Lake Worth Walmart Trip and Fall Attorney

If you have been injured at a Walmart in Lake Worth, call the Law Offices of James A Graver for a free consultation and case evaluation. We will fight for the best settlement possible to cover your complete cost of recovery.

Grocery aisles and spaces occupy roughly 25 percent of the space in a Walmart Supercenter. The Neighborhood Markets have an even greater percentage of grocery space. In the grocery section, you’ll find beverages, cleaners, laundry and dish detergent, bread, cereal, dressings, and many other household supplies. While Walmart aisles are ripe with convenience, an improperly displayed item or slick conditions can cause major injuries.

Trip and Fall Hazards at Walmart in Lake Worth

We mention the products sold at Walmart because, when they become spilled or put on the floor, they create trip and fall risks. As “transitory foreign objects,” these liquids, substances, and goods are not where they should be. The culprits for foreign objects on the ground can include:

Spilled drinks, salad dressings, vinegar, ice, and cooking oils on the selling floor from cups or bottles
Broken glass jars or bottles
Unsecured lids on cleaners, detergent, fabric softener, and other bottles and cans
Torn bags of dirt, animal feed, and food
Dropped merchandise from shoppers searching for items
Tools left on the floor
Rain

Falls also occur when floors become wet because of cleaning or overflows of toilets in bathrooms. In these cases, Walmart associates may fail to place a “Wet Floor” or “Slippery” sign in a wet area or warn that the bathrooms have malfunctioning toilets or sinks.

Walmart’s Liability for Trip and Fall Accidents

Premises liability in Florida addresses the failure of Walmart to exercise reasonable care to keep their customers safe from dangerous conditions on the premises. This means not creating hazards in the first place, taking reasonable steps to correct them, and warning customers about the hazards.

As to objects on the floor, you must show that Walmart actually knew or should have known that the transitory foreign substance was on the ground and failed to take reasonable measures to remove the substance. Under Florida Statutes Section 768.0755, you establish the “should have known,” or “constructive knowledge,” through one of the following:

The condition or object lasted long enough that Walmart should have known in the exercise of reasonable care, known it existed and should have been removed; or
The condition regularly occurred

Length of Time

The mere presence of the object on the ground does not show constructive knowledge. You must find evidence making it more likely than not that the object or substance stayed on the ground long enough that a Walmart Associate should have noticed it.

Premises liability lawyers look for evidence of the appearance or condition of the substance or object on the floor at the time of the slip, trip, or fall. These circumstances may include:

An originally clear liquid becomes dirty
Mud or wet spot with shoe prints
A container broken into several pieces
Squashed bananas, grapes, berries, or other fruits
Crushed small box
Tracks of water by shopping carts

The testimony of several witnesses who saw the object or substance or video footage of the material on the floor over several minutes or hours may help prove constructive notice.

In many of these situations, employees may have failed to conduct inspections or sweeps of the aisles.

Actual Knowledge

Proving actual knowledge dispenses with the need to learn how long an object or liquid was on the ground. Evidence may come from customer reports to employees, especially significant spills or bathroom malfunctions. Although you cannot show liability through cleanup efforts, such evidence is admissible if Walmart claims it lacked knowledge of the condition. This may especially come into play if you sue Walmart for creating the dangerous condition or not warning customers of it.

The Hazard Was Obvious

Premises liability cases often fall into the categories of the premises owner either causing a hazard or failing to warn invitees of the peril. When it comes to the latter, Walmart might defend itself on the grounds that the condition constitutes an “open and obvious hazard.” That is, the injured person at least should have known in the exercise of reasonable care of the condition’s presence and taken reasonable steps to avoid it. The “open and obvious” defense bases its rationale upon the customer having at least equal knowledge or ability to know about the hazard as does the store associates. In that light, Walmart may have difficulty proving the defense in cases where associates or cleaning crew contractors mopped a floor or made it wet and did not put “wet floor” or other warning signs.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Much is a Walmart Accident Case Worth in Lake Worth?

Walmart’s floors offer no cushion from a trip, slip, or fall. Contact with the head from a fall can result in serious traumatic brain injuries. The Centers for Disease Control reports about 50 percent of fall victims require hospitalization for traumatic brain injuries. The death toll from traumatic brain injuries eclipsed 69,000 in 2021.

Those that do not die from a traumatic brain injury can suffer serious impairments, such as:

*Loss of memory
*Impaired ability to exercise judgment, logical thinking, and other cognitive skills
*Depression and anxiety
*Diminished vision
*Dementia
*Alzheimer’s Disease

A trip and fall from a dangerous condition at Walmart can also damage your spinal cord. Depending on where the nerve or vertebrae damage occurs, the harm can include paralysis, loss of motor skills, and difficulty breathing or eating. Other injuries include sprains, fractures, hyperextended knees, and bruises. Victims might break their hands or wrists trying to brace themselves from a fall, especially falling forward. Even teeth can become chipped or broken from the impact of a fall forward onto the floor.

Ambulance service, emergency room treatment, surgeries, medication, rehabilitation, and doctor’s visits generate mounting medical bills. With the injuries from a trip and fall, you may also recover lost wages and lost capacity to work and earn wages. The non-economic damages from a trip and fall at Walmart may include pain, suffering, mental anguish, depression, diminished daily life activities, and disruption of marital relations and companionship.

What To Do After a Fall at Walmart in Lake Worth?

Find an employee or someone from store management as soon as possible after the incident. If you are able, remain where you fell so that the manager or assistant manager can see the hazard. Take photographs and video of the object or substance and the area in which you fell. Note and capture any displays and signs which would conceivably distract a reasonable customer from noticing the hazard.

Security or video camera helps you establish how long the material rested on the floor and furnish other details concerning your trip and fall. Premises liability lawyers can request that Walmart stores preserve and furnish relevant footage.

Save and photograph any clothing you were wearing at the time of the slip and fall. Such articles may reveal the type of liquid involved. Discolored clothes might indicate or corroborate that you slipped and fell on bleach.

Contact a Lake Worth Walmart Accident Lawyer

You have two years from a slip and fall to start a lawsuit against Walmart in Florida. While that might seem like a long time, you must act quickly to ensure that you can collect all of the evidence before it disappears.

To best prepare for a Walmart accident case in Lake Worth, schedule a free consultation with a personal injury attorney. The Law Offices of James A Graver is will walk you through the personal injury claims process and help you understand how Florida’s personal injury laws can protect you in a Walmart accident case.

Lake Worth Walmart Trip and Fall Attorney

Trip and Fall Hazards at Walmart in Lake Worth

Walmart’s Liability for Trip and Fall Accidents

Length of Time

Actual Knowledge

The Hazard Was Obvious

Frequently Asked Questions

Contact a Lake Worth Walmart Accident Lawyer

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