Navigating a Slip and Fall Claim Against Publix

Grocery store customers expect a few things from their favorite places to buy food and beverages, as well as other items such as health and beauty products. They expect their go-to stores for grocery items to honor the coupons cut out of weekly periodicals. Customers also expect to shop in clean stores that offer every product they have on their shopping lists. A common expectation that is often taken for granted is grocery store customers expect to be protected from any potential harmful incidents, such as a slip and fall that frequently occurs at busy grocery stores such as Publix.

As an employee-owned supermarket chain operating primarily out of Florida and Georgia, Publix is a popular grocery store known for its wide selection of produce and its detailed attention to delivering excellent customer service. Like other supermarket chains, Publix also is known as a venue where slip and fall accidents lurk around every corner of every aisle. From slipping on a spilled beverage to tripping over a bunched-up mat placed at the front entrance, Publix employees must be constantly alert to the potential danger of a slip and fall incident.

Unfortunately, not every Publix store does a good job of preventing the injuries sustained from a slip and fall incident. When a Publix grocery store fails to follow the duty of care doctrine, a customer who slips and falls at one of the supermarket chain’s stores might have a strong enough case to seek compensation that covers the costs associated with medical care. If you sustained one or more injuries as a result of a slip and fall at a Publix grocery store, you should contact a Publix slip and fall lawyer to determine whether you have a strong enough case to file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages.

A slip and fall accident can cause physical harm that has a negative long-term impact on your life. Since 1988, the personal injury attorneys at Morgan and Morgan have helped clients rebuild their lives after a devastating slip and fall incident by getting them the compensation they deserve. We have recovered more than $14 billion in monetary damages for clients, including a substantial amount of money awarded to clients who sustained injuries from slip and fall accidents. The key to winning a slip and fall case involves demonstrating that Publix committed one or more acts of negligence that set up the right circumstances for a slip and fall incident.

What Should I Do After a Slip and Fall at Publix?

How you react after a slip and fall at Publix determines how strong of a case you have to file a civil lawsuit against the supermarket chain for committing one or more acts of negligence.

Alert Store Management

To initiate an insurance claim and/or a civil lawsuit, you must notify Publix management about the slip and fall incident. You can inform Publix by speaking with a manager on duty or a customer who witnessed your slip and fall can do it for you if you need to seek immediate medical care. A Publix employee also can let management know about the slip and fall accident.

Notifying management results in the completion of an incident report that your Publix slip and fall lawyer reviews to determine whether the supermarket chain committed at least one act of negligence. The incident report should include physical evidence, such as references to security camera footage shot at the time of the slip and fall incident. Publix should describe in detail the circumstances surrounding the personal injury incident, as well as what transpired before, during, and after you slipped and fell.

Receive Medical Care

A slip and fall can produce a wide variety of injuries, some of which require immediate medical attention. Because of the surprise element, a slip and fall accident can leave behind severe, even life-threatening injuries such as brain trauma and a damaged spinal cord. Getting medical care should be a priority even if you feel healthy enough to remain at the Publix store where you slipped and fell. Filing a persuasive civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages requires the submission of medical bills and records that confirm you received medical care for your injuries.

The types of medical records to submit include the results of diagnostic tests, as well as a written statement submitted by your healthcare provider explaining your prognosis for making a full and/or partial recovery from your injuries.

Meet With a Publix Slip and Fall Lawyer

Before you submit an insurance claim and file a civil lawsuit seeking monetary damages, you should meet with an experienced Publix slip and fall lawyer to discuss your case. The attorney you meet with from Morgan and Morgan asks several questions and reviews the physical evidence collected at the scene of the accident. Hiring a highly-rated Publix slip and fall lawyer from Morgan and Morgan lets the Lakeland, Florida-based supermarket chain know that you are serious about pursuing compensation to recover the financial losses associated with the slip and fall incident.

