Can You Sue a Shopping Mall for a Slip and Fall Injury?

More than one party may be liable for a slip and fall accident at a shopping mall. See who should pay your personal injury claim.

Most shopping centers are owned by corporations that profit by leasing spaces to individual stores, from pretzel shops, jewelry stores, and clothing retailers, to huge chain department stores.

The individual stores are responsible for keeping their business area clean and safe for customers.

Corporate property owners are responsible for the common areas like parking lots, walkways, restrooms, elevators, and escalators. Owners of shopping centers are obligated to ensure the safety of visitors from the moment they enter the parking lot.

If you’re injured by the negligence of a shopping center’s management, you can pursue compensation for your injuries. Malls must carry premises liability insurance to cover injuries to visitors.

Liability for Shopping Mall Accidents

If you’re injured in a shopping mall, you may have more than one personal injury claim. For example, one against the shopping mall, and the other against the retail store where you were injured.

Depending on the circumstances, you may have injury claims against:

  1. Mall owner or management company, if you’re hurt in a common area
  2. Retail store owner or management company, if you’re injured in a store
  3. Manufacturer of defective equipment, like an escalator company
  4. Private individuals

If you were injured inside one of the retail stores, you’ll deal with the store’s management first. Your secondary claim is against the shopping mall.

On the other hand, if your injury occurred in the common area of the mall, your claim is primarily against the shopping mall. Common areas of the shopping mall include the areas outside of retail stores, parking lots, walkways, the food court, public restrooms, elevators, and escalators.

Proving Fault for Your Injuries

State and federal laws require owners of shopping centers to protect visitors on their property from undue harm. Mall owners are ultimately responsible, or liable, for customer safety, meaning mall owners have a legal duty to protect their visitors from injury.

This doesn’t mean mall owners are liable for every injury to visitors. It means they have a duty to protect visitors from accidents that are foreseeable.

If an escalator jerks to a stop, making you fall down the mechanical steps and break an arm, the shopping mall is probably liable.

The mall’s insurance company may argue that the owner could not have foreseen the escalator’s untimely stop. However, maintaining the escalators to keep them running safely is the mall owner’s responsibility.

Serious injury claims caused by mechanical equipment like escalators can be complicated. Contact a personal injury attorney for these types of cases.

Understanding Negligence and Liability

Escalator breakdowns are foreseeable events. It’s up to shopping mall owners to make sure they don’t happen. Failing to have escalators regularly inspected and maintained is negligence. When negligence leads to injuries, the owners are always liable.

On the other hand, if another customer dropped shopping bags on the floor directly in front of you and you tripped over them, breaking your arm, the shopping center would probably not be liable. You would seek injury compensation from the careless individual.

You don’t have to be a paying customer to be covered under the shopping mall’s duty of care. If you’re at the mall to window shop, meet friends, or for any other legitimate reason, you’re a visitor who has a right to the mall owner’s protection from undue harm.

To prove the shopping center was liable for your injuries, you need to show:

  1. A dangerous condition existed on the property.
  2. Mall management knew or should have known of the dangerous condition.
  3. Mall management failed to remove or repair the dangerous condition.
  4. The dangerous condition was the direct cause of your injuries.
  5. You did nothing to cause your injuries.
  6. You have documented injuries and related expenses.

You’ll be able to prove the shopping center’s negligence and liability by collecting evidence to support your claim.

Injury Claims Need Good Evidence

When you’ve been injured at a shopping center, it’s up to you to prove your claim. Your successful injury claim begins and ends with evidence. Without credible evidence, your claim will likely fail.

Although the law requires shopping centers to provide a safe environment for visitors, that doesn’t mean mall owners are automatically on the hook when a visitor is injured. You have to prove they were negligent. From the moment you’re injured, it’s important to know what to do.

1. Ask for Security Personnel

If you’re injured in the common area of a shopping center, look for security personnel. You may have to go to the nearest store and ask an employee to call for you.

When security arrives, take them to the accident scene and show them what caused your injury. They’ll make a detailed incident report. Get the name of the security person or mall manager who filled out the report.

2. Get Prompt Medical Treatment

If your injuries are serious, ask security to call 911. Most security guards have first-aid kits and will tend to your wounds until help arrives. Never refuse or delay medical attention after an accident.

If you aren’t taken directly to a hospital from the accident scene, see your doctor or go to an urgent care center. Tell your medical care providers when, where, and how you were injured. Your medical records will be important evidence for your claim.

3. Take Photographs and Videos

While waiting for security, take out your cell phone and photograph the accident scene. Take as many pictures as you can, from different angles. If you slipped on spilled food or liquid, be sure to get pictures of the slippery floor and the surrounding area to show it wasn’t cordoned off or marked with “wet floor” cones.

You can bet management will hurry to get rid of the problem once you’ve reported an injury, so don’t wait to take your pictures.

4. Speak to Witnesses

Witnesses are always important. While family and friends make good witnesses, independent witnesses are even better. They don’t have an emotional or financial interest in the outcome of your insurance claim. Ask any potential witnesses for their name, address, phone number, and email. If they agree to let you take a video, record their witness statement.

5. Look for Security Cameras

You can be sure there are plenty of surveillance cameras in the indoor and outdoor common areas. You may not see them, but they probably recorded your injury.

Tell the security guards you would like copies of the camera footage taken around the time of your injury. They likely won’t give them to you, but it puts them on notice to preserve the film. Your attorney can issue a subpoena to mall management to get copies of the film, incident report, and any other records about your injury.

6. Get Proof of Your Damages

Request copies of all medical bills and records related to your injuries, including ambulance records. Save receipts from medications and other out-of-pocket expenses.

Ask your employer for a written statement of your lost wages, and lost opportunities for overtime.

Write down exactly what happened on the day of your injuries. Keep detailed notes about your medical care, pain levels, emotional distress, and how the injuries have affected your activities of daily living. Good notes will help support your compensation demand for pain and suffering.

When Attorneys Can Boost Compensation

You generally won’t need an attorney for soft tissue injuries like bumps, bruises, sprains, or other minor injuries. If you’ve fully recovered, you can probably successfully negotiate your settlement without hiring an attorney. You have the right to seek legal advice at any point during the settlement process.

Calculate your compensation amount by totaling the cost of your medical bills, out-of-pocket medical expenses, and lost wages. Add one or two times that amount for pain and suffering.

Send a written demand letter along with copies of all your bills, wage statements, and other evidence.

For severe injuries or complicated claims against multiple at-fault parties, you’ll need a skilled personal injury attorney to get a fair settlement. Insurance companies are well known for offering lower settlements to claimants who are not represented by a personal injury lawyer.

Most law firms offer a free consultation for injury victims. Injury attorneys typically represent clients on a contingency fee basis, meaning they don’t get paid unless they settle your slip and fall claim or win your lawsuit at trial.

Shopping Mall Accident Questions