You can sue a grocery store if you are hurt there through their negligence. A grocery store has a responsibility to keep their facility safe, clear, and ready for customers. Some things that happen in grocery stores are just accidents that they can’t be responsible for. Often, liability in grocery stores, especially for cases involving spills, involves the length of time that the hazard was there.
For example, if I walk into the grocery store and spill my water, and you walk in right behind me and slip on the water, well, that’s not the grocery store’s fault because they couldn’t have known the water was going to be there. It wasn’t there long enough for them to have checked. Grocery stores have a responsibility to check the premises, walk through, and make sure everything is maintained and safe.
Conversely, for example, if I dropped a banana from my grocery cart and walked away, and then another customer came through and ran the banana over with their grocery cart, and the banana sat there for hours, and then you came through and slipped and fell on the banana—that’s a circumstance where the grocery store could be liable because they’re responsible for making sure the store is safe. A supermarket is expected to act quickly when there’s a hazard.
In those circumstances where they act quickly, or where they, for example, mop the floor and mark the area as wet, they’re not responsible for potential injuries. But when they allow a hazard to languish and sit for hours—or, in some circumstances, minutes—without addressing it or protecting customers, that’s when spills or hazards on grocery store premises could make them liable.
