floor or did not properly clean the floor, or that the supermarket failed to provide satisfactory shopping cart maintenance.
Given these factors, shopping cart supermarket accidents are much more common than people may realize. In California as in other states, residents venture into supermarkets on shopping trips but never consider the possibility that they could suffer serious injuries.
Companies that keep their business open to the public such as food markets have an obligation to take responsibility under California law to make the premises reasonably safe for customers and/or warn customers regarding any potential hazards.
How Can an Attorney Help?
The shopping cart accident attorneys at Avrek Law Firm understand the importance of conducting an accident investigation before any critical evidence disappears.
There is often a wide variety of evidence that we may be available to gather which could prove that the management or grocery store employees failed to implement enough preventions in order to protect clients from injury.
Certain evidence is essential to establish certain key liability issues, including the following:
- Store had unsafe conditions for customers
- Insufficient procedures for maintaining restrooms and other areas related to the potential for slip and fall hazards
- No employee training and supervision or procedures for safe inventory placement
- The time duration of a potential danger inside the supermarket
- Employee knowledge or client reports related to the hazard
Claims related to such types of personal injury cases are typically quite complex, which is why it’s imperative to hire lawyers with an excellent track record in securing personal injury settlements, like the attorneys at Avrek Law.
We will conduct a thorough investigation of the facts and circumstances related to your shopping cart accident in California. Our attorneys often make us of experts who are able to testify about industry practices such as floor safety, proper maintenance, and safety procedures for positioning food and other merchandise.
How Do Injuries Occur While Using a Shopping Cart?
While there is virtually an unlimited number of ways someone can get injured in a shopping cart accident, some common factors that cause falls when using them include the following:
- Wavy or irregular carpets
- Floors that become slippery when wet
- Equipment that is not stored, maintained, or operated safely (for example, a dripping water cooler)
- Improper lighting of hallways or stairs
- Poor maintenance of stairs
- Obstructions that block shelves and are not marked
- Products that fall off shelves
- Pavement in parking lots or sidewalks that present an irregularity
Our supermarket accident attorneys represent persons who may have been injured in the following California supermarkets:
- Albertson’s
- Dominick’s
- Food 4 Less
- Ralphs
- Jons
- Vons
- Whole Foods
- Trader Joes
These companies have significant litigation resources and handle many potential demands. Our Californian supermarket shopping cart crash accident lawyers have the experience, resources, and ability to effectively litigate these cases and pursue full compensation for injuries that may include: loss of income, medical and hospital expenses, disability and disfigurement, pain and suffering, and others.
What to Do if You’ve Been Injured in a Supermarket
- Call the manager and take photos/video of the area in which you fell
- Do not let them clean the area where you fell before you have the opportunity to document it: film it, take photos, or have an independent witness to see it
- Make sure the store manager completes and gives you a copy of the incident report
- Get medical attention if necessary
- Look for independent witnesses when you fall – the more the better
- Ask the manager to keep all surveillance videos and write a request to get the incident report
- Get an attorney as soon as possible
Call Avrek Law Firm
Our shopping cart attorneys from California recognize the struggles that you may face if you or a loved one has been injured while shopping.
We provide the resources and expertise of a large law firm mixed with the personalized attention and high level of communication associated with a small firm.
At Avrek, we can provide the perfect balance of experience, knowledge, empathy, diligence, and tenacity to help you get the best possible outcome for you and your family.
The attorneys at Avrek Law have recovered more than $1 Billion for clients in over 45,000 cases. We invite you to contact us today to schedule your free consultation – we’re here to help!
