Did you Follow These Steps After Your Slip-and-Fall Accident in Walmart?
If you have been injured in a slip and fall at Walmart, you might be wondering what legal steps you can take to enforce your rights. Walmart has over 130 retails units across Louisiana and unfortunately a lot of slip and fall, tripping, and falling accidents of all types occur while customers are visiting these stores.
The first emotion people feel after being involved in a slip and fall is embarrassment. Usually after the fall, the injured person looks to run out of the store with their head down. But it is not the injured person’s fault that the slip and fall occurred. Instead of immediately heading for the exit after a slip and fall, follow these three steps:
1. Look around to find out what made you slip or trip:
- It is not your fault that you fell. There was likely some hazardous substance that caused you to slip and fall. That being the case, take a picture of the substance or capture some video footage of the slippery substance so that there is documented proof of the reason for your fall.
2. Look around to see if there were Any Wet Floor Signs or Warning Signs in the Area
- If there was some slippery substance on the floor, the employees of the business should have put down warning signs to give notice to customers to avoid the slippery area. Again, take pictures or video footage of the scene of the accident to ensure you have proof that there were no warning or wet floor signs near the slippery area.
3. File an Incident Report
- Notify a store employee of your accident and make sure the employee documents your version of the events on an incident report form. Also, ask the store employee for a copy of the incident report.
4. Bonus Tip
- Look around to see if there were any other customers who witnessed your accident. If so, ask them if they would be willing to give a statement to a store employee of the events they witnessed. Also, feel free to ask them if they are willing to share their contact information in case their testimony is needed later. It is important to establish that the store employees had some type of notice, either actual or constructive notice, that the area presented a slipping hazard.
- Sometimes, a witness can provide information that is important to your case, such as how long the slipping hazard was there before your fall. Alternatively, a witness may be able to provide some other information that can be important to your case. If so, their testimony may be used to establish that store employees failed to meet their duty to keep its premises safe for customers to visit.
Lastly, you have rights after being the victim of a slip and fall accident. You may be considering legal action. You may also want to know if you are entitled to a settlement. If so, you may be wondering how much your case is worth? If you have those questions, feel free to give our firm a call for a FREE consultation to speak with an experienced premises liability lawyer to determine the value of your slip and fall settlement.
Call our firm to request your FREE case review.