Falling Merchandise

Contact Jed Dietrich, Esq., Recognized as a Best Lawyer of America and New York Super Lawyer, if You Were Injured in an Accident Caused by Falling Merchandise in Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Rochester or Throughout New York State.

All store owners have a legal duty to provide a reasonably safe atmosphere for both patrons and employees. Large retail outlets like Costco, Walmart, Best Buy and Home Depot keep prices low by functioning as both warehouses and consumer shopping venues. Many shoppers have visited stores with merchandise piled up on high shelves, towering many feet above ground level. Although stacking merchandise is generally convenient and economical for stores, it poses a grave danger to unsuspecting shoppers walking below. Merchandise stored on shelves high above the display shelves should be secured to prevent injury to patrons and employees alike. By neglecting to properly secure merchandise, businesses fail to take the necessary precautions to ensure that guests are adequately protected from possible injuries.

Unfortunately, casual trips to the store have gone terribly wrong for thousands of shoppers throughout the United States who were injured or died because they were hit by falling merchandise. Falling merchandise is often the result of important safety procedures being overlooked or bypassed by store employees. When merchandise is not correctly tied down, shrink wrapped or properly situated on a high shelf, it places everyone in grave danger. In cases where store owners failed to fulfil their legal obligations, New York premises liability law offers victims with a viable solution.

If you suffered a back, neck or brain injury caused by being struck by falling merchandise, you owe it to yourself to have an experienced personal injury attorney review your case. The consequences of being struck by falling merchandise can be devastating. Nevertheless, it does not have to be for you when you have the Dietrich Law Firm P.C.’s team of dedicated Buffalo, New York falling merchandise injury attorneys on your side, battling to secure the compensation that you deserve for your losses.

Insurance companies have paid Jed Dietrich, Esq. and his aggressive, tenacious and hardworking team of falling merchandise accident lawyers in Buffalo, New York over $175,000,000.00 in verdicts and settlements to compensate his clients for their serious personal injuries. Call the Dietrich Law Firm P.C., recognized as a Best Law Firm of America, TODAY at 716-839-3939 for a free consultation if you were seriously injured by falling merchandise. We are available 24 hours per day and 7 days per week, and there is never a fee unless we WIN for you!

When thinking about falling merchandise, what might come to mind is an image of a clumsy shopper knocking over a display of paper towels with their shopping cart, or a can of beans falling off the shelf and rolling down the aisle. These scenarios might cause very minor, if any, injuries. However, this changes when the falling merchandise is a large or weighty object such as a 12-pack of pop cans, a dinnerware set, a TV, lumber or pallet of merchandise.

Injuries often arising from incidences of falling merchandise often include:

1. Broken bones and crushing injuries;
2. Neck and back injuries, including herniated discs;
3. Lacerations, abrasions and bruises;
4. Nerve damage;
5. Various spinal cord injuries;
6. Traumatic brain injuries, including concussions;
7. Total paralysis; and
8. Death.

Objects falling from top shelves are likely to hit unsuspecting shoppers in the head, and large objects or overloaded pallets can easily crush shoppers below. Severe injuries not only result from the size and weight of falling merchandise, but also the increased velocity of the falling object—resulting in a more forceful impact. For instance, merchandise weighing only 8 pounds that falls 4 feet would have the equivalent weight of up to 400 pounds of stationary merchandise.

Falling merchandise may result in further injuries if the victim falls to the floor. Additionally, merchandise with sharp edges can lead to more serious wounds. According to research conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), even mild head injuries can result in long-term impairment of a victim’s ability to sense, think, speak or feel emotions.

There are numerous reasons that merchandise may fall onto customers. Comprehensive data regarding the actual numbers of victims who have been hurt by falling merchandise is insufficient. However, newspaper stories regarding falling merchandise place that number into the thousands at Walmart alone. Since 1987, roughly 30,000 injuries involving falling merchandise were reported by Walmart. During the same period of time, around 7,000 Walmart employees were injured by falling objects. Home Depot has confirmed as many as 185 falling merchandise injury claims per week.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors authorized a report with recommendations for increasing the safety of shoppers in large retail outlets. According to the Legislative Analyst Report on Warehouse Safety Standards, shopper safety could be increased by:

1. Enacting standards regarding how high merchandise is allowed to be stacked;
2. Securing all merchandise on both racks and shelves;
3. Inspecting pallets before each use and not using broken or defective pallets;
4. Establishing procedures requiring supervisors to routinely inspect store walkways to support safe aisles;
5. Restricting the stacking of merchandise when shoppers are in the store;
6. Prohibiting hanging any merchandise from ceilings;
7. Periodically inspecting all shelves to make sure merchandise has not shifted positions;
8. Using shelving units that are wide and deep enough to accommodate the merchandise being stowed;
9. Stacking merchandise in a manner that minimizes the risk of it falling;
10. Utilizing stabilization devices on heavy merchandise that is prone to falling;
11. Adequately training all employees on the safe stacking and management of store merchandise; and
12. Commitment from managers to encourage general store safety practices.

Jed Dietrich, Esq. battles for people injured by falling merchandise in Buffalo, New York. Since 1999, Jed Dietrich, Esq. has exclusively handled serious personal injury cases, including many premises liability accident lawsuits. Allow Jed Dietrich, Esq. and his team of falling merchandise accident lawyers in Buffalo, New York to handle your claim and pursue the compensation that you deserve. We will help alleviate some of the stresses that you face during this challenging time so that you can focus on recovering.

In order to recover financial compensation for injuries suffered from being struck with falling merchandise, the victim must prove that they were injured as a result of the negligence of another party. It is a legal duty of store owners to take reasonable efforts to maintain safe conditions for shoppers, including taking precautions to prevent merchandise from falling. As such, store owners should take reasonable care to inspect their shelves and determine if any merchandise is improperly stacked or piled too high. Negligence claims can be filed when an accident occurs resulting from circumstances or conduct that should have been avoidable or preventable. Store owners can be held liable for dangers that caused the falling merchandise because of the actions that they took or failed to take when necessary.

Victims can prove negligence by showing that the owners or their staff should have known about or did know about the dangerous condition and failed to take necessary actions to fix it. Knowledge of the danger could be demonstrated through other incidences of falling goods, employees that were in the vicinity who should have noticed the hazard or evidence that the store’s staff created the hazard.

In addition, victims must prove that the owner’s breach of their duty directly caused their injuries and/or damages. If the store owner is found negligent, you may be able to recover both economic and noneconomic damages. Economic damages are quantifiable costs such as hospital bills, medication expenditures, costs related to surgery, physical therapy, and past and future lost wages. Non-economic damages are more subjective in nature and may include pain and suffering, loss of consortium, physical impairment and disfigurement.

If you, or a loved one, were seriously injured in an accident involving falling merchandise, contact Jed Dietrich, Esq. and his aggressive, tenacious and hardworking team at the Dietrich Law Firm P.C., recognized as a Best Law Firm of America, today at 716-839-3939. We are available 24 hours per day and 7 days per week, and there is never a fee unless we WIN for you. Jed Dietrich, Esq. and his team of highly experienced Buffalo, New York falling merchandise accidents attorneys will battle to obtain the best result for you if you were injured by someone else’s negligence. However, YOU MUST ACT FAST. There are strict time constraints applicable to claims for injuries arising from falling merchandise accidents, so we urge you to call us today to ensure that your rights are protected!

Call the Dietrich Law Firm P.C. immediately at 716-839-3939 so that our aggressive, tenacious and hardworking personal injury lawyers can fight to obtain the best result for your personal injury claim in Buffalo, New York. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and there is never a fee until we WIN for you!