Lawyer for a Slip and Fall at Kroger
Slip and fall accidents can occur anywhere, from private residences to public buildings or parking lots. Unfortunately, one of the most common places for this type of accident is a grocery store, where many products can spill on the floor and displays can clutter walkways.
Kroger is the nation’s largest grocer, offering its services and products in 35 states. Kroger has the same responsibility as any other grocer to protect their customers from injury due to a hazardous property feature.
If a slip and fall accident at a Kroger-owned store injures you, you can seek compensation for your injury through the personal injury claims process.
An experienced slip and fall accident attorney from the Levin Firm can explain this process to you in greater detail, answer your questions, and talk to you about our services. Our legal team will help you navigate the complex process of seeking compensation after being injured by someone else’s negligence.
The Most Common Type of Premises Liability Claim
Premises liability is an area of personal injury law involving property owners or possessors and their responsibility to protect their guests from hazardous property features. Slip and fall accidents are the most common premises liability claim. This accident occurs when individuals slip or trip over a property hazard. While slip and falls are sometimes seen as frivolous claims, these accidents can result in serious, catastrophic, or even fatal injuries.
About Kroger
Kroger is an American retail company that operates supermarkets and multi-department stores nationwide. Kroger began in 1883 in downtown Cincinnati when a man named Barney Kroger invested his life savings to start a grocery store.
Over the years, the company expanded to become the nation’s largest grocer, with 2,800 stores in 35 states that operate under several different names, including King Soopers, City Market, Dillons, Fry’s, Kroger, Pay-Less Super Markets, and more.
Kroger has made many innovations in the grocery store industry, including private label manufacturing, grocery delivery, and the electronic scanner. Kroger currently reports annual sales of more than $132.5 billion.
With all of that revenue, you would expect that Kroger could afford to pay to clean up spills and fix cracked floors, sidewalks, and parking lots. When it fails to do so—perhaps to save money on the expenses that come with those repairs—and it injures a customer, you can bet that the corporation will spend whatever it takes to fight the slip and fall case in court. That’s why you need to call the Levin Firm after any slip and fall accident in Kroger—we can balance the scales of justice in your favor when Kroger’s lawyers try to tip them away from you.
While Kroger stores are common throughout the U.S., they aren’t in Pennsylvania or Florida. However, the company recently announced that it plans to build another automated customer fulfillment center in Ohio to provide grocery delivery service in Pennsylvania. The company also currently offers delivery services in Florida.
How Do Slip and Fall Accidents Occur at Kroger?
Grocery stores such as Kroger present many hazards that result in slip and fall accidents, including:
- Water or other liquid on the floor because of mechanical issues with the store’s refrigerators, broken beverage containers, water from produce, or rain or snow brought from customers’ shoes.
- Displays, merchandise or debris cluttering walkways.
- Dry goods, such as beans or rice, spilled on the floor.
- Freshly mopped or waxed floors.
- Damaged flooring tiles.
- Damage to concrete entryways or potholes in parking lots.
Slip and Falls Can Cause Serious Injuries
While slip and falls are often seen as minor incidents, these accidents can cause severe injuries, including catastrophic injuries to the brain or spinal cord, resulting in a permanent loss of earning capacity. These accidents also commonly produce bone fractures, the most serious being a broken hip. Broken hips are more common among people aged 65 or older. This group also has an increased likelihood of falling due to declines in vision, balance, and strength related to age and health conditions.
Other broken bones common to slip and fall accidents include the bones in the arms or wrist, resulting from the person attempting to catch themselves with outstretched arms.
Slip and fall accidents can also cause damage to the spinal vertebrae and discs, and these injuries often result in chronic pain and decreased stability in the spine. Soft tissue injuries are common in slip and fall accidents, particularly involving the tendons and ligaments in the wrists and knees. Slip and falls cause around one million injuries that warrant emergency medical treatment annually.
Seeking Compensation Through a Kroger Slip and Fall Claim
When a property owner or manager fails to protect their customers by routinely inspecting their property for hazards and promptly repairing or warning guests about the hazardous property features they find, individuals injured by these hazards can seek compensation through the personal injury claims process. This process usually begins with a claim filed against the company’s business or property liability policy.
When the company that services Kroger’s insurance policy receives the claim, they will assign it to a claims adjuster. The claims adjuster is an insurance company employee tasked with evaluating the claim and determining whether the company owes the claimant compensation due to the insured’s liability. The adjuster will review your case through the lens of protecting the insurance provider from large payouts. The adjuster’s priority is to protect the insurance provider’s interests, not the accident victim.
