Home Depot is a popular hardware store with over 2,300 retail locations across North America.
Unfortunately, slip and fall accidents are common at Home Depot, and can be serious.
If you’ve been injured in a slip or trip and fall accident, the size of your Home Depot injury settlement will depend on multiple factors, including:
- Injury severity
- Liability
- Comparative fault
- Venue
- Strength of legal representation
- Age, occupation and pre-existing conditions
- Medical bills
- Lost wages
- Pain and suffering
If you or a loved one has been injured in a slip and fall accident at Home Depot, our experienced slip and fall lawyers can help you pursue compensation for your injuries.
Reasons to hire us to handle your personal injury case include:
- We have been handling slip and fall accident cases since 1990
- We have recovered over $750,000,000 for our clients
- We help those injured in slip and fall accidents get to doctors who treat them without charging for treatment until their cases are over
- We won’t charge any fee until we win your case
- The only fee we’ll charge you is a percentage of any compensation we recover for you
- We have a proven track record handling cases against stores like Home Depot
- We’re available 24/7 and provide communication that you can rely on, staying by your side each step of the way
Call us today for a FREE consultation at (800) 718-4658 or contact us if you or a loved one was injured in a slip or trip and fall accident at Home Depot.
Table of Contents
- What Is the Average Home Depot Slip and Fall Settlement?
- Factors That Impact Your Home Depot Slip and Fall Payout
- Examples of Home Depot Slip and Fall Settlements
- Common Causes of Slip and Fall Injuries at Home Depot
- Deadline to File a Home Depot Injury Claim
- What To Do After a Home Depot Slip and Fall Accident
- How Our Home Depot Slip and Fall Lawyers Can Help With Your Lawsuit
- FAQs
What Is the Average Home Depot Slip and Fall Settlement?
There is no fixed “average” amount that Home Depot slip and fall cases settle for.
A fair settlement in a case involving minor injuries may range from $5,000 to $20,000.
Achieving fair compensation in a case involving critical injuries, however, may involve recovering $100,000 to $1,000,000 or more.
| Injuries | Approximate Settlement |
| Minor – Bruising, cuts, sprains | $5K – $20K |
| Significant – Fractures, torn ligaments, mild concussion | $20K – $75K |
| Critical – Spinal damage, brain injury, disabling injuries | $100K – $1,000,000+ |
Factors That Impact Your Home Depot Slip and Fall Payout
Factors that impact the payouts in personal injury claims involving injuries sustained at Home Depot include:
- Injury severity: Minor injuries will usually lead to smaller settlements. More severe, life-altering or permanent injuries, including serious injuries which lead to chronic pain or permanent disabilities, usually lead to larger settlements. They can even lead to multi-million dollar settlements.
- Liability: How strong your Home Depot injury case is, including evidence of safety violations, a clear hazard and Home Depot’s negligence, is vital. Hazard photos, surveillance footage, medical records and witness accounts can be key evidence when proving negligence in a slip and fall claim.
- Comparative fault: The size of your settlement in a Home Depot accident claim may be reduced if you’re found to be partially at fault for your accident.
- Venue: The settlement outcome can be influenced by the location where you file your premises liability claim.
- Strength of legal representation: Having lawyers with experience in personal injury law can significantly impact the outcome and negotiation of your case.
- Age, occupation and pre-existing conditions: Your age, occupation and overall health when the accident happened can influence the size of your settlement. Younger people often receive larger settlements because of potential lost earnings.
The value of your claim will depend on the specific damages you incurred. Damages which our law firm can help you recover financial compensation for include:
- Medical costs: We can help you recover compensation for all past and future medical bills related to your injuries. This includes compensation for the costs of surgeries, hospital stays, emergency room visits, medications, treatments, doctor visits, physical therapy, rehabilitation and more.
- Lost wages: If you were hurt too badly to work or had to miss work to attend medical appointments, we can help you recover compensation for the wages you were unable to earn.
- Loss of earning capacity: If your injuries left you disabled, we’ll help you recover compensation for the resulting loss or reduction of your earning capacity.
- Pain and suffering: We’ll help you recover compensation for your physical pain, mental suffering and emotional distress.
Examples of Home Depot Slip and Fall Settlements
Examples of settlements and verdicts involving fall injuries which happened at Home Depot locations include:
$4,500,000 Stepladder Fall Verdict
This case involved a stepladder’s rivets failing while the plaintiff was using the stepladder. The plaintiff ended up falling, suffering severe injuries. This case ended up in court, with the jury finding Home Depot 70 percent liable for the accident.
$600,000 Slip and Fall Injury Settlement
This case involved a plaintiff walking out of a Home Depot when he tripped on a cable which was located on the ground.