Acquire More Evidence

Although the incident report completed by Publix should contain physical evidence, your personal injury attorney should conduct an investigation to reveal more physical evidence that provides legal support for your case. For a slip and fall incident, security camera footage can provide the most compelling type of evidence backing your claim that Publix committed at least one act of negligence. Security cameras strategically placed throughout a Publix store should have captured the area where you slipped and fell. Your Morgan and Morgan personal injury attorney interviews witnesses to verify what occurred before, during, and after the slip and fall accident.

Do I Have to Meet a Deadline for Filing a Publix Slip and Fall Claim?

Although you do not have to meet a deadline to file an insurance claim for a slip and fall incident at a Publix store, you should act with a sense of urgency to file a claim as quickly as possible after treating your injuries. The compensation paid out by an insurance claim helps you manage the medical bills that rapidly increase after a slip and fall incident.

When it comes to filing a civil lawsuit, state law dictates how long you have to take legal action. Most states have established a statute of limitations for filing a personal injury lawsuit between two and four years. With a majority of Publix grocery stores located in Florida, it is important to note the Sunshine State has set a statute of limitations for filing a civil lawsuit four years from the date of a personal injury incident.

As with filing an insurance claim, you should file a personal injury lawsuit in Florida as soon as possible after a slip and fall incident. Your Publix slip and fall lawyer wants to interview witnesses as close to the date of the slip and fall accident as possible. Witness accounts typically are more accurate the closer to the date of a personal injury incident. Winning a civil lawsuit helps you recover the financial losses generated by receiving medical care, as well as replacing the income lost because a slip and fall accident prevents you from working.

Failing to file a civil lawsuit before the expiration of the statute of limitations results in the court clerk processing your claim to remove it from the judicial docket.

What Are the Four Elements of Proving Negligence?

Obtaining physical evidence such as security camera footage helps your Publix slip and fall lawyer demonstrate the regional supermarket chain committed one or more acts of negligence. To prove negligence, your legal counsel must prove the presence of four legal elements.

Duty of Care

The duty of care legal doctrine states one party assumes legal responsibility for protecting the health of a second party. For example, an auto manufacturer has a duty of care to design and construct motor vehicles that keep buyers safe. Retailers such as Publix assume a duty of care to protect customers against the many potential dangers that await them in a store, such as areas of a store where wet floor surfaces can cause a slip and fall accident.

Violation of the Duty of Care Doctrine

Although establishing that Publix owed you a duty of care is relatively easy to do, the same cannot be said by showing the grocery store violated the duty of care doctrine. Publix must take steps to prevent a customer from slipping and falling. For instance, Publix owes a duty of care to ensure all floor surfaces remain dry during store hours. Failing to maintain dry floor surfaces is one example of violating the duty of care doctrine. Another example of breaching the duty of care doctrine concerns not alerting customers to wet floor surfaces by placing Wet Floor signs over a slick area of a store.

Causation

A violation of the duty of care doctrine committed by Publix must have caused your injury or injuries. One of the common legal tactics used by the attorneys representing Publix is to connect a plaintiff’s injuries with another source. For example, if you fractured your wrist as a result of a slip and fall at a Publix grocery store, the company’s legal team might try to link your broken wrist with another incident, such as slipping and falling at home. Submitting properly dated medical bills and records should be enough physical evidence to establish the connection between your injuries and a slip and fall accident at a Publix grocery store.

Financial Losses

Proving you lost money because of a slip and fall accident requires the submission of bank and timekeeping statements. Copies of bank statements demonstrate a decrease in income, as well as include itemized descriptions of medical expenses. Timekeeping records verify a slip and fall incident forced you out of work for a significant amount of time. If you cannot demonstrate that a slip and fall incident at a Publix grocery store resulted in financial losses, you cannot expect a judge to award you monetary damages.

Hire a Publix Slip and Fall Lawyer From Morgan and Morgan

An experienced Morgan and Morgan attorney can provide legal support by acting as an intermediary between you and the insurance company representing Publix. Working with a highly-rated Publix slip and fall lawyer also helps you gather and organize the physical evidence you need to file a successful civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages.

Get the legal support you deserve by scheduling a free case evaluation with a Morgan and Morgan personal injury attorney.