NYC Personal Injury Lawyer » Bronx Falling Merchandise Lawyer

Bronx Falling Merchandise Lawyer

Bronx residents run into corner stores for cartons of eggs, walk the aisles of grocery stores for weekly shopping, and may spend a day off shopping at the mall or at a home improvement store. No one expects to suffer a serious injury in a store, especially an injury that seems to come out of nowhere, like being hit by a falling object. Unfortunately, falling merchandise in Bronx stores is a significant danger.

While nothing can take back an injury, you may have the right to recover compensation for your damages. A Bronx premises liability attorney can evaluate your case during a free consultation.

Reach out to the firm at (212)-564-2800.

How Do Falling Merchandise Accidents Happen In Bronx Stores?

Stores sometimes have towering piles of boxes or merchandise stacked high overhead on unstable shelves. This is especially common in the Bronx, where stores often have limited floor space due to the high cost of property square footage. Falling objects sometimes occurs due to the following:

• Stacking boxes or other merchandise overly high
• Poorly securing shelves to walls, or using poorly maintained shelving
• Overloading shelves
• Using vibrating machinery near store shelves
• Failing to place signs warning customers to ask for employee assistance to reach high items
• Negligent restocking
• Failing to inspect shelves for damage, weakness, or weight-bearing restriction
• Failing to properly train or monitor employees who restock products
• Missing restraints on heavy objects placed on high shelves
• Improperly securing mirrors in restrooms, store showrooms, and dressing rooms

Store owners and managers invite customers to their property for business purposes. This means store owners have an enhanced duty of care to the “invitees” and others who legally enter their property.

Understanding Violation of Duty of Care In Bronx Falling Merchandise Cases

In addition to performing routine maintenance, regular inspections, and prompt repairs, a store owner’s enhanced duty of care requires them to ensure merchandise is secure on store shelves, especially heavy items that could cause harm if they fall on a customer or employee. Proving a store owner or manager’s liability for a falling merchandise injury requires evidence showing the following:

• The store owner owed a duty of care to the injury victim because they were legally present on the property
• They breached their duty of care through negligence
• The breach of duty caused the injury, and
• The injury victim experienced economic and non-economic damages from the injury

In addition, the claimant must have evidence that the store owner was aware of the hazard or should reasonably have been aware of the danger of the highly stacked merchandise or dangerous shelf conditions, and yet they failed to address the problem in a timely manner.

What Types of Injuries Are Caused by Falling Merchandise in the Bronx?

When a store overly stacks its goods, or places heavy objects high overhead on unstable shelves, the results can be serious or even catastrophic. Common injuries reported in Bronx falling merchandise claims include the following:

• Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) ranging from concussions to severe hematomas or skull fractures
• Neck injuries
• Back injuries
• External head or facial injuries
• Soft-tissue injuries like sprains and torn ligaments
• Dental trauma
• Eye injuries
• Broken bones
• Lacerations, contusions, and abrasions
• Spinal cord injuries
• Crush injuries

Damages in falling merchandise cases range from a single emergency room bill and a few days of lost pay to lifelong disability costs, depending on the circumstances.

How Can a Bronx Falling Merchandise Lawyer Help Me?

If you were injured or a loved one suffered a wrongful death from falling store merchandise, you deserve financial accountability to recover damages like past and future medical expenses, total income loss, and compensation for catastrophic injuries like scarring or disability.

Reach out to The Law Offices of Jay S. Knispel at (212)-564-2800 to learn more about your legal rights.