I stepped on a piece of glass in a grocery store and started to bleed quite a bit. I don’t need stitches but am concerned about glass being inside my foot or infection. Their insurance person contacted me the next day and agreed to pay medical bills of $42.
My question is, should I be compensated for lost time from not being able to continue my job search and gas money for traveling back and forth to my doctor’s office? In total I wasted about 4-5 hours with my doctor and traveled 12 miles round trip 3 times to my doctor’s office in my car. Thanks.
Disclaimer: Our response is not formal legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. It is generic legal information based on the very limited information provided. Do not rely upon the information in our response, or anywhere else on this site, when deciding the proper course of a legal matter. Always get a personalized case review from a local attorney.
Answer
Dear Treesa,
Yes. You have the basis of a legitimate claim for reimbursement, especially the cost of your doctor’s visits and any medications you may have had to purchase.
You may though run into a problem trying to be reimbursed for your lost time from not being able to continue a job search. That part of your claim really can’t be readily quantified. It’s an intangible and there really isn’t a viable way to attach a cost to that loss of time.
Your request to be reimbursed for gas money is very reasonable. With the cost of gasoline today such a request is warranted. That amount is readily quantifiable. To arrive at the amount of money you should be entitled to, take the total mileage between your doctor’s visits and multiply that by the the cost of gasoline your car uses per mile.
Contact the store’s management again and request reimbursement for your mileage. Also request a reasonable amount of compensation for your pain and suffering. To arrive at that figure multiple the cost of your gasoline and doctior’s visits by 3 – 4x. If you feel your pain and suffering is worth more you might request an additional amount of $1500.00 dollars and negotiate down from there.
Learn more here: Slip and Falls in Grocery Stores and Supermarkets
The above is general information. Laws change frequently, and across jurisdictions. You should get a personalized case evaluation from a licensed attorney.
Find a local attorney to give you a free case review here, or call 888-972-0892.
We wish you the best with your claim,
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