If a Florida Petsmart’s or Petco’s negligence caused your injury, you may have a case to recover your damages. The same is true if another pet store caused your injury.
Petsmart has about 85 stores in Florida. Petco has 59 stores. With many animals and people inside these stores, “accidents” are bound to happen.
I talk about Petsmart throughout this article. You can substitute Petco or another pet store for Petsmart for much of the article.
Do I Have an Injury Case Against a Florida Petsmart?
Whether you have a personal injury case against a Florida Petsmart will depend on over 74 factors.
Many questions need to be answered in order to determine whether Petsmart will pay you for medical bills, lost wages, pain, suffering and mental anguish.
Factors that are Unique to Florida Petsmart Cases
Petsmart is worth $8.25 Billion dollars so they have plenty of money to pay for any Florida personal injury claim. Dogs may urinate or “go the bathroom” on the sales floor. Therefore, Petsmart should be inspecting the aisles very frequently.
A customer may slip on urine or feces (“dog poop”) at Petsmart or Petco. The person who is hurt must prove that Petsmart or Petco knew or should have known that it was on the floor before he or she slipped and fell.
If you claim that the dog poop was soft, Petsmart may argue that it has not been there that long before your fall.
If you claim that the poop was hard, Petsmart may argue that it was hard and not slippery. The injured person should not agree with these arguments.
Petsmart sells fish. Employees scoop the fish and place them in a bag. The bags are given to customers. During this process, water may spill on the floor. This may lead to a Florida slip and fall accident.
The employee may have caused the water to get on the floor. If so, Petsmart may be on the hook to pay your damages.
Some Florida Petsmart stores have animal clinics, which are operated by Banfield Pet Hospitals. Banfield’s or Petsmart’s carelessness could cause you to slip and fall near the pet hospital in the store. Banfield and Petsmart may place blame on each other. A personal injury claim should be made against both.
You should send a notice of claim to the local Petsmart store where you were injured. You should also send a letter to their headquarters.
The main office contact info is:
19601 N 27TH AVE
PHOENIX, AZ 85027-4008
623-580-6100 (Phone)
302-655-5049 (Fax)
What Types of Injuries Can You Suffer at a Florida Petsmart?
There are many types of injuries that you may suffer inside a Petsmart store. Below are just a few of them.
Injuries that you may suffer from a slip and fall, or other accident, in a Florida Petsmart include:
- Bulging Disc
- Neck Injury
- Hip Fracture
- Broken Ankle
- Femur (thigh bone) fracture or quadriceps tear
- Fracture foot (calcaneus)
- Broken toe
- Broken humerus (upper arm bone)
- many other injuries
Who Pays Your Medical Bills if a Petsmart Truck Driver’s Carelessness Caused Your Injury in Florida?
Find out who pays your medical bills if a Petsmart driver’s negligence caused your injury in a Florida car or truck accident. Petsmart most likely has a self insured retention (SIR) in their business liability insurance.
If a Petsmart’s driver’s negligence caused your injury, you can argue that the Petsmart truck is an uninsured vehicle under Florida law.
You can immediately make a claim against any uninsured motorist coverage to which you are an insured. You can also make a personal injury claim against Petsmart.
Florida Injury Claims with Petsmart
Generally speaking, the injured person should try to settle their Florida injury claim with Petsmart before suing. This saves time, stress and expense. Sometimes a fair settlement cannot be reached.
The injured person would sue in a Florida circuit court. Petsmart has removed several Florida cases to Federal court.
Cases generally get resolved faster in Federal Court. Federal judges are much less likely to extend discovery deadlines or a trial date than state judges. Some Florida federal judges are tougher on slip and fall cases than state court judges.
Florida Injury Claims with Petsmart
December 2013
(Not my case). A lady claimed that she was injured while entering through the front entrance of a Winter Garden, Orange County, Florida Petsmart.
She claimed that while walking into the entrance, she tripped on a rug located within the front doors. She claimed that this caused her to trip and fall into an interior glass door.
She claimed to be severely injured after tripping on the rug at the entrance. She claimed that she suffered a facial laceration to the chin resulting in permanent scarring.
She claims to have a deforming bump of the scar tissue on her face, which will not go away and will always be there. She claimed that she has incurred medical expenses as a result.
She alleged that Petsmart was careless when it placed a rug, which developed a “lip”, so close to the glass doors. She claimed to have suffered mental anguish, pain, suffering, past and future medical expenses and other damages including the visible scar.
My thoughts:
I think Petsmart may argue that they did not know or should not have known that the rug formed a lip. Store video surveillance before, and during, the fall will be huge factor in this case.
The injured person may have sent Petsmart a written request to preserve the video. If she did this shortly after the accident, this may help her case.
Petsmart may have video which shows that their rug was secured to the floor before and during the fall. If so, then the injured lady has a very difficult case. If the video shows that the rug formed a lip a significant time before the fall, this may help her prove notice.
Most Petsmart stores have a high amount of pedestrian traffic. They should be inspecting the entrance area frequently.
Petsmart will most likely argue that the lady should have been looking at the floor while she was walking. They may argue that she is wholly, or partially responsible, for the accident.
Petsmart’s attorney and adjuster will evaluate the case’s settlement value. They may reduce the full settlement value by her inability to prove that Petsmart was at fault.
They may also reduce the value because the injured person should have seen the lip. If there were signs and advertisements at the entrance, she may be able to argue that they distracted her.
Most Petsmart’s that I have seen have flooring that contrasts with the rug. This makes the rug more visible. If the same is true at this Petsmart, more fault may be placed on her. If she tripped on a rug that blended in with the flooring, less fault would be placed on her.
Florida Injury Settlements
Check out some Florida injury settlements. Petsmart adjusters may look at past injury settlements and verdicts amounts when deciding whether someone has a case. They may use these to decide how much to offer the injured person.
Florida Injury and Accident Settlement Calculator
You should not use a Florida injury settlement calculator to determine whether you have a case against a Florida Petsmart or Petco. We sometimes use our online calculator, but only as a starting point when deciding whether our client has a case.
As jury verdicts are released, we adjust pain and suffering values that we use it as a starting point to determine the possible case value.
Can you get money for pain and suffering if a Petsmart truck driver caused your injury in Florida?
Find out if you can get pain and suffering if a Petsmart truck driver’s carelessness caused your injury in Florida.
Did a Florida Petsmart’s, Petco’s or someone else’s carelessness cause your injury?
See Our Settlements
Check out some of the many Florida injury cases that we have settled, including but not limited to car accidents, truck accidents, slip or trip and falls, motorcycle accidents, drunk driving (DUI) accidents, pedestrian accidents, drunk driving accidents, taxi accidents, bicycle accidents, store or supermarket accidents, cruise ship accidents, dog bites and much more.
We want to represent you if Petsmart, Petco or someone else caused your injury!
Our Miami law firm represents people anywhere in Florida if someone’s carelessness caused their injuries in car accidents, truck accidents, slip, trip and falls, motorcycle accidents, bike accidents, drunk driving crashes, pedestrian accidents, cruise ship or boat accidents, store or supermarket accidents, accidents at someone else’s home, condo or apartment, accidents involving a Uber or Lyft Driver, and many other types of accidents.
We want to represent you if you were injured in an accident in Florida, on a cruise ship or boat. If you live in Florida but were injured in another state we may also be able to represent you.
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