You may not think of a gas station as a place where you have to watch out for your safety, but take a fall at someplace like Valero and you’ll quickly change your mind. A slip-and-fall or a trip-and-fall on that hard pavement or inside on the tile can land you in the hospital. In short order, you can run through your savings trying to pay for the medical care you need.
At Louisville’s Kaufman & Stigger Injury Lawyers PLLC, we want to be there for victims after a painful accident starting on day one. Insurance companies working for gas station owners will immediately try to blame you for your fall. We won’t let them get away with that. You weren’t at fault for your accident and you shouldn’t have to go into bankruptcy paying for a store owner’s mistake. When you are seriously injured on someone else’s property anywhere in Kentucky, contact our offices for a free consultation on your case.
Valero Gas Station Injuries in Louisville
The bright blue and yellow lines of a Valero gas station are hard to miss when you’re driving the city. There are 20 or more locations around Louisville. These stores offer fast-food, drinks, bathroom facilities, and even some first-aid supplies. The hope for proprietors is that you’ll stop for gas and buy a lot more when you walk inside.
Luckily, those owners are also responsible for your safety. As part of a “duty of care” legal requirement, property owners are mandated to provide visitors a reasonably safe journey into and out of their stores.
This means their employees must clean up food and drink spills by the refreshment bar reasonably quickly. Water on the bathroom floor must be mopped up. Spilled fruit candies must be swept up. That care should extend outside too when snow and ice should be cleared from the parking lot. Potholes shouldn’t be left as tripping hazards for months.
If an owner is negligent in cleaning up or repairing these hazards and you absorb a painful impact in a fall, they can be held liable for every cost of recovery you may need.
What to Do After a Slip And Fall Accident at a Gas Station
Valero Energy is a Fortune 500 company that sells gas and energy across the nation. If you are injured in one of their stores you probably won’t be facing a local mom and pop outfit. Valero has its own lawyers and insurance agents ready to deny any claim you may make over your pain and suffering.
For this reason, it’s important to start collecting evidence immediately after your injury. If you are physically able you need to begin proving you weren’t at fault:
- See to your injury – If you need a paramedic call 911. Don’t try to stand if you feel you can’t. If you can’t move, see if someone else will help you collect evidence.
- Use your cellphone to get photos – Document the hazard that caused your fall. Everything will surely be cleaned up and repaired once you leave. Note any warning signs or the lack of signs.
- Alert a store representative — You will need to alert the owner or the shift manager about what happened. They will have to file an incident report. You or your attorney will need to get a copy of this report at some point. Also, don’t tell them you are okay or you aren’t hurt. You may have suffered injuries that won’t appear until days after the incident.
- Get contact information from any witnesses — This may include helpful employees.
- Keep evidence – The shoes you were wearing when you fell. Try not to wear them again until your injury claim is resolved.
- See your doctor – Make an appointment with your medical care provider. Get all pain and injuries detailed on a medical report.
File Your Slip-And-Fall Claim ASAP
Kentucky allows victims of a slip-and-fall or trip-and-fall injury just a single year to file a civil lawsuit against those responsible. When dealing with a large corporation, filing as soon as you can be especially important. They can take their time going over a claim and responding.
The sooner you file the sooner you can hope to expect help with your hospital bills and get reimbursed for the wages you’ve lost while being absent from work. You can get compensation to help with your normal monthly expenses like paying a mortgage and car payments and caring for your children. Even mental anguish caused by a change in lifestyle due to a disability caused by the accident can be factored into an award for damages.
Contact a Kentucky Slip-And-Fall Attorney
When you are injured as a result of the negligence of a business owner, it’s important not to let insurance companies take advantage of you while you are vulnerable. Allow a local attorney to protect your right to be able to heal without worrying about paying for the consequences of an accident that wasn’t your fault.
Talk to a Louisville Slip-And-Fall Attorney you can trust to be on your side and fight for your fair compensation. The attorneys at Kaufman & Stigger, PLLC, have that knowledge and a combined 100 years’ experience in helping clients get the compensation they’ll need to make a full recovery. To discuss your case, contact Kaufman & Stigger, PLLC today, by clicking here to contact them online.
