Target Slip and Fall Accidents

They say there are two facts of life, neither of which is a pleasant event. You can add a third event that we want to avoid, and that is called slipping and falling on rock-solid ground or on a cold floor. In a majority of slip and fall cases, the only thing that we bruise is our pride at the embarrassment of displaying a stunning lack of coordination. However, some slip and fall incidents result in injuries that can land a victim in the emergency room at the nearest local hospital.

You can slip and fall just about anywhere, but a few venues lead the list of where the most slip and fall accidents take place. One of the most common locations for slip and fall incidents is grocery and home improvement stores. Target fulfills both consumer needs, as the international chain offers both a grocery section and several areas where customers purchase home improvement products. Target is also home to beauty, travel, and computer technology products.

You can call Target a one-stop shopping experience that meets all your needs.

Because of its universal appeal, Target stores typically remain busy from the opening of the first door in the morning to the last customer heading out the exit at night. The bustling, sprawling shopping center also remains busy each day addressing potentially dangerous slip and fall incidents that occur in virtually every aisle of a store. If you slipped and fell at Target, and the accident resulted in you sustaining one or more injuries, you might have a strong enough case to file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages. At the very least, you should file a claim with Target’s insurance company.

At Morgan and Morgan, our team of attorneys has handled personal injury cases, including Target slip and fall accidents for more than 30 years. Our dedicated team of personal injury lawyers has recovered more than $20 billion in monetary damages for our clients. We help clients receive compensation from Target’s insurance company, as well as from the favorable legal decisions issued by the judges that oversee civil lawsuits. The money that we recover helps you pay off costly medical bills, as well as compensate you for the time missed from work.

What Steps Should I Take After a Slip and Fall Accident?

The Morgan and Morgan attorney that you hire for handling Target slip and fall accidents shares a responsibility with you to recover your financial losses. We mention shared responsibility because you play an important role in determining the strength of your case. How you handle the aftermath of a slip and fall at Target goes a long way in deciding whether you receive compensation for your injuries.

Get Medical Care

From a bump on the head to lacerations on the arms, a slip and fall accident can cause a wide variety of injuries. Regardless of the severity of your injuries, you should seek medical care to diagnose and treat each injury. A few injuries such as whiplash and head trauma sometimes do not develop symptoms until several hours or even a couple of days after a slip and fall accident. Receiving prompt medical care ensures you receive a comprehensive diagnosis that reveals the hidden symptoms of certain medical conditions.

Make sure to ask for copies of all medical bills and records for you to submit when you file an insurance claim and a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages.

Receive a Copy of the Incident Report

Management should learn about the slip and fall incident shortly after it happens. Whether you notify the management team or an employee does it for you, management should become aware of the accident on the same day the slip and fall incident took place. Management must complete a detailed incident report that includes a description of the conditions at the store when the slip and fall accident took place. Conditions include the number of customers and the areas of the store experiencing the highest foot traffic. The formal incident report also should include the names of witnesses.

Contact a Personal Injury Attorney

A representative from Target might try to convince you to file an insurance claim right after a slip and fall incident. However, you should wait until after you speak with an experienced personal injury attorney before you file an insurance claim. During a free case evaluation, a Morgan and Morgan attorney who handles Target slip and fall accidents conducts a thorough review of your case before recommending how to approach the filing of an insurance claim and possibly a civil lawsuit as well.

Collect and Organize Evidence

The most influential type of physical evidence for Target slip and fall accidents concerns the video footage captured by the store’s security camera system. Target places dozens of security cameras throughout each of its large stores to deter shoplifters, as well as record accidents such as a slip and fall as they unfold. Your personal injury lawyer from Morgan and Morgan obtains the security footage shot at the time of your slip and fall accident to determine whether negligence played a role in causing your injuries.

For example, a section of security camera footage might detect a lack of action to clean up a spill in one of the aisles.

