Home Depot Slip and Fall

A recent study released by the National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI) presents many alarming statistics. One of the most alarming statistics concerns the frequency of slip and fall incidents. Slip and fall accidents cause more than one million people in the United States to receive treatment at a nearby emergency medical center. The number of serious slip and fall incidents just scratches the surface of the overall number of cases reported to healthcare providers. Throw in unreported slip and fall incidents, and this type of accident ranks near the top of the list of the most common types of personal injury cases.

As the leading home improvement store in many of the major markets in the United States, Home Depot experiences a large number of slip and fall cases each year. Not only do customers slip and fall because of slick floor surfaces, but Home Depot also has to deal with trips and falls, as company stores are fully stocked each day with products that require extension cord attachments. Parts and equipment that sit out in aisles also pose a slip and fall threat that can land a customer in the nearest emergency room.

Like other big box retailers, Home Depot is responsible for protecting the safety of every customer who enters one of its stores. Home Depot assumes a duty of care to take steps that minimize the risk of slip and fall incidents. Safety precautions include reacting quickly to a spill in one of the aisles, as well as making sure every aisle remains free of the clutter that can trip a customer. If you sustained one or more injuries as a result of a Home Depot slip and fall, speak with a personal injury attorney to discuss your case.

At Morgan and Morgan, our team of personal injury attorneys has handled slip and fall cases since we opened our first office back in 1988. Since we opened our first law office, Morgan and Morgan has recovered more than $20 billion in monetary damages for our clients. With the support of a state-licensed investigator, a Morgan and Morgan personal injury lawyer conducts an exhaustive investigation that includes gathering persuasive physical evidence and interviewing witnesses that verify your version of events.

Schedule a free case evaluation with a Home Depot slip and fall attorney to determine whether the home improvement retailer committed one or more acts of negligence that caused you to slip and fall at one of the company’s stores.

What Are the Most Common Injuries Produced by a Slip and Fall?

Slip and fall injuries range in severity from a bruised ego to a life-threatening medical condition. The primary reason why slip and fall accidents cause serious injuries is the short reaction times victims have before they hit the floor or ground.

Fractured Bone

Although the distance to the floor or ground is no more than a few feet, the strong impact of the body hitting a hard surface can cause a bone to fracture just about anywhere in the body. Crashing into a stationary object after slipping over a wet surface can fracture one or more ribs. When we slip, our first instinct is to stretch out one or both arms to brace the body for a powerful impact on the ground or floor. The result of using one or both arms can be a fractured wrist, as well as a dislocated elbow and/or separated shoulder.

Sprained Knee/Ankle

When the body starts to collapse towards the floor or ground, it twists and turns around the area of the hips, as well as the knees and ankles. The tendons and ligaments holding together both the knees and ankles absorb a substantial amount of pressure, and when there is too much pressure, a tendon or a ligament can become strained at best and torn at worst. Recovering from a severely sprained knee or ankle can take weeks, if not months. If you work in a physically demanding job that requires standing up throughout each workday, you can expect to miss work during the entire time of recovering from your injury.

Brain Trauma

Sometimes, there is not enough time to brace for a slip and fall. The rapid descent to the floor or ground causes the head to hit the hard surface or an object sitting in one of the aisles at Home Depot. A Home Depot slip and fall can generate such a tremendous impact on the head that the brain begins to bleed. Nerve damage causes a wide variety of disabling conditions, including loss of balance and recurring migraine headaches. Brain trauma ranges in severity from a mild concussion to life-threatening internal bleeding.

Some victims of a Home Depot slip and fall that sustain a head injury never fully recover from the incident.

What Is the Statute of Limitations for Filing a Home Depot Slip and Fall Lawsuit?

If your personal injury attorney can demonstrate that Home Depot committed one or more acts of negligence that caused you harm, you might obtain enough persuasive physical evidence to file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages. However, you have a limited amount of time to file a Home Depot slip and fall lawsuit.

Each state has established a deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit. Most states have set a statute of limitations between two and four years, with a few states going as long as six years and as short as one year for a plaintiff to take legal action. For most slip and fall cases, the clock starts ticking on filing a civil lawsuit on the day of the incident. However, because some cases involve delayed symptoms, the statute of limitations begins on the day when a slip and fall victim receives a diagnosis for one or more injuries.

