Businesses have an obligation to their customers to keep a reasonably safe, secure environment. While a typical trip or fall may not be overly harmful, a slip and fall injury can be serious, or even fatal. Slip and fall incidents cause 15% of all accidental deaths in the Commonwealth, making them second only to motor vehicle deaths as a cause of Massachusetts accidental deaths. When a business fails to behave appropriately, its negligence can result in serious injuries, injuries that they can be held financially accountable for. If you or a loved one have recently tripped or slipped and fallen and sustained substantial injuries, you may be able to recover for your injuries through a successful personal injury lawsuit.
That is precisely what one Bostonian woman did after she was injured in a shopping center. The fifty-nine-year-old woman was shopping at the produce section of her local grocery store when she slipped on a cherry pit that was lying on the ground. The woman fell back, slamming her back against the ground, injuring her L4 and L5 vertebrae. The woman had to undergo spinal laminectomy and discectomy surgeries due to the damage to her spine.
The woman filed a personal injury lawsuit against the supermarket to cover her medical expenses, pain and suffering, and the future back pain and soreness she is now forced to live with. Apparently, the store’s guidebook required that the produce section have rubber mats to prevent this type of slip and fall injury, but the specific store the woman went to had no such mats. Rather than go to trial, the two parties held a mediation. At the end of the mediation, the supermarket agreed to pay the woman $250,000 to compensate her for her injuries and expenses.
If you or a loved one have slipped and fallen on another’s property due to their negligence, you may be able to recover compensation for your injuries from those who are responsible.