When you head to the grocery store to pick up bread and milk, the last thing you expect or need is to slip and fall. Nevertheless, slip and falls—as they’re somewhat whimsically known as—happen a lot, and they can cause serious injuries. If you sustained an injury in a slip and fall accident at the grocery store, it’s natural to want to blame it on your own clumsiness, but carefully consider what caused you to fall and suffer your injuries—including the grocery store’s negligence.

Duty of Care

Whether it’s a local mom and pop or a giant chain, grocery stores—just like all businesses that open to the public—are responsible for keeping their businesses reasonably safe for the customers whom they serve. If a grocery store fails to maintain a reasonably safe environment for you to hunt for crunchy peanut butter, you may hold that store liable for the injuries you sustain. Such cases fall under premises liability law.

Premises Liability

To create a successful grocery store slip and fall claim, you must establish three specific factors:

  • A hazard on the store’s premises (inside or outside) injured you 
  • The store’s owner either caused the hazard, or knew or should have known about the hazard’s presence—but did not take reasonable measures to address it (such as by clearing it away, fixing it, or posting a warning sign) in a reasonable amount of time 
  • The hazard wasn’t so obvious that you could have avoided it had you bothered 

Your grocery store slip and fall case will hinge on how well the specifics of your accident coincide with these elemental factors.

Common Causes of Grocery Store Slip and Falls

Slip and fall accidents can—and often do—take place anywhere, and grocery stores are no exception. A variety of causes, however, are common to grocery store slip and fall accidents:

  • Parking lots that accumulate ice and snow, wet leaves, or puddles of water 
  • Parking lots with broken or damaged surfaces or that are riddled with debris 
  • Entryways that become slippery from tracked-in ice, snow, rain, or wet leaves 
  • Stores with uneven, broken, ripped, torn, or otherwise damaged floors 
  • Stores with floors that are polished to a slippery sheen 
  • Stores with spilled liquids or slippery foods in the aisles 
  • Stores with debris in the aisles 
  • Stores with dangerously placed or erected displays 

If a Grocery Store Slip and Fall Accident Injured You, Consult an Experienced Maryland Premises Liability Attorney Today

If an innocent trip to the grocery store left you injured due to store negligence, you need the help of experienced legal counsel. At Alpert Schreyer, LLC, in Maryland, our dedicated premises liability lawyers have the experience, skill, and drive to help guide your claim toward the compensation to which Maryland law entitles you. We’re here to help, and we have five convenient locations in Maryland—so please contact or call us at (844) 632-7274 for a free case evaluation today.