Although you have considerable time to collect evidence and file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages, you should act quickly to initiate legal action against Home Depot. Your attorney should interview witnesses as soon as possible after a slip and fall accident to receive the most accurate version of what transpired before, during, and after the incident. Witness accounts taken right after a personal injury incident typically provide the most accurate statements. Another reason to act quickly after a Home Depot slip and fall is to get compensated for your financial losses. Medical bills pile up fast, which means you need to find a source of income to take care of your mounting debts.

If you fail to file a personal injury lawsuit before the expiration of the statute of limitations, the court clerk processing your case removes the case from the court docket.

What Types of Compensation Can I Expect to Receive?

If a judge awards you monetary damages, you can receive three types of compensation: Special compensatory, general compensatory, and punitive damages. The fourth type of monetary damages is called wrongful death, which a judge or jury awards in cases involving at least one fatality.

Special Compensatory

Also called economic damages, special compensatory damages take care of tangible expenses, such as medical bills. Your personal injury attorney asks for compensation to cover the costs of diagnostic tests, treatment programs, and rehabilitation sessions. The judge hearing your case also might award you compensation to pay for prescription medications and the use of an assistive device, which can be either for the short-term or long-term. Since a serious injury caused by a slip and fall requires treatments and physical therapy for years to come, you should also ask for special compensatory damages that cover the cost of estimated future medical procedures.

If you missed work because of the recovery time required to heal your injuries, special compensatory damages also cover lost wages. To receive compensation for lost wages, you submit copies of bank and timekeeping statements that demonstrate how much income you have lost since the slip and fall incident. If your healthcare provider expects you to miss work in the future, you have the right to request compensation for lost future earnings.

General Compensatory Damages

Unlike special compensatory damages, general compensatory damages do not come with a price tag. Instead, general compensatory damages cover intangible elements such as loss of consortium, as well as pain and suffering. The emotional trauma triggered by recovering from a serious slip and fall can include acute fear, anger, and anxiety. This is especially true if you sustained significant brain trauma. Your slip and fall attorney calculates a value for general compensatory damages by referring to a formula that factors in the value of special compensatory damages.

Punitive Damages

Punitive damages do not compensate plaintiffs for any financial losses. Judges and juries award punitive damages as a form of punishment for a defendant that committed one or more acts of negligence. Punishing a plaintiff for committing one or more acts of negligence is supposed to deter the plaintiff from committing the same acts of negligence again. It also sends a message to other retailers that they assume a duty of care to protect customers.

How Does Morgan and Morgan Provide Legal Support?

When you meet with a Morgan and Morgan attorney for a free case evaluation, you will learn about the many ways we help clients with Home Depot slip and fall claims.

We Prove Negligence

You cannot file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages unless your Morgan and Morgan attorney can prove Home Depot committed at least one act of negligence. We must establish that Home Depot assumed a duty of care to protect you against harm while you shopped in a company store, and then show Home Depot breached the duty of care doctrine by committing one or more acts of negligence. The act of negligence must have produced your injuries, which in turn caused financial losses.

Interact With Home Depot’s Insurance Company

Insurance companies prefer to deal with claimants because claimants are not familiar with insurance laws, as well as they do not know how to negotiate a favorable settlement. By hiring a personal injury attorney from Morgan and Morgan, you get the help of an intermediary who remains in contact with an adjuster from Home Depot’s insurance company. Because of our more than 30 years of experience handling slip and fall cases, our personal injury attorneys have developed positive professional relationships with many insurance adjusters working in your area.

Reach a Favorable Settlement

Not all civil lawsuits end up going to trial. In fact, a majority of civil lawsuits reach a settlement before the trial phase of the litigation process. One of the benefits of hiring a personal injury attorney from Morgan and Morgan is to receive legal representation from a highly skilled negotiator. We present a reasonable offer and then participate in several rounds of counteroffers if necessary until we reach a favorable settlement.

Schedule a free case evaluation today to discuss your Home Depot slip and fall case.