$825,000 Shoulder Injury Settlement
This case involved a customer slipping on a wet floor in a Home Depot, suffering a serious shoulder injury which required surgery. The Home Depot had failed to promptly clean the spill or place warning signs. This case ended up settling for $825,000, an amount which reflected the impact on the employment and mobility of the plaintiff.
Common Causes of Slip and Fall Injuries at Home Depot
Common causes of slip and fall accidents in stores like Home Depot include:
- Wet floors: Wet floors can be caused by spilled drinks, recently mopped floors without proper warning signage, or leaking freezer sections.
- Structural problems: Trip and fall accidents can happen because of loose mats, uneven flooring, uneven parking lot surfaces or potholes.
- Debris and clutter: Tripping hazards can be created by items like boxes, pallets, tools or parts left in aisles.
- Staff oversight: While many of the aforementioned issues are preventable, the likelihood of accidents is increased when employees are negligent.
These are also common causes of slip and fall accidents at Costco, Food 4 Less and other stores as well.
Deadline to File a Home Depot Injury Claim
The statute of limitations for slip and fall cases in California is two years from the date of the accident.
Failure to file a lawsuit within two years of the date of your injuries can forever bar you from recovering compensation for your injuries.
There are exceptions to this time limit, though, and some exceptions even shorten the time limit.
It’s important to contact a lawyer as soon as possible if you’ve been injured at a Home Depot so crucial evidence can be preserved, your lawyer has as much time as possible to build a strong case, and to ensure that all legal deadlines can be met.
What To Do After a Home Depot Slip and Fall Accident
- Seek medical attention: You need to prioritize your health. Either call for an ambulance or visit an emergency room to get treated. Your injuries may be more severe than you think. Make sure you tell your healthcare providers that you sustained your injuries in an accident at a Home Depot store. It’s important to have this documented by a medical professional as soon as possible so an insurance company can’t claim something else caused your injuries.
- Report the accident: Tell a store manager or an employee about the accident and ask them to complete an incident report. Ask for a copy of the report.
- Document the scene: Take videos or pictures of the area where the accident happened to capture all hazards, like obstructions, cracked pavement or wet floors.
- Gather evidence: Get the contact information and names of all witnesses who saw you fall. Save any receipts which show you were in the store.
- Preserve your shoes and clothing: The clothing and shoes you wore when you fell can be vital evidence in your slip and fall claim. Save them so legal professionals can potentially inspect them.
- Don’t admit fault: Do not make any statements which minimize your injuries or admit to fault. These statements may be used against you.
- Avoid insurance adjusters: Don’t give statements to or sign documents from Home Depot’s insurance company until after consulting with an attorney.
- Refrain from social media: Don’t post about your accident on social media, as these posts may be used against you.
- Consult with a lawyer: A lawyer can help you to navigate through the legal process as well as deal with Home Depot’s insurer. Contact a personal injury attorney to talk about your case and understand the legal options you have. They can help you to determine how strong your claim is and what compensation you could potentially receive.
How Our Home Depot Slip and Fall Lawyers Can Help With Your Lawsuit
Our experienced premises liability lawyers can help you by:
- Investigating your accident: We will investigate the scene of the accident, identify the dangerous condition, and determine if Home Depot knew or should have known about the condition and failed to act on it.
- Collecting evidence: We will gather vital evidence, including security footage, witness statements, pictures of your injuries and the hazard, and medical records to build a strong case.
- Calculating damages: We’ll assess your losses, including past, present and future medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering.
- Establishing liability: We will work to prove that Home Depot was negligent and at fault for your injuries.
- Negotiating a settlement: We will negotiate with Home Depot’s insurer to make sure you recover fair compensation for your medical expenses, lost wages and other losses.
- Protecting your legal rights: We’ll make sure your legal rights get protected through the whole process, especially if your injuries are severe or if there are complicated issues of comparative negligence.
- Handle the legal process: We’ll manage all of your case’s aspects, including, if necessary, filing a lawsuit and representing you in court in order to fight for the financial compensation you deserve. We’ll explain your options and the legal process, and provide you with peace of mind while you focus on healing from your injuries.
- Meeting deadlines: We’ll make sure your case meets all vital filing deadlines, protecting your legal right to financial compensation.
- Handling communication: We’ll act as a buffer between you and Home Depot’s insurance company, handling all communications and protecting your interests.
FAQs
Does Home Depot Settle Out of Court?
- Settling personal injury claims: Home Depot tends to settle personal injury claims like slip and fall cases outside of court when injury victims are represented by lawyers. This, however, may require negotiation with an insurance company.
