Commercial and Corporation Law Liability

Question: Discuss about the Commercial and Corporation Law Liability. Answer: Introduction Following the legal doctrine of premises liability, business establishments get obliged to keep their buildings safe from defects, as well as dangerous conditions that could lead to injuries (Steingold, 2015). It is called a legal duty of care meaning the commercial establishments must do everything reasonably possible to ensure their environments are free of hazards (Pagura, 2016, p.165). For example, the management must include wet floor signs as a cautionary warning on or around slippery and wet areas, failure to which they represent a breach of the duty of care considered as negligence (Velasco, 2015, p.652). This paper, therefore, is advice to Tamara following the damages caused to her at Aldi Supermarket upon slipping on a melted ice cream in the store. The Duty of Care Tamara should first know that slipping and falling is not a matter that someone should use to joke around. Business stores usually use linoleum or hard tiles for their floors because they are easy to maintain, durable, have a long life, and the damaged sections can get replaced fast (Pagura, 2016, p.164). Unfortunately, these hard surfaces have even more challenging ones directly below them and a slip or a fall on them may cause serious injuries. Therefore, Tamara should know that due to the damages caused to her at Aldi Supermarket breaking her back and the hospital billing she is entitled to compensation. She gets legally protected by the duty of care against undue harm, which considers negligence a violation of the storeowner's duty of care. Tamara can claim the store owner to be negligent, but proving that he is indeed negligent is a different thing (Zipursky, 2015, p.2144). Despite the fact that the law calls for a legal duty of care, an injured client, just like Tamara must be able to prove that the owner of the store failed in his duty. According to the law, this proof gets known as a customers legal burden of fevidence. Thus, Tamara must prove that the storeowners carelessness was a direct and proximate cause of her injuries. However, she should also know that the duty of care rule also has an exception. The manager or the employees must have a reasonable duration of time to ascertain the problem on the floor. If they fail to get a chance to realize the problem and place a warning sign, then they may not be considered negligent. Thus, they are not liable for any injuries. Analysis According to Tamaras case, Aldi Supermarket can prove that a staff member inspects the supermarket aisles and cleans up any messes and spillages after every 40 minutes. Then it is precise that Tamara slipped and fell between the 40-minute intervals. She could have dropped a few minutes just before the cleaner comes in to inspect the aisle. In this case, therefore, Tamara should understand that Aldi Supermarket is not liable for her damages because it was not reasonable to discover the melted ice cream and place a caution within a few minutes. However, if orty minutes the employees or the manager realized the mess on the aisle and did not clear it up within 40 minutes, then the stores becomes liable for the injuries. Aside from that, immediately after the damage, Tamara should have gathered enough evidence which could help build her injury claim (Calisi, 2016). If she gets credible evidence, the better her chances of having a substantial injury settlement unlike if she has no proof. Examples of the types of evidence Tamara should have for her to have a strong claim are the incident reports, paramedics and hospital records, photographs and videos of the accident, and witness statements (Penny, 2013, p.30). If Tamara can get an incident report detailing the circumstances of her injury, then she can provide evidence to prove the stores negligence (Tort Law, 2016). Other than that, the fact that Tamara has undergone medication for several months costing her over $700,000, she can also prove using her medical records that she seriously got hurt. However, if she has to file a case against Aldi Store, then she must do it right away, because the longer time she takes, to report the injury, the greater ch ances the insurers will refuse to pay for the damages and say You didnt appear injured at the time of your fall. Something else might have hurt you after you left the store (Calisi, 2016, par.17). Additionally, photographs and videos can provide evidence of the cause of the accident and further prove the companys negligence. Lastly, during the incident, of course, some people came to her aid. These people are necessary in filing a case against the retail store. They act as witnesses and providing their contacts and names would be of much help to win the case against Aldi Supermarket. Providing these evidence would help Tamara strengthen her claim (Calisi, 2016). Otherwise, Aldi Supermarket will win the case and not pay for any losses incurred. Thus, if Tamara cannot provide the pieces of evidence, then there is no point filing a case against Aldi because the store owner already has his defenses to prove he is not negligent. Worst of all, she wants to present a case for a long time which is not acceptable. Her injuries or damages may get blamed to some other reasons other than slipping at the store (Calisi, 2016). Conclusion Therefore, to sum up, following the analysis of the duty of care and Tamaras issue, it is evident that an injured person has a right to receive compensation to recover from the injuries caused if the court decides that the defendant is liable for the damages incurred. In this case, the plaintiff has to prove that the accused acted negligently by demonstrating his or her injuries, and showing that they occurred due to the defendants negligence. However, the plaintiff must have it in mind that the duty of care has some exceptions which may make the defendant not liable for the losses caused. Thus, if Tamara chooses to continue with the case, she must have enough proofs, but also remember that Aldi Supermarket has a high chance of avoiding liability. Reference List Calisi, A. (2016). Injuries Due to No Wet Floor Signs. [online] InjuryClaimCoach.com. Available at: https://www.injuryclaimcoach.com/wet-floor-sign.html [Accessed 30 Dec. 2016]. Calisi, A. (2016). Supermarket Accident Claims, Injury Compensation. [online] InjuryClaimCoach.com. Available at: https://www.injuryclaimcoach.com/supermarket-accident.html [Accessed 30 Dec. 2016]. Pagura, I 2016, 'Work Health and Safety: Risk Management,' Journal of The Australian Traditional-Medicine Society, 22, 3, pp. 164-166. Penny, J 2013, 'How to Avoid Slip, Trip, and Fall Claims,' Buildings, 107, 12, pp. 28-32 Steingold, FS 2015, Legal Guide For Starting Running A Small Business, Berkeley, California: NOLO, eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost, viewed 30 December 2016. Tort.laws.com. (2016). Tort Law - Tort | Laws.com. [online] Available at: https://tort.laws.com/tort-law [Accessed 30 Dec. 2016]. Velasco, J 2015, 'A Defense of the Corporate Law Duty of Care,' Journal of Corporation Law, 40, 3, pp. 647-703. Zipursky, BC 2015, 'Reasonableness In And Out Of Negligence Law,' University Of Pennsylvania Law Review, 163, 7, pp. 2131-2170.