How Restaurants are Liable when Customers Slip and Fall in their Premises?
Restaurants are wholly responsible for the safety of their customers. The upkeep of the establishment, everything from the quality of the food and beverages being served to ensuring there are no hazardous materials in the premises that can cause any health problem is the sole responsibility of the restaurant owner. In some cases, the manager or the chef of the restaurant may also be held responsible. The restaurant is not only responsible for the well-being and safety of the customers but also its own employees and vendors or suppliers when they are on the premises.
Should a customer slip and fall anywhere within the premises of a restaurant, there is a possibility of the establishment or the owner being held liable, according to Santa Cruz Injury Attorney. This is not a generic rule though as the exact cause of slip and fall will be ascertained. A customer can always lose balance or suffer from some physiological problem that has nothing to do with the restaurant management or its premises. A customer accessing the washroom may trip or slip in haste, which would not always be the fault of the restaurant. There is no legal culpability or liability in any instance where the restaurant has played no role in the slip and fall and has not caused the accident or contributed to it in any way. In scenarios where the restaurant has failed to attend to the upkeep of the place or where any of the staff has contributed to a slip and fall accident, there is potential legal and financial liability.
A restaurant may have wet and slippery floors, either during cleaning or because someone has spilled some liquid. There should be proper notification warning the customers of such wet floors or possible slipperiness. In the absence of any warning, a customer can sue the restaurant if one slips and falls. A restaurant may have uneven tiles, broken staircase or unstable railings. Any such anomaly causing a slip and fall will potentially have the restaurant accountable. However, the type and extent of liability will depend almost entirely on the nature of suffering and damages that a customer has had to endure.
In most cases, restaurants will be potentially be liable for the medical bills of a customer who has suffered an injury at their premises. This applies to employees as well. Any employee injured at the workplace for no fault of theirs can demand adequate or fair compensation from the employer. If the employer refuses to provide such compensation, then the employee can always take legal action. Similarly, customers too can take legal action against a restaurant should it refuse to pay for the medical expenses.
Some cases will demand compensations greater than the immediate medical expenses, according to San Diego Personal Injury Lawyers. Customers may suffer from serious conditions, there can be life altering injuries and one may be incapable of working for a while or perhaps forever in rarest of rare cases. Restaurants can be sued to pay for damages in such instances, as deemed fit after a fair assessment of the financial equivalent of the suffering endured by the customer.