If a Store has a “Wet Floor” Sign, Do I have a Personal Injury Case?

Let’s say you’re doing your normal weekly grocery shopping, walking down the aisles with your eyes on the shelves, when the worst happens: You step into a slippery puddle, lose your balance, and before you know it, you’re flat on your back having injured something hitting the ground. Your thoughts instantly become “what did I hurt? Did I break something? That’s not supposed to hurt like that. Can I get back up?”

Once you’re able to get back up, you notice that there is a “wet floor” sign sitting 10 feet away. “Fat load of good it did me,” you think to yourself.

In a situation like that, do you have a legal case for personal injury?

Personal injury and negligence

In personal injury cases, you generally have to be able to prove that there was either intent to harm you, or the injury was as a result of someone’s negligence. This can be a hard thing to do given that the storeowner putting the “wet floor” sign out can be seen as a good-faith effort to warn people of danger.

There are a few situations where you could argue that the sign did not do its job, though. Some of these could be:

• How far away from the puddle was the sign? Could someone with poor eyesight read it easily?
• Was the sign facing where you slipped, or was it turned sideways so you couldn’t read what it said?
• Was the lettering on the sign still in pristine condition, or had it been worn away over the years?

It is certainly not the easiest thing to prove a storeowner’s negligence when they placed a warning sign out for patrons, but there are without a doubt circumstances where a single sign was not enough warning, and unsuspecting shoppers could be injured.

If you have suffered a slip-and-fall injury and believe that you were not properly warned, don’t hesitate to get in touch with an attorney right away. You could have legal options.

Photo courtesy of Pinsdaddy by Dallas Slip & Amp Fall Accident Lawyer Rasansky Law Firm .