Lowe’s is the go-to company for home improvement needs. With over 2,000 stores nationwide, anyone looking for tools, appliances, decor, and other home goods can find almost everything they need in a Lowes store.
The aisles are filled with every type of merchandise required to construct, repair or replace building materials for home and commercial use. However, because of the store’s layout design and the high volume of shoppers, accidents at Lowe’s are all too common.
If you were the victim of a Lowes slip and fall accident, the personal injury attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC can help you file a case against the home improvement giant. For a free consultation about your case, call a Chicago Lowe’s accident attorney at (888) 424-5757 or schedule an appointment using this online contact form.
Lowe’s Premises Liability
It is the responsibility of Lowe’s management, supervisors, and employees to provide a safe environment to every customer on the premises. This responsibility falls under premises liability law. Any failure in maintaining that safety can place the lives of others in jeopardy.
As a result, the negligent store can be held legally liable when an accident occurs, causing injury, damage, or death. Under premises liability laws, you may be able to sue Lowes for their negligence.
What Can Cause a Lowe’s Slip and Fall Accident?
Slip and fall injuries at a Lowe’s store can stem from many factors. These may include:
Slippery Floors
Although seemingly insignificant, a wet floor is one of the most common causes of slip-and-fall accidents. Anyone can sustain a severe injury from slipping on a wet surface. Elderly people and young children, in particular, are most at risk.
A slip and fall accident related to slippery floors can be caused by:
- An employee mopped the floors and did not put visible warning signs
- A customer spilled something on the floor and did not alert the store
- An employee spilled the contents of a product (e.g., grease or varnish) and did not clean it up immediately nor put up warning signs
Tripping Hazards
If an employee or customer leaves items on the ground haphazardly, another customer might not see it as they turn the aisle, leading to a fall. Similarly, if an object falls from a shelf, it can be a tripping hazard to unsuspecting customers.
Uneven Floors
A floor with torn carpeting or an uneven floor can lead to someone slipping and falling on the property. Fall claims resulting from poorly maintained floors are often difficult to dispute in court.
Parking Lot Hazards
Slip and fall accidents don’t always occur inside Lowes stores. Hazards in the parking lot, such as cracked concrete, potholes, and uneven ground, can create liability issues for stores failing to ensure the safety of patrons.
Additional Hazards in Lowe’s Stores
Aside from a slip and fall, a customer’s injuries can also result from these accidents:
Falling Objects
Like other large chain home-improvement stores, Lowes stores practice high merchandise stacking as an effective solution for storing additional stock. While stacking the merchandise overhead provides easy accessibility to products, and saves employees time and much-needed space, it places unsuspecting victims in the path of heavy falling objects.
Employee Error
A Lowe’s employee can play a significant role in your injuries. For example, if an employee is carrying a long piece of lumber and turns around carelessly, the rear end of the wood may strike you if you are standing close enough.
In such cases, the negligent Lowe’s employee may not be entirely liable. Lowe’s stores must train their entire team to prevent accidents like this. Hence, they may face liability for inadequate training.
Customer Error
Another customer can also injure you at a Lowes store. Unlike employees, these customers are untrained to handle the potentially hazardous objects commonly found at Lowe’s.
Unsecured Objects
Stores must secure heavy items (e.g., large appliances and heavy furniture) to the wall or floor to prevent them from tipping over.
A customer standing in front of an unsecured heavy object that unexpectedly falls can get crushed. Similarly, if a child pulls on a heavy item, they might be crushed if the object is not bolted down.
Common Slip and Fall Injuries
Many slip and fall accidents are minor. However, a severe slip and fall accident can lead to injuries including:
- Traumatic Brain Injuries: A traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs when a violent blow or jolt to the head causes the brain to thrust against the skull. TBIs can range from mild to severe, with the worst cases leading to permanent brain damage and even death.
- Spinal Cord Trauma: Injuries to the spinal cord can be devastating. If you slip and fall, you could injure your spine and become paralyzed.
- Fractures: A slip and fall accident can be severe enough to break bones. Striking your limbs against a hard object (e.g., a shelf or pallet)as you fall is a common cause of fractures in slip-and-fall mishaps.
- Concussions: If you slip and fall and hit your head, you might experience a concussion. Any blow to the head, no matter the severity of the fall, should end in an emergency room
- Soft Tissue Injuries: These injuries include sprains, strains, and contusions, which may manifest days or even weeks after the accident. When left unaddressed, soft tissue injuries can lead to chronic pain and an increased risk of injury in the future.
If you slip and fall in a Lowe’s retail store, seek medical attention as soon as possible. Injuries may not manifest immediately.
Filing a Lowes Slip and Fall Claim
To successfully with a case against Lowes, you must file a claim and prove that the defendant (Lowe’s home improvement retailer) had the legal responsibility to maintain a safe environment. In addition, under Illinois law, you must prove that an act of negligence directly caused the accident.
A skilled attorney specializing in big-box accidents will establish how the Lowes home improvement warehouse:
- Created a dangerous condition leading to the victim’s injuries
- Knew that the hazardous conditions in the store existed but still failed to offer a warning of any kind or clean up the mess
- Lowe’s management, supervisors, and employees had the time to discover that a serious hazardous condition inside or outside the store existed but took no action
Lowe’s and other large home retailers usually push back against resolving fall claims. They often use an experienced in-house adjuster working from their Safety and Risk Service Center who might resolve the case by denying the claim or settling for a minimal amount. Hiring an experienced personal injury lawyer is essential to fight for the compensation you deserve.