- Avoiding uncertainty and trial costs: Settling helps Home Depot avoid significant time, costs and unpredictable outcomes which are associated with trials and appeals.
- Protecting reputation: Home Depot can protect their reputation and mitigate negative publicity by resolving issues through settlements.
Are Slip and Fall Cases Hard to Win?
Slip and fall cases can be difficult to win.
Plaintiffs need to be able to prove that property owners were negligent.
To prove negligence, you need to prove:
- Duty of care: Home Depot had a duty to keep its property safe.
- Breach of duty: Home Depot failed in this duty by letting a hazardous condition exist.
- Causation: This failure directly caused you to fall.
- Damages: You suffered actual losses or injuries as a result.
Challenges for plaintiffs include:
- Proving negligence: You need to prove that Home Depot created a dangerous condition, knew about a dangerous condition and failed to fix or warn about it, or should have been aware of the condition through reasonable inspections.
- “Notice” is key: It can be difficult to prove that Home Depot had enough time to discover a temporary hazard like a spill and fix it.
- Proving causation: Plaintiffs need to establish direct links between hazardous conditions and their injuries, demonstrating that falls would not have occurred without the conditions. Insurance companies often argue that injuries resulted from pre-existing conditions or other things.
- Collecting evidence: It requires quick action to secure critical evidence like surveillance footage, witness statements and incident reports before the evidence disappears.
- Fighting aggressive defenses: Home Depot and their insurance company will often employ tactics which are designed to minimize their liability and shift blame onto you.
Property owners like Home Depot and their insurers will often attempt to:
- Shift blame to you: They may argue you weren’t paying attention, were distracted, were in an unauthorized area, or were careless.
- Deny the hazard: They may claim the condition wasn’t dangerous, or was trivial.
- Claim the hazard was open and obvious: They might argue that the hazardous condition was so obvious that a reasonable person would have noticed and avoided it.
- Claim lack of notice: They may argue they couldn’t fix the hazard because they didn’t know about it and didn’t have a reasonable amount of time to discover it.
- Delay or destroy evidence: Maintenance records or surveillance footage might “disappear.”
- Disputing your injury: They might argue that your injury isn’t as severe as you’re claiming, or is the result of a pre-existing condition. This is especially common regarding soft tissue injuries which are hard to objectively prove.
- Devalue your claim: Insurance companies often try to pay as little as they can by devaluing claims.
What helps you win your case is evidence, like:
- Photos and videos: Document the dangerous condition, the area, as well as any warning signs immediately following the accident.
- Incident report: Get a copy of this from store management or the property owner.
- Witnesses: Get the contact information of anyone who saw the condition or accident.
- Medical records: Keep detailed records of your treatment and injuries.
- Maintenance records: Get records of cleaning or property inspection.
An experienced lawyer can:
- Help you collect vital evidence
- Prove that Home Depot was negligent
- Handle negotiations with insurers and fight for your right to fair compensation
- Protect you against bad faith tactics
What Is the Average Payout for Pain and Suffering?
There isn’t a fixed “average” payout regarding pain and suffering.
Factors that increase payouts for pain and suffering include:
- Injury severity: When the injured party suffers more serious injuries like spinal damage, traumatic brain injuries or broken bones, especially when the injuries require surgery, it can lead to a larger average settlement for pain and suffering.
- Long-term effects: Injuries with permanent or lasting effects, like scarring, disability or chronic pain, significantly increase claim values.
- Medical treatment: Claims are strengthened by extensive medical treatment, like physical therapy, surgeries and hospital stays.
- Impact on daily life: A knowledgeable accident lawyer can increase your compensation by demonstrating how your injuries have affected your ability to enjoy hobbies, perform daily activities or work.
- Evidence: Before/after photos and medical records which detail pain levels can build a strong case.
There are two common ways of calculating pain and suffering damages:
- Multiplier method: Your economic damages (medical expenses, lost wages) are calculated, then multiplied by a factor (usually from 1 to 5) based upon your injury severity.
- Per diem method: A daily dollar amount gets assigned to your pain and suffering. This amount is then multiplied by how many days you will experience said pain and suffering.
Contact Our Home Depot Slip and Fall Attorneys Today
Our experienced slip and fall accident attorneys:
- Have been handling slip and fall cases against stores like Home Depot for over 35 years
- Have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for clients
- Won’t charge you a fee until we recover compensation for you
We can help you recover compensation for your:
- Medical bills
- Lost wages
- Loss of earning capacity
- Pain and suffering
Call us today for a FREE consultation at (800) 718-4658 or contact us if you or a loved one was hurt in a slip or trip and fall accident at Home Depot.
