Dallas Shopping Mall Accident Attorney
Seventy-five percent of all Americans visit shopping malls at least once a month, where they spend trillions of dollars per year. Fact: Each year, Americans spend between $5 trillion and $7 trillion.
Many of you might think, “Well, we bring shopping malls stratospheric amounts of money in revenue, so they must be caring a lot about our safety!” Wrong. Unfortunately, whether you visit shopping malls to purchase new stuff or simply walk around and look at all kinds of expensive things displayed there, you are at an equal risk of suffering an injury.
Each year, thousands of Americans get injured in shopping mall accidents in Dallas, Texas, and all across the United States. Even though shoppers bring so much revenue to these multi-billion corporations, they still fail to keep us safe on their property.
Our Dallas shopping mall accident attorney at Law Office of Dorothy Hyde says that in the vast majority of such accidents, the owner of the mall or businesses that rent a space in the mall can be held responsible for injuries and harm caused to shoppers. Unfortunately, not many of these victims realize that they have a legitimate claim and are entitled to seek compensation for their injury in a shopping mall.
Determining liability in a shopping mall accident
If you have been injured at a shopping mall, the first thing you need to do after seeking medical attention and documenting your injury (one of the most important step in the process of recovering damages!) is determining the liable party.
Our experienced shopping center accident attorney in Dallas explains that you may be able to file a premises liability claim against either the shopping mall itself (if the accident occurred in a common area) or one of the businesses that rents a space in that mall, or both.
As you may have guessed, you may be able to seek compensation from the individual business renting a space in the shopping mall if you got injured within the premises of the space that is being rented by that retail store or other type of business. Thus, when determining liability much depends on the exact spot where you sustained an injury.
Under Texas premises liability law, each business has a legal duty to keep its premises clean, safe, sanitary, and free of any hazardous conditions. This applies to both the shopping mall itself and individual businesses renting spaces in that mall. The shopping center has a duty to maintain all common areas in a safe condition. These common areas include but are not limited to walkways between rented spaces, parking lots, elevators, and escalators.
Seeking compensation for a shopping mall injury
Types of accidents at shopping malls range from slip and fall accidents, parking lot accidents, and elevator/escalator accidents to falling debris or merchandise, trampling, assaults and battery, sexual assaults, and robberies. Yes, many things can go wrong at a shopping mall no matter how harmless those malls may seem.
Although you may have heard that shopping malls are closing all across the country due to the ever-increasing popularity of e-Commerce, it does not change the fact that these shopping centers still carry insurance coverage, and insurers of shopping centers should pay for any injuries and damages caused to shoppers in shopping mall accidents.
Our Dallas shopping mall accident lawyer at Law Office of Dorothy Hyde says that you may be able to file a lawsuit against multiple parties, depending on the circumstances of your case. Generally, you may be able to recover damages from any or several of the following parties:
- The owner of the shopping mall or management company
- A business or retail store renting a space at the mall
- Manufacturer or maintenance company of defective escalators, elevators, or other machinery and equipment that caused your injury and
- Other customers or visitor
As long as you have a skilled premises liability lawyer by your side to prove negligence on the part of the shopping mall or individual retail store or any other liable party, you will be able to get compensated for your medical expenses, loss of income, pain and suffering, and other damages. Consult with our lawyers at Law Office of Dorothy Hyde to speak about your case. Schedule a free consultation by calling at (214) 883-1700.