What Happens If You Get Injured at an Outdoor Shopping Mall?
California is home to some of the best weather in the world, which means that you can be outdoors nearly every single day of the year. That’s why outdoor malls are so popular here. However, while they are fun, they can also pose a number of risks. It’s important to learn about what happens if you get injured at an outdoor shopping mall. Then, you can protect yourself and hopefully get a recovery on your claim to cover your damages if you do become injured.
Heiting & Irwin have over four decades of experience assisting clients with personal injury. We have retrieved more than $500 million for our clients, and we’ll work hard to get you the settlement that’s rightfully yours.
All About Outdoor Shopping Mall Injuries and Premises Liability
If you get injured at an outdoor shopping mall, then you may be able to bring a premises liability case against the defendant, who is the storeowner and/or landlord. Premises liability is an area of the law that applies when you suffer from a personal injury due to defective or unsafe conditions on someone else’s property.
Some types of premises liability cases that may apply to an outdoor shopping mall injury include:
- Slip and fall, trip and fall
- Defective conditions (dangerous walkways, slippery areas, trip hazards, etc)
- Elevator and escalator accidents
- Lack of building security resulting in assault or injury
- Fires
- Elevations changes, lack of warning, etc.
In order for a premises liability case to be valid, a few elements have to exist:
- There is a hazardous condition, not readily apparent to the visitor
- The owners, or management, or their employees, know the hazard exists or should have known that the hazard exists and
- There was an unreasonable failure to remedy the hazardous conditions (they had time to fix it but didn’t; or they didn’t warn of the hazard)
- The hazardous conditions led to the injury
When you go to a mall, the landlord and storeowners have a duty of reasonable care to you and other shoppers. This means that when you’re there, you expect that you won’t get injured. If you do get injured, you could potentially claim damages for your medical bills (including future bills), damage to your personal belongings, pain and suffering, loss of wages (and earning capacity in the future), and loss of enjoyment of life. Depending on the severity of your injuries, you could potentially sue for other damages as well. You and your personal injury attorney will determine what damages are appropriate with your premises liability case.
Examples of Premises Liability at Outdoor Shopping Malls
There are a number of injuries that could occur at an outdoor shopping mall.
For instance, let’s say that you were on the escalator when a body part, sleeve, pant leg, or shoe gets caught; and your body part was injured by the teeth at the top or bottom of the escalator. The mall could potentially be held responsible if they were not properly maintaining the escalator or if it didn’t have proper guards.
You could have slipped on a wet floor in a store and fell, injuring your back. There were no “wet floor” signs around to warn you that the floor was unsafe to walk on at the moment, and the liquid should have been cleaned up, or at least cordoned off.
You may have gotten injured when merchandise fell down from the shelves and hit you. This may be from faulty stacking or by failure to take care in reviewing store cleanliness and order. At times when the mall is busier – such as the holidays – this is more likely to happen.
An injury could also happen in a parking lot. Perhaps the outdoor shopping mall parking lot was filled with potholes, and you tripped on one of them and fell, breaking your arm, or worse.
A number of different scenarios could come up at a mall. Some of the injuries that you may experience include sprains, broken bones, back pain, cuts, shoulder or neck injuries, and soft tissues injuries. More serious injuries have included traumatic amputation, paralysis, and even death. You might need to take several days, weeks, or months off of work in order to heal from your injuries. If you experience a more severe injury, like a traumatic brain injury, this could impact you for the rest of your life.
What to Do After You Get Injured
It is critical to collect evidence to prove that the landlord and/or storeowner were responsible for your injury. You should take photographs of the scene where the accident happened, as well as pictures of your visible injuries and damage to your personal property. A video of the entire area may be very helpful.
If other people saw what happened, ask them for witness statements. Look and see if there were security cameras around that might have caught what happened on tape. Report the injury to the storeowner and/or mall customer service representative as soon as possible and get a copy of the report in writing.
You’ll need to go to the hospital right away to get your injuries checked out. Get X-rays done and follow your doctor’s orders. Go to your appointments, take any prescribed medicine, and undergo testing and evaluation if necessary.
Get in touch with a personal injury lawyer to represent you right away. If you receive a call from the storeowner/landlord’s insurance company, don’t discuss the facts or your injuries. Refer them to your lawyers.
Your lawyer will help you with collecting evidence, like the video from security cameras, solidify witness accounts, obtain medical records, to present to the insurance company. They will also negotiate with the insurance company to get you compensation for your damages. Your main job will be to stay on top of your medical care.
A personal injury lawyer will work on your case on a contingency basis, and then take an agreed-upon commission from your settlement only as a percentage of what you get. Then, you can continue to focus on what matters most: healing from your injuries and getting back to your life as soon as possible.
Get in Touch With Heiting & Irwin for Help
If you experienced a premises liability injury at an outdoor shopping mall and wish to recover compensation from your accident, then it’s time to find a personal injury lawyer to represent you. Heiting & Irwin are here for you. We have dealt with many personal injury cases and will work hard to get you the settlement that you deserve. Contact us online or call us at 951-682-6400 to start your case now.
