My wife and I are walking through Wal-mart last night in the back when she steps in a puddle of water and slips, twisting her ankle and landing on her knee. I helped her up and she took a few steps and said it hurt but she was okay. I thought nothing of it at shit happens and we've slipped in stores before and it's usually no big deal. Well, I go find the nearest attendant and I say "There's some water in the isle over there by the display, you might want to get someone to clean it up." She looks at me and says "Okay" and continues what she was doing. I looked at her and said "Well, my wife just slipped and fell in it so you might want to do it soon." She, again, looks at me and says "Okay." She did, however, go get some paper towels and wipe it up. She walked right past myself and my wife standing in the isle as it was obvious she was still in pain. Not once did she acknowledge my wife in any way, nor inquire as to whether she was okay and needed any assistance. Well, she tried to walk it off and we walked around the store a bit more. By the time we got to the front, she was even more pissed at the unconcerned attendant that she decided to call one of our friend's to the front who's an Asst. Manager. Well, to try to make it short he came up, we talked for a bit, I told him about the incident and went to the back and showed him where it occurred and he got a an incident report to fill out. We did so and he advised her to go get checked out by a doctor in case it was something serious which we planned on doing anyway. Well, today she goes to the doctor and he tells her to stay off of it for at least a week and she has to go for x-rays tomorrow. He thinks she either has a lot of fluid in her knee or a hairline fracture.

My question is, how far should this be pursued? Like I said, this isn't the first time one of us has fallen in a store due to poor upkeep but we always just shrug it off. The fact that we told an attendant and that attendant had no concern or regard or my wife's well being really struck a bad nerve with both of us. We already talked to a lawyer who currently represents her brother in matters unrelated and he suggested we get a copy of the report from my friend and let him take a look at it.

My question is, WWHD?

Cliffs:
Wife falls in Wal-mart in water in isle, hurting knee and ankle.
Attendant doesn't give a flying fuck
File report with friend who is an Asst Manager
Dr says fluid in knee or hairline fracture and orders x-ray
Lawyer contact says to let him see the report

 

one word SUE!

 

stick it to wally

 

call the store manager and see if you can recover immediate damages.

i dont personally believe in exploiting the situation. if you and your wife aquire any med expenses or lost wages, etc.... see if you can recover those but i would imagine your health insurance and disability pay will cover most of the damages.

other addition..... nothing you can do will affect the attendant at all.... he/she wont lose their job, it wont cost thim anything...

 

let the lawyer handle it.

 

werd :chuckles:

 

Tough one. I'd get a personal injury attorney involved and seek a consultation. Wal Mart has insurance for issues like this and 90% they's try to settle for medicals and a low-ball amount. Unless there's osseous (bony damage) or specific tangible ligament damage, medicals are all you're looking at.

Their defense will be that although the injury occurred in thier store, the burden of negligence would still have to be established.

This definitely wont go that far, but you would have to prove that Wal Mart:
1. knew of the dangerous situation
2. had time to rectify
3. Failed to act in a timely manner.

That being said... this definitely wont go this far. Get medical attention.. document everything. Seek counsel from a personal injury attorney. They'll write a demand letter stating specific damages and pain and injury.. wal-mart is deny. Another letter sent threatening legal action. They'll reply.

Meet and confer. Prove actual damages with invoices and bills. Pain and suffering is usually 2x's medical, but less in the case of "soft tissue" damage.

Make sure the doctors perform the three tests to determine fiberous damage to either the ACL or the PCL. Lachmans, Anterior Drawer and Posterior Drawer.

Get and x-ray and look for any significant joint effusion. (excessive fluid in knee)

Document everything including pain scale and make sure you tell the docs as much as you can.

Now.. This is my official disclaimer. I'm not giving you any specific legal advice.. I am in no way representing you and you should not take anything I've written down as specific legal and correct advice. I'm not authorized to practice law so I therefore am only speculating.

- your homie,

Jay

 

Get the employee fired

Seriously though, I'd try and get them to cover medical costs, but nothing past that. The manager did what he shoulda, and that employee should be trained not to be a fucktard.

 

1. wait till X-rays
2. then come back here for more info.

 

http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/Obje...4/199/255/ART/

take a look at this article to get a better of idea of whether wal-mart can be held liable. hope this helps a bit!