According to the National Safety Council (NSC), the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death is falls. In 2023 alone, more than 8.8 million people were treated in emergency rooms for fall-related injuries. Adults aged 55 and older are more prone to slip and fall accidents with people over the age of 65 four times as likely to die from a fall as those in any other age group. Everyday activities such as walking and shopping can put us at risk for a slip and fall. At this time of year, when roads, parking lots, and stores are extra busy with shoppers and icy conditions may present, the risk of a fall injury increases.
Pedestrian injuries while Christmas shopping can be prevented by staying alert in crowded or icy parking lots, obeying crosswalk signals, slowing down in retail areas, and avoiding distractions like phones while walking. If you or a loved one has experienced injuries while Christmas shopping due to a negligent retailer, contact an experienced local personal injury lawyer to discuss your legal rights.
Premises Liability and Retailer Responsibilities
Under premises liability laws, retailers have a legal duty to keep their property reasonably safe for customers. This includes keeping walkways clear, promptly cleaning up spills, removing snow and ice, providing adequate lighting, and warning shoppers about known hazards with signs or barriers. When a store fails to address dangerous conditions-such as wet floors, uneven surfaces, or icy parking lots and someone is injured as a result, the retailer may be held responsible for those injuries. Retailers are expected to take extra care during the busy holiday season, when heavy foot traffic and winter weather increase the risk of slip, trip, and fall accidents.
Determining Liability for a Slip and Fall Injuries While Christmas Shopping
In order to recover a holiday shopping slip and fall injury settlement on your behalf, your personal injury lawyer will prove one of the following:
- The property, business owner, or an employee caused the conditions that led to the fall.
- The property, business owner, or an employee knew about the dangerous surface but didn’t attempt to resolve it or place a hazard sign.
- The property, business owner, or an employee should have known about the dangerous surface because a “reasonable” person taking care of the property would have discovered and removed or repaired it.
Although the third option is the most commonly used, it is also the most ambiguous. Liability in these cases is often decided by common sense; a judge or jury decides whether the steps the owner or occupier took to keep the property safe were reasonable. For example, could a simple barrier have been created or warning given to prevent people from slipping or tripping? Was there time to mop up a spill?
What Is “Reasonable”?
To determine a property owner’s “reasonableness,” the law asks whether the owner made regular and thorough efforts to keep the property safe and clean.
Your Carelessness
A personal injury lawyer will assess whether your own carelessness contributed to the accident. Under Washington State’s rules of “comparative negligence,” a plaintiff may still recover damages, but the total settlement is reduced by the percentage of fault assigned to them for their actions leading up to the accident.
Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer Today!
An accident lawyer can help you recover a full and fair settlement for the injuries you sustained in an accident caused by the negligence of another with no up-front costs to you. We know the sneaky strategies used by insurance companies to get injured people to agree to settlements far below what they are worth. Our clients typically end up with a settlement or jury award that is five to ten times larger than they could have negotiated on their own. We have been representing residents of Whatcom County, Skagit County, Island County and Snohomish County who were injured in Washington State since 1979. Contact the experienced and hard-working personal injury lawyers at Tario & Associates, P.S. in Mount Vernon, WA today for a FREE consultation!
