Legal actions taken against your business, including personal injury, can result in extremely steep legal fees, adverse court rulings and settlements that could severely damage or even bankrupt your establishment.
Do not think that your business is too small to make it worth someone’s time and energy to file a lawsuit. The smallest business as well as a billion-dollar company is prone to litigation.
The good news is that there are many proactive steps you can take to prevail in court or minimize damages to your wallet and reputation.
Lawsuits claiming personal injury due to a business’ negligence are one of the most common legal actions, specifically slip and fall cases.
Shoppers who slip on wet floors and claim to suffer nerve damage or a broken wrist might have legitimate reasons to sue and put a deep hole in your budget that you cannot escape.
There are many preventative steps that business owners can take to reduce the risk of accidents that greatly prevent injuries and litigation.
When a spill occurs, consider a three-pronged action plan. You could have one employee immediately stand near the wet area and alert customers to stay away. Simultaneously, another staffer could place a Caution Wet Floor sign to block off the floor, while a third person gets a mop and starts cleaning up. Note that it is important to keep caution markers at the front and back of your business for quick retrieval.
Business owners can learn to avoid hugely expensive accidents by studying previous incidents. One of the most well-known is the McDonald’s Coffee Case.
The fast-food behemoth paid a handsome sum to a woman who spilled hot coffee on herself. She blamed her severe burns on McDonald’s for making coffee above safe temperatures. The out-of-court settlement payment is unknown, but it was likely in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Consider that McDonald’s takes in more than $10 billion annually. The enormous company employs a legion of lawyers and can pay millions of dollars of settlement fees that do not affect the bottom line.
This would be incredibly unlikely for independent business owners. Yet, there are many ways to prevent your own hot coffee case.
Consider investing a good sum for the most secure coffee-cup lids. Tough cardboard sleeves, durable insulated cups and anti-leak materials are great options, especially if your business includes a drive-thru window.
Inside the store, it might be a good idea for employees to place cups of coffee on the counter so that a customer cannot claim that a clumsy handoff resulted in a scalding incident.
There are countless examples of proactive steps that business owners can take to avoid crippling lawsuits.
Recognizing possible risks, training employees on how to address potential hazards and establishing protocol for accident response can go a great way in protecting your business from hugely expensive lawsuits.
It may also help your business win new customers and boost profits. Customers will appreciate, and continue to patronize, businesses that look out for their safety.
Personal injury lawsuits are the stuff of nightmares. Doing your due diligence to prevent litigation, or to minimize damages, is likely to result in a good night’s rest.
