If a customer of a retail store stumbles over a crate in the parking lot and breaks her leg. Would she be successful in a suit against the company alleging negligence if the crate had fallen off a delivery truck a moment or two sooner?
derius537
How would they be negligent if it had happened just then. If they had left the hazard there and not cleaned it up then I would say yes. Given the fact that they had no time to deal with the hazard then how could this person show negligence?
abigail t
That's hard to say... since it was in the parking lot, not inside the store I would guess no. Or if she did win, I don't think she would win much. I would advise the store to offer her a settlement though. Of course it wasn't the store's fault that a crate fell off the delivery truck. How were they supposed to know? But anyway, just my opinion, but I'm no lawyer!
J P
Probably not. A store has the duty to use reasonable care to prevent foreseeable injury to people on its premises. It's not reasonable to expect a store to have an army of attendants in the parking lot to pick up any object within moments. A good analogy might be the "sweep logs" that stores keep. Normally, a retail store will keep a log of when the aisles are swept. As long as they do this at reasonable intervals, they can usually beat a claim of negligence for a slip and fall, since it's unreasonable to expect a store to have a monitor on each aisle to clean up any spill the moment it happens. The customer may have a claim against the delivery truck company, however.
memere
It is the company's responsibility to make sure the areas where they are unloading are safe. I don't quite understand what you mean when you say, "If the crate had fallen off a delivery truck a moment or two sooner." Did it fall off and hurt someone? Did a customer break a leg or is this just a scenario? Either way, the customer can sue for negligence against the company and maybe the trucking company as well.
Philip S
This is your third question. They sound like law school test questions. The only thing your question is missing is: "what are the rights and liabilities of the parties? Discuss."
armychick_2001
She may win against the store and/or the delivery company.
She would probably prevail against one of them, but not both and her claim would probably be limited by the amount of actual damages.
Res Gestae
The delivery driver has a duty to safely maintain and secure cargo, so if it falls off and someone gets hurt as a result, it is likely that a suit for negligence could be successfully maintained.
Orignal From: Tips: Would she win the lawsuit?
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