Staying Safe While Shopping: Retail Injuries & Your Rights in Texas

In Texas, retail shopping for the perfect gift can feel like an integral part of the holiday season. Whether you’re on the hunt for an incredible sale price or the gift that you know your loved one will adore, the stores you visit will be bustling with activity during this time of year. However, the excitement of shopping can sometimes come with risks. Crowded aisles, busy parking lots, cluttered stores and displays, and much more can create unsafe conditions for shoppers—and if you get hurt due to a hazard while shopping, you should know who could be liable for your injuries and losses.

Common Injuries When Retail Shopping

Shopping may not seem like a hazardous activity, but accidents in retail settings are surprisingly common, such as:

• Slip and fall accidents: Slips, trips, and falls occur frequently in retail stores and shopping malls across Texas, especially when holiday deals cause people to crowd stores in numbers not seen during any other time of the year. Wet floors from rain, spills that haven’t been cleaned up, or uneven surfaces can all lead to injuries.
• Trampling incidents: Overcrowding injuries are more likely during major sales events like Black Friday or even sales at stores that open on Thanksgiving night. Overzealous crowds can lead to trampling, pushing, or other acts of violence that are entirely unacceptable given that the spirit of the holiday season is giving.
• Merchandise hazards: Falling merchandise is another problem. Shelves stocked too high or unstable displays may cause items to fall unexpectedly onto customers. Retail workers are often overworked and rushed during the holiday season, too, which only adds to the risk of them inadvertently stocking products in unsafe ways.
• Retail store property hazards: Defective property conditions, such as broken stairs, malfunctioning escalators, or automatic doors, can be hazardous to shoppers, especially if left unrepaired or improperly maintained.

Liability in Retail Injury Cases

If you’re injured in a retail store while shopping this holiday season, who is responsible? The answer lies in Texas premises liability law. Under this law, store owners and operators are required to provide safe premises for customers. Liability can extend to various parties, too, depending on where you were and what conditions contributed to your holiday shopping injury.

Parties that might be liable for a retail injury during the holidays include:

1. Store owners and operators: Store owners are typically responsible for keeping their property free of hazards. Neglecting to address known or predictable risks, like wet floors or unstable shelving, could make them liable for injuries.
2. Third-party vendors and others: Third-party contractors—cleaning crews, maintenance workers, or delivery service crews—could be held accountable if their work directly caused the hazard and they were not employed by the retail store, only contracted.

Typically, retail injury claims are filed against store owners and their parent companies. For example, if you slip in Target®, you wouldn’t try to file a claim against the General Manager there. Instead, you would talk to a premises liability attorney about filing a claim against Target Corporation.

Steps to Take After a Retail Injury While Holiday Shopping

1. Report the incident to store management immediately. Make sure a formal accident report is filed to create a documented record of the event.
2. Seek medical attention right away, even if your injury seems minor at the time, and make sure your medical record is updated to reflect the treatments you received.
3. Document the scene by taking photos or videos of the hazard that caused your injury, as well as your injuries themselves. If possible, include timestamps.
4. Collect witness statements from anyone who saw the accident. Be sure to get their names and contact information.
5. Talk to a premises liability attorney as soon as possible, so they can start to work on securing more evidence, like instructing the retail store to save copies of security camera footage that captured your accident. An experienced injury lawyer can deal with the retail store’s claims defense and insurance attorneys, too, so you don’t have to.

With the help of an experienced injury attorney, you can prepare to file a claim in pursuit of compensation. Texas premises liability laws allow injured shoppers to seek compensation that helps pay for past and future medical expenses, past and future lost income, and past and future pain and suffering caused by their injuries.

Hilliard Law Can Help After a Retail Store Accident

Shopping should be a safe and enjoyable experience, but accidents happen, especially during the holiday rush. If you’re hurt due to a slippery floor, poorly stored merchandise, or another defective property condition, remember that you have rights that are worth exploring with a lawyer’s help.

Hilliard Law can handle premises liability and retail store accident claims for clients across Texas. Since 1985, we have been going head-to-head with major corporations and insurance companies to protect the rights of the injured. Our efforts have secured more than half a billion dollars for injured clients through successful settlements and trials, so you know that you can trust us with your case, too.

We wish for you to enjoy stress-free holiday shopping this year, but if you’re ever in need of personal injury representation, we hope that you choose our Texas trial attorneys first. Call (361) 882-1612 whenever you need us, and we’ll arrange a FREE case review for you.