Super Warehouse Stores

Personal Injury Claims Overview

Convenience and discount pricing have made super warehouse stores and discount mega stores an ever growing popular way to shop. What most customers don't know is that what they save in time and money is often lost in safety. These stores can offer lower prices than the mom and pop operations they have run out of business, because they cut corners on safety, buy and resell substandard imported goods, hire inexperienced workers at low wages and then fail to provide proper training, and often cheat their employees out of hours and overtime pay.

The result is a plethora of hidden dangers ending in serious personal injuries and sometimes death. The small businesses which they have replaced were typically owned and operated by people who were a part of the community in which they operated community. They depended on their reputations to gain and keep customers and felt a genuine responsibility to provide a safe environment. They did not have teams of corporate attorneys to protect them from injured shoppers and mistreated employees.

Today's super stores, such as Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Lowes, Home Depot, Kmart, and Toys 'R Us have become cesspools of injury and deceptive practices, virtually insulated from the individuals they harm each day, but as public awareness rises, the tide is turning, and many shoppers are refusing to do business with these companies until they change their ways.

Falling Merchandise

Falling merchandise can injure and even kill unsuspecting shoppers. The signature look of a warehouse store typically includes stock piled sky-high on shelves well above customers' heads. The problem is that this merchandise is often poorly stacked and inadequately secured. Thousands of people have been injured by falling merchandise, often seriously injured and even permanently disabled. Some have been killed. Wal-Mart alone faced 17,000 falling merchandise claims between 1989 and 1994. Wal-Mart isn't alone in this negligence. At Home Depots, three people were killed by falling merchandise in 1999 and 2000. Also at Home Depot, world famous astronaut Jean-Loup Chretien was injured so severely that he had to retire, giving up his dream of being the first person in history to travel to three space stations. He had already traveled to two. Chretien was hit by a box which contained a drill press weighing 68 pounds. He suffered injuries to his head, neck, and shoulders. Forklift accidents lend to these types of injuries significantly.

Negligent Security

Retailers and other business owners have a duty to protect customers from assaults and attacks on their premises. This includes inside of store and in parking lots. Today's super store security is referred to as "loss prevention" and security guards are now called loss prevention associates. Loss prevention is not aimed at providing security for customer protection, but at protecting the store from customer and employee theft. While confrontations have been so heavy handed as to cause the deaths of suspected, non-violent shoplifters, abductions, assaults, and murders of shoppers and workers continue. Although many stores already have the mechanisms in place, surveillance cameras and security guards, they do not utilize them for customer safety. The duty to provide adequate security falls under premises liability law.

Parking Lot Accidents

To laymen, parking lots may seem like nothing more than a large patch of asphalt, but in reality design, maintenance, proper warning signs, lighting, and control of traffic flow are important aspects of creating and keeping a safe parking lot. Even at the relatively low speeds of most vehicles in parking lots, when a car strikes a pedestrian the injuries can be severe or deadly, often including brain injuries, broken bones, fractures, and soft tissue injuries. Under premises liability law, stores have duty to protect shoppers from parking lots accidents. Customers are often struck by vehicles as they exit the store when there are no warning signs or crosswalk for traffic control.

Defective Products

One reason that many of the super discount stores can deliver such low prices is that they buy substandard imported goods. Products which are often harmful include contaminated food, toxic and defective toys, faulty electronics, and flammable clothing. Goods that are produced in other countries are not subject to the same laws and regulations as products made in the United States. Many countries, China in particular, allow harmful chemical to be included in food and other items, which are not legal here. Only a tiny percentage of imports are inspected as they come into the U.S., as we are learning from the recent pet food contamination and now thousands of other tainted products from China. Super stores know that they purchase products from questionable suppliers, but they do not implement strategies to prevent defective products from getting into the hands of customers. Worse, Wal-Mart actively fights against legislation which would help protect consumers.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a warehouse store or super discount store, you may be entitled to compensation under premises liability law. If you or a loved one has been injured or become ill due to defective products purchased from a warehouse store or super discount store, you may be entitled to compensation under product liability law. If you have lost a loved one due to their injuries, you case would also fall under wrongful death. If you believe that you have been injured due to negligence or wrongdoing of one of these stores, contact an experienced personal injury attorney today.