While millions of people happily eat out at restaurants accident free every year, restaurants are much more dangerous than most people realize. Restaurant accidents send thousands of people to the emergency room and leave others with painful injuries that can take weeks or months to heal.
Find an experienced and tough personal injury lawyer near you that knows how to deal with restaurant accidents. Let us connect you with the help you need.
Facts About Restaurant Accidents
Both customers and employees are at risk for serious injuries in the restaurant setting. While most employees will be covered under some type of worker’s compensation plan, customers are often left to their own deices to try and get compensation for their injuries.
Restaurant accidents are a type of premises liability case. Because they happen on someone else’s property, the negligence of any of the employees or the failure to create a safe environment makes the owners and operators of the restaurant liable for the injuries suffered by their customers.
Almost all restaurant accidents are the result of an unsafe action, and unsafe condition, or a combination of the two. If an employee fails to follow food safety protocols and customers develop food poisoning, the accident is a result if an unsafe action. If a customer trips on a bunched up carpet or mat, the accident is a result of an unsafe condition. If an employee fails to clean up a spill and a customer slips in a crowded aisle way and is hurt, the accident is the result of both the unsafe action of failing to cleanup a spill and the unsafe condition of the narrow aisle way.
Types of Restaurant Accidents
There are many different types of restaurant accidents. Some of the most common types are:
- Food poisoning
- Slip and fall from spilled food or beverage
- Trip and fall over obstruction in aisle way or uneven floor
- Burn from steam or hot food
- Trip over unsafe stairway
- Trip over loose wire
- Lack of warning signs
Except for food poisoning, most restaurant accidents are the result of a problem with the premises themselves, or with the way they are maintained. Many common hazards are made worse by things such as poor lighting or failure to fix leaky plumbing.
If a restaurant does not keep enough space between tables for servers or patrons to easily walk through, people are at risk for tripping and falling. The risk is increased when chairs are not kept pushed in or the overhead lighting is too dim to allow people to properly see the hazards.
Spills are an inevitable part of being in a restaurant. But, when the floors are not regularly monitored or when an employee mops up a spill, but fails to put up a “wet floor” sign, the hazards from a spill increase.
Types of Injuries
Fortunately, most injuries from restaurant accidents are not catastrophic. But, they can still be painful and debilitating. Some of the most common types of injuries include:
- Strained and sprained ligaments
- Twisted knees
- Sprained ankles
- Head injuries
- Sickness as a result of food poisoning
- Burns
- Lacerations
- Fractured bones
- Neck and back injuries
Tripping or falling is the overwhelming cause of injuries in restaurant accidents. Because every fall and every person is different, there is no way to predict what will happen when someone falls.
Food poising incidents are much less common, but often garner more media attention because they are more dramatic and often affect multiple people. Most food poisoning illnesses resolve themselves in 24 to 48 hours. But, some cases are more severe and some people are more susceptible to food borne pathogens. In these cases people may become dehydrated and require life saving measures in a hospital, including antibiotics.
Any injury can also have secondary issues. You may have to miss work because of an injury during a restaurant accident. You may miss out on doing some of your favorite activities, like gardening or running, because your injury is too painful.
Claims Against Restaurants
Restaurants have a duty to keep their customers safe while they are on the premises. This includes the parking lot, the entrance, the bathrooms, and the main part of the restaurant. When the condition of the restaurant premises is unsafe or an employee acts negligently and you are injured as a result of that negligence, you may have a legal right to be compensated for those injuries.
Almost all restaurants carry insurance. It is sometimes called restaurant insurance and sometimes called premises liability insurance. People who are injured in restaurant accidents typically recover money for their injuries, pain and suffering, and any other economic losses from the insurance carrier, not the restaurant itself.
Like all insurance companies, the carriers for restaurants try to pay out as little as possible. Often adjustors will try and blame customers for the accident and claim it was their fault for not paying attention. Another common tactic is to downplay the severity of the injury.
Making a successful injury claim in a restaurant accident is not easy. But, you don’t have to deal with the insurance company by yourself.
Find an experienced and tough personal injury lawyer near you that knows how to deal with restaurant accidents. Let us connect you with the help you need.