The claims adjuster can accept Kroger’s liability and process the claim for payment, deny the claim and provide the claimant with a written reason for the denial, or offer to settle the claim for less than its value. If the claim remains unresolved, the claimant’s attorney can file it as a personal injury lawsuit in civil court for a judge or jury to decide whether Kroger was liable for the claimant’s injury. If so, the court or jury will determine how much compensation should Kroger must pay.
How an Attorney Can Assist You With Your Claim
Seeking compensation from a major retailer such as Kroger is difficult. The claims adjuster serves the insurance provider’s interests, and you must provide extensive evidence to show liability and justify your requested compensation. Further, the claimant must comply with the statute of limitations and follow all required procedures when obtaining evidence.
When a slip and fall lawyer works for a firm and helps clients with their cases, they have at least seven years of education, including four years for their bachelor’s degree and another three years for law school. They have likely worked on a legal team, gaining important experience representing their client’s interests. There is a good chance that they have assisted hundreds of clients by the time you speak with them during your free case evaluation.
Attorneys understand the claims process, insurance providers’ and claims adjusters’ tactics, and the evidence needed to prove the claim in court. While they offer many services to assist their clients, their legal experience and expertise are among the most important qualities they bring to the case.
How to Prove Liability in a Kroger Slip and Fall Claim
To prove liability for a slip and fall accident in Kroger, you must show:
- Kroger had a legal responsibility for the property either as the owner or tenant of the building.
- Kroger was negligent in its care and maintenance of the property to protect customers from harm.
- The claimant suffered an injury while on Kroger’s property.
- The cause of the injury was Kroger’s negligence.
Some evidence relevant to prove a Kroger slip and fall claim includes surveillance video from the store, photographs of the hazard that caused your injury, eyewitness testimony, and the official report you filed with the store after the accident occurred.
Compensation for Your Claim
Individuals injured in a Kroger slip and fall accident can seek compensation for the monetary costs of their injury and the psychological costs.
Some costs and effects commonly included in a Kroger slip and fall accident claim are:
- All medical expenses associated with the injury treatment and estimated future expenses.
- Lost wages for when the claimant could not work due to the injury.
- Lost earning capacity if the injury is permanent and will likely impair the claimant’s future ability to earn an income.
- Quality-of-life impacts such as emotional distress, physical pain and suffering, and loss of the enjoyment of life.
Will You Have to Go to Court?
When legal matters are portrayed on television and in movies, every issue seems to result in a long, dramatic trial. In reality, around 95 percent of all personal injury claims resolve through a negotiated settlement before the trial begins. However, if you file a Kroger slip and fall lawsuit, your case may go to trial. In this instance, having an experienced lawyer working on your case who is comfortable with litigation will help you obtain the compensation you need.
Some of the factors that affect whether a claim will go to trial include:
- The injury severity. More severe injuries generally result in higher-valued claims and more documentation that can justify the higher value. The higher your claim’s value, the less likely the insurance provider will be to settle the claim, deciding instead to take their chances in court.
- The claim publicity. Kroger has built a strong reputation through the years. Personal injury claims against major companies often make the news. While the details of a settlement can be kept confidential, the outcome of a trial is public information. Companies often avoid litigation to avoid the additional publicity generated by a court case. However, in some cases where the company and its legal counsel feel they have a strong case, they can opt to fight the claim in the public’s view to prove they were not responsible for the accident.
- Your willingness to accept their offer. Settlements represent a compromise between the parties. The insurance provider agrees to pay, but often a value less than the claim’s value. The claimant agrees to accept a lower compensation amount to resolve the claim. The decision about whether to accept a settlement is yours to make. Your attorney’s role in decision-making is to provide you with the guidance and information you need to make a decision that reflects your interests.
If your case goes to trial, your attorney will talk to you about what to expect from the experience so that you are well-prepared when the trial date arrives.
Kroger Slip and Fall? The Levin Firm Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help
While no one is required to have an attorney assist them with a personal injury claim, having the experience and guidance of an attorney is crucial to your ability to obtain the maximum amount of compensation available for your claim. This support is particularly true when the claim is against a major company such as Kroger. The legal team at the Levin Firm prepares each case they handle as though it is going to trial, gathering the strongest evidence to prove the claim and fighting tirelessly for the compensation their clients deserve.
Let our experienced slip and fall lawyers evaluate your claim and talk to you about how to seek compensation after a Kroger slip and fall accident. Call us at (215) 825-5183, or contact us online.