I fell bad in a 7/11

by Guest » Wed Jun 29, 2011 06:00 pm
Guest

I went into a 7/11 late last Saturday night. The floor was sopping wet in an area by the beverages.

I walked carefully but as I came around the corner of an isle to pay for my items I slipped in a large puddle of water. There were no cones that said slippery when wet or any warning.

I noticed as I came in that there was a soaking wet mop leaned against the clear fridge that holds beverages.

I fell down hard and as I fell I grabbed ahold of the nearest display shelf. The shelf came toppling down along with me and a corner cut me pretty deep on the right side of my rib cage. I landed on my tail bone and was instantly in terrible pain.

I couldn't walk and my brother had to come in to help me to my car. He took pictures of the entire place in detail at my request as the clerk yelled furiously at us. The cashier could not speak english very well and he started to yell at me and told me to never come back again and that I would have to pay for the damage I had done.

I went to the emergency room and found out I had a broken tail bone and I needed 4 stitches in my chest. I am out of work now for 3 days and am really unsure of what to do.

I know that my situation would look like somebody purposely trying to get hurt and receive a settlement to anybody in the insurance business. However I just feel completely wronged by the whole situation and feel that the store should at least help me with my medical bills.

How can I proceed and do you think it will benefit me to push this? I only have about 10 pictures of the scene as well as 1 witness and a doctors diagnosis as proof. Also the store camera's would have the entire incident on tape.... I don't know how hard it will be to get a hold of those tapes though...

what should I do?

Total Comments: 1

Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 12:36 am Post Subject:

How can I proceed and do you think it will benefit me to push this?

If you want the store to compensate you for your loss then send them a letter informing them of your injury, that you will be seeking damages and recommend that they report the loss to their carrier so that their carrier can address the matter. If you don't hear anything in 30 days you can either secure the service of an attorney or send them another letter giving them 10 days. It's up to you. In that letter you also need to tell them to keep any/all tape available showing the date of the accident and where you slipped. You've already waited so those tapes might be gone but they really should have kept them once they knew about the accident. That would be your argument (spoliation of evidence) as they knew about your accident and injury. You don't need the tapes now... only if you need to sue them.

You could also secure the services of an attorney at this point. You will then need to pay the attorney 33%-40% of your settlement.

I don't see much defense on their end. It seems that they knew about the spill based on the wet mop being out. Sounds like there was just the one clerk to operate the store which means that they could not properly clean up and tend to the cash at the same time.

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