Should you be injured in a grocery store, contact this West Palm Beach Publix Accident Lawyer. He will help you to get the compensation you deserve. Accidents occur in grocery stores, including Publix, every day. Such accidents can be caused due to many different reasons. No matter the reason, you should contact an attorney to access your rights.
If you are hurt in a Publix, your case will be referred to as a case of “premises liability.” A premises liability case results when you are injured on the property of another person or entity. Unfortunately, you will only be able to pursue a premises liability case if you can prove that the owner of the property where you were hurt did something wrong to contribute to your accident. That is, you won’t be able to pursue a premises liability case simply because you were hurt on the other person or entity’s property. You will need to prove that the property owner either knew of the dangerous condition that caused your injuries and did nothing about it (i.e., had “actual notice”) or that the dangerous condition existed for long enough that the property owner should have known of it (i.e., had “constructive notice”). Without either actual or constructive notice, the property owner won’t have any liability for your accident.
If you were hurt in a Publix anywhere in the State of Florida (including Miami, Miami-Dade County, Fort Lauderdale or Broward County), contact Mr. Quackenbush at 786-294-7711. You can get the compensation you deserve alongside this West Palm Beach Publix Accident Law Firm.
The above analysis applies to both slip and fall and trip & fall accidents. In order to prove actual notice, you will need to prove that the property owner either 1) created the dangerous condition him/her/itself (in which case knowledge of the dangerous condition is presumed) or 2) was aware of it. In either case, the property owner will be responsible.
In order to prove constructive notice, on the other hand, you can show that the dangerous condition existed for long enough that the property owner should have known of it (even if it didn’t actually know of it in reality). After all, if the dangerous condition existed for long enough a time period, then it’s reasonable to expect that the property owner should have fixed it.
There are several ways that you can prove that the dangerous condition existed for long enough that the property owner should have known of it. One would be by the use of surveillance video footage. Most Publix grocery stores, for example, have surveillance cameras. If you were injured by a dangerous condition in a Publix, chances are good that your accident was captured on that surveillance. If that is the case, then such surveillance footage might reveal how long the dangerous condition existed.
The only issue is that, if your accident was captured on a surveillance videotape, you will need to recover the footage as soon as possible. This is because most surveillance videos are taped on “loops.” This means that the cameras tape over themselves every so often (e.g., every three days, every ten days, etc.). In other words, if you don’t recover the footage as soon as possible, it might be lost forever.
If there were no surveillance cameras in the Publix at the time of your accident (or if the surveillance cameras didn’t capture the exact area of your fall), then you may be able to prove that the dangerous condition existed for some period of time by using circumstantial evidence. For example, if there was dirt in the liquid that you slipped & fell on, or foot-prints or cart-tracks, you may be able to use this evidence to prove that the liquid existed on the floor for some period (after all, foot-prints or cart-tracks would seem to indicate that other people had walked through/over the liquid).
If you tripped and fell in Publix, it is questionable whether your case will be against Publix or the landlord of the property where the Publix store exists. After all, Publix does not always own the property where its stores exist. Rather, Publix may rent or lease the property from a landlord.
In that case, the landlord may be responsible for your trip & fall. This is because many trip and fall accidents occur on “fixtures” (or permanent structures) such as steps, stairs, step-downs, etc. If your accident occurred on a step-down, then Publix may have had no ability to change the fixture. Rather, it may have been the landlord that had the right to make changes to fixtures (this would be determined in the contract/lease between Publix and its landlord).
If the lease/contract said that it was the landlord that had the ability to make changes to fixtures on the property, then it will be the landlord that will be responsible for your trip and fall accident. On the other hand, if the language of the lease agreement did allow Publix to make changes to fixtures in the building, then your case will be against Publix.
If you are injured in a Publix anyplace in Palm Beach County (including Atlantis, Belle Glade, Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Briny Breezes, Cloud Lake, Delray Beach, Glen Ridge, Golf, Greenacres, Gulf Stream, Haverhill, Highland Beach, Hypoluxo, Juno Beach, Jupiter, Jupiter Inlet Colony, Lake Clarke Shores, Lake Park, Lake Worth, Lantana, Loxahatchee Groves, Manalapan, Mangonia Park, North Palm Beach, Ocean Ridge, Pahokee, Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Palm Beach Shores, Palm Springs, Riviera Beach, Royal Palm Beach, South Bay, South Palm Beach, Tequesta, Wellington, Westlake, or West Palm Beach), call Mr. Quackenbush at 786-294-7711. He will gladly give you a free, no obligation consultation.