Schedule a free legal consultation with Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC to discuss your options. Call our Chicago law firm at (888) 424-5757.
Claimable Damages in Lowes Injury Cases
Like other negligence-related injuries, there are many potential losses that you might be able to include in your claim, such as:
- Medical Bills: You can sue Lowes for the expenses you’ve had to make because of your injuries, including the costs of hospitalization, emergency transport, medication, surgery, etc. If you suffer from permanent injuries, you could also claim future medical expenses.
- Pain and Suffering: An experienced attorney will be able to help you claim damages for physical pain, emotional distress, mental anguish, and other non-economic implications of the accident.
- Disability: In rare cases, a slip and fall accident can lead to permanent disability. If this happens, you could sue the negligent party for the costs associated with disability, such as mobility aids, loss of earning potential, and loss of quality of life.
- Lost Income: You may have had to miss work or suspend operations at your business due to your injuries. In this case, you may be able to include lost income in your claims, including lost wages..
- Property Damage: If your personal belongings were lost or damaged in the accident, you might recover compensation for their repair or replacement.
- Wrongful Death: Severe fall cases can lead to death. If your loved one died due to the negligence of a Lowe’s store, you could include wrongful death damages while seeking compensation. These damages may include funeral and burial costs, medical treatment, and loss of financial support.
- Punitive Damages: These damages are filed against defendants to stop any destructive or negligent behavior that could hurt others.
Collecting Evidence
Security cameras in retail stores could make it easier to prove the circumstances of your slip and fall accident. However, a video of the incident does not always serve as solid proof in fall claims.
Other forms of evidence might include:
- The incident report of your accident
- Records of your medical care
- Photos and videos of your injuries and the area where you were injured
- Psychiatric evaluations
- Testimony from your physician
- Eyewitness accounts
In some cases, Lowe’s denied knowledge of the hazard at the time of the accident. If this happens to your case, you might not be able to obtain a fair settlement for your injury without the help of a lawyer.
The Role of Your Law Firm
Hiring a lawyer is not always necessary in a personal injury claim involving minor injuries or damages. However, dealing with the defendant’s insurance company yourself may lead to an unfair settlement.
The reason behind this is insurance companies (especially those covering large retailers) want to protect their bottom line, and they do this by offering lowball settlements to victims.
Slip and fall lawyers can help you:
- Investigate how and why you slipped and fell
- Determine how Lowe’s failed to maintain customer safety
- Collect strong evidence for your fall case
- Find a professional to provide expert testimony, if necessary
- Negotiate settlement values
- File your claim or lawsuit
What to Do After a Slip and Fall in a Lowe’s Store
If you slipped and fell in a Lowe’s home improvement store, here are crucial steps you need to take:
- Determine the extent of your injuries. If you fall, try not to move immediately. Look for signs of a concussion before attempting to walk. Call for medical attention.
- Document the incident. Take pictures and videos of your surroundings, emphasizing the object or person that caused your accident. Ask for eyewitnesses’ names and contact numbers, if there are any. Call a manager so they can file a Lowes incident report
- Go to the doctor. Even if you have not suffered a serious injury, get a medical check-up. Only an accurate diagnosis helps ensure that you have no underlying injuries. It also gives you a medical report to use for your claim.
- Call the police. If you are injured on someone else’s property, it is always a good idea to call law enforcement. In doing so, you create a police report that your attorney can use for your claim.
- Observe your signs and symptoms for the following days. Not all injuries manifest immediately. Many symptoms of a concussion appear a few hours after getting injured. Once you notice something unusual with your body, go to a doctor as soon as possible.
- Call your attorney. A Lowe’s accident attorney working on your behalf can begin gathering evidence to assist in winning a case against the store. To know how you can sue Lowes for your injury, call (888) 424-5757.
Recent Lowes Lawsuit: Case With $16.4 Million Verdict
In 2016, a 41-year-old woman was awarded $16.4 million by jurors after she slipped and fell in a Lowe’s store in 2013.
The accident occurred because a warning cone was partially obscured by another object, causing the woman to step in the water spilled from watering the area’s plants. The plaintiff claimed that she didn’t see the caution warning cone on the wet floor and that the store failed to keep its patrons safe from falls.
The defendant’s lawyer argued that statistics showed customers stood a one-in-a-million chance of falling at the specific branch.
However, the plaintiff’s attorney indicated that records showed at least 28 falls in the last five years among 13 branches in the area. Data revealed the company’s failure to add proper safety measures showed the chain failed to keep its customers safe.
The victim fell and hit her head on hard concrete, leading to a permanent loss of taste and smell, among other injuries. The injured woman was awarded $16.4 million ($1.9 million in medical expenses and $14.5 million for pain and suffering).
Experienced Attorneys for Lowe’s Accident Cases
Were you or a loved one injured in a Lowe’s accident? You would likely need the best legal assistance to ensure you are fully compensated for your damages. These accidents can potentially leave victims with life-changing, catastrophic injuries where the healing process can last a lifetime.
Our law firm will work on your behalf so you can sue Lowes and hold them accountable for their negligence.
The experienced Lowe’s slip and fall attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC have extensive legal litigation expertise in big-box accidents. Our attorneys can build a successful case to ensure you receive fair compensation under a zero-fee guarantee. If we don’t win, you won’t have to pay any legal fees.
Let’s discuss how you can sue Lowes by scheduling a free consultation with one of our attorneys at (888) 424-5757. Our Chicago law firm handles slips and falls, TBIs, spinal cord trauma, and other injuries caused by someone else’s negligence.
All confidential or sensitive information you share with our experienced attorneys remains private through an attorney-client relationship.