Interview Witnesses

Witness accounts of Target slip and fall accidents usually provide legal support for the physical evidence acquired at the scene of an incident. However, some Target slip and fall accidents produce limited physical evidence because of a defective security camera or the lack of images captured by a Smartphone. Without enough compelling evidence, your personal injury attorney relies more on the statements provided by witnesses. Interviewing witnesses right after a slip and fall accident produces the most accurate version of events. Memories tend to fade as considerable time passes after a slip and fall accident.

How Does My Attorney Prove Negligence?

Target slip and fall accidents require personal injury attorneys to prove Target committed at least one act of negligence. This means demonstrating the presence of four legal elements.

Duty of Care

The duty of care doctrine states that one party must be legally responsible for the safety of a second party. For example, healthcare providers assume a duty of care to provide medical care that improves the condition of a patient. For a retail chain such as Target, the duty of care doctrine applies to several circumstances. Target must create a safe shopping environment by implementing security measures. The store also is responsible for preventing accidents from happening, including slip and fall incidents.

Violating the Duty of Care Doctrine

Step number two involves showing Target violated the duty of care doctrine, which caused a slip and fall accident. Target assumes legal liability to ensure all spills receive prompt attention from staff members. Prompt attention includes placing a Wet Floor sign over a spill, as well as wiping a spill dry as quickly as possible. Target slip and fall accidents that involve a violation of the duty of care doctrine mean the retail chain has committed at least one act of negligence.

Caused Your Injuries

The personal injury lawyer that you work with from Morgan and Morgan must submit physical evidence that connects a violation of the duty of care doctrine with your injuries. Target fights back against civil lawsuits with the help of a large legal department consisting of the most accomplished personal injury litigators in the United States. The Target attorney handling your case will try to claim you sustained your injuries from another incident. For example, the lawyer representing Target might claim you sustained a broken wrist from falling off a bicycle.

Generated Financial Losses

The last element of negligence is a relatively easy element to prove. You organize and submit your bank and employment timekeeping records for your employer to present as evidence with your insurance claim, as well as when you file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages. The key is to link the dates of your medical bills and records with dates that coincide with the days and weeks following the slip and fall incident.

You cannot expect a judge to approve monetary damages if you cannot demonstrate your injuries caused financial losses.

What Are the Types of Monetary Damages Awarded for Target Slip and Fall Accidents?

The most important goal for the Morgan and Morgan personal injury attorney handling your case is to get you compensated for your financial losses. In addition to receiving economic damages, the judge hearing your case might award you non-economic and punitive damages as well.,

Economic Damages

As the name implies, economic damages pay you for tangible financial losses, such as the value of your medical bills. Diagnostic tests, treatment programs, and physical therapy sessions all can rack up medical bills that run into thousands of dollars. You also have the right to request compensation to cover the costs associated with prescription medications and the use of an assistive device such as a neck brace.

Target slip and fall accidents can produce injuries that are serious enough for victims to miss a substantial amount of time from work. Economic damages also cover lost wages, which you prove by submitting copies of bank and timekeeping records. A prognosis statement submitted by your healthcare provider can let the judge hearing your case know how much longer your physician expects you to miss work. You have the right to request compensation for estimated future lost wages.

Non-Economic Damages

Also referred to as general compensatory damages, non-economic damages cover the costs associated with non-tangible factors, such as pain and suffering, as well as loss of consortium. Target slip and fall accidents can trigger emotional distress issues like fear and anxiety that make it difficult to live a normal life. Your personal injury lawyer calculates a value for non-economic damages by using a formula that factors in the value of economic damages.

Punitive Damages

Judges award punitive damages not to compensate plaintiffs, but to punish defendants for committing one or more acts of negligence. For Target slip and fall accidents, punitive damages act as a reminder that Target must act with a sense of urgency every time a spill occurs at one of its stores. Punitive damages are supposed to provide a financial incentive for Target to improve its customer safety program.

Learn more about Target slip and fall accidents by scheduling a free case evaluation with one of the personal injury attorneys at Morgan and Morgan.