Everything You Need to Know About Filing a Personal Injury Claim Against a Small Business
Dealing with a personal injury case against an individual is hard enough when you’re trying to recover from your injuries. Filing against a small business presents even more challenges that can be nearly impossible to conquer without the help of a professional. Many businesses have contingencies in place in case they ever get into legal trouble, especially manufacturers, so you’ll likely be up against a lawyer who is very good at their job.
Just because the opponent is fierce, however, doesn’t mean you don’t stand a chance. If you incurred injuries due to the negligence of a small business, you deserve compensation to cover your medical expenses and other damages. Learn all about filing a personal injury lawsuit against a small business, and discover how an experienced personal injury lawyer in Amarillo can help.
Premises Liability
There are two primary kinds of personal injuries you can suffer due to a small business’s negligence, and the first is an injury obtained due to a hazardous environment. This would include any injury that occurs on the premises of the business that could have been prevented if the business followed reasonable safety standards. Businesses have an obligation to keep their premises in a safe condition at all times for the safety of customers and their own employees.
One of the most common examples of this frequently happens in grocery stores. There’s a lot of opportunities inside for a spill to happen, and they can lead to serious slip and fall injuries. It is the duty of the store managers to clean up any dangerous spills that occur, or block them off with caution signs if immediate cleanup is not possible. Should they fail to do either in a reasonable amount of time, you’ll have reason to file a lawsuit.
Defective Products
The other kind of personal injury attributed to the negligence of small businesses is when they make defective products. These products can break, explode or do a number of other actions that can lead to serious injury. Making your case for a defective product can be tough, but it typically involves proving three important aspects.
The product must be unaltered from the moment it left the manufacturer
The product must have been used in a way the directions indicated
The product must be the cause of your injuries
If you can demonstrate all three of those things, you’ll have a better chance of winning your case. Even so, there’s a long process to go through, and you don’t want to venture forwards without some help.
How to File Your Lawsuit
Your personal injury lawsuit against a small business needs to consist of three primary components. First, you must show that the business has a duty of care to the customer or anyone else who deals with them directly. After that, you must show that the business breached that duty of care due to negligence, knowingly or not. Finally, you have to directly connect their breach of that duty to your sustained injuries.
Duty of care is generally easy to demonstrate in comparison to the other aspects. Entering the premises of a business is enough justification to claim that the business is reasonably expected not to present you with a dangerous environment. It’s important to remember, however, that a business is not liable for all injuries anyone sustains inside their place of work. Some injuries simply are not preventable.
Your personal injury suit should focus on preventable injuries. If you didn’t sustain any preventable injuries, you probably won’t have much of a case, to begin with. To show that your injuries were preventable, you have to show that the business was negligent. This can take many forms, such as not cleaning up a spill in time or failing to conduct routine safety checks. You can even argue that the business failed to put out rugs or warning signs near entrances when it’s rainy out.
Connecting their breach of duty of care to your injuries requires you to draw a direct causal link. If there’s a spill on the floor and you fall next to it because you tripped on your shoelaces, you won’t have a good case despite the clear breach of duty. The breach must directly be responsible for your injury. Seeking damages for that injury can take many forms, including medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages and more.
Personal Injury Lawyer Amarillo
If you’re ready to file your personal injury lawsuit against a small business, you’ll need the help of a good personal injury lawyer in Amarillo. Businesses tend to have skilled lawyers on their side, but you can get one of your own with Tormey & McConnell Law. With unrelenting dedication to your case and a history of success, you can rest assured knowing your case is in good hands. Contact us today for a free consultation.