Serious Injuries Are Often Necessary for a Successful Premises Liability Claim

I look at a lot of premises liability cases. Daily we get calls from people who have been hurt at a Wal-Mart, at a Food Lion or another business and they are wondering what their rights are and whether they can make a claim for their personal injuries.

One of the things we tell people is that unless they have a serious injury, it’s very hard to make one of these kinds of claims.

In this video I describe how we tell people that unless they have a serious injury it can often be very hard to present and to win one of these kinds of claims. It isn’t that if you have a smaller injury, you don’t have a right to make one of these claims.  It’s just that I know how Food Lion and Wal-Mart defend these cases. They are very vigorous and have their own in-house claims department and they will fight, fight, fight.

Unless there is an enough upside for you and unless you have a very serious injury such as a broken bone, a surgery, a permanent injury or a traumatic brain injury, it can be hard to win. Unless you have a very serious injury, I know as a practical matter we can’t fight against the big box store or the hotel chain.

In saying that, we are seeing a considerable number of serious injuries taking place at big box stores. As a 25‑year experienced personal injury attorney I regularly talk to and help folks who have been hurt while shopping in a store in Hampton Roads, Virginia.

One pattern I’ve noticed in my own life is how retailers seem to have increased the amount of merchandise they have in stores and decreased the number of workers they have selling all these goods.  It seems so hard to find a salesperson to help you find anything these days in a store.  I think it’s just a matter of profits that the stores have decided that people are too expensive and they’d rather just cram the stores full of merchandise and let the customer try to find it on their own. That in itself, can lead to more accidents at stores while fewer staff can mean increased danger.

Recently I co-authored a book on premises liability with my colleague Bill O’Mara. The book is Top Ten Tips if You Are Injured At a Store, Hotel or Restaurant in Virginia, and it will be available for free on our website.

If you need to talk to a Virginia premises liability lawyer, call Cooper Hurley Injury Lawyers at 757.455.0077. We offer free and confidential consultations.