Yard Sale Injuries: 3 Factors That May Impact Your Case
Posted on: 19 April 2016
As spring rolls through and the weather gets nicer, the amount of yard sales increase across the country. While yard sales, garage sales, and flea markets are great places to get bargain prices, there are also some risk factors that could lead to an injury. If you've been injured at a yard sale or similar event, there are three factors that may impact your case. By working with a personal injury attorney, you can have your case represented and use evidence to help seek a settlement for your injuries.
Homeowner Liability
When you're browsing a yard sale area, you are often entering the private property of a resident. By inviting the public to their home for a yard sale, it often makes them liable for any conditions or injuries that may occur. Slip and fall accidents can easily happen at a yard sale based on numerous conditions. For example, a lawn may have a large unmarked hole that you trip in. A driveway could also have a small pothole that causes an injury. If there were no safety markers or warning signs, it could have presented a danger for visiting guests.
The set up of the yard sale could also be a cause of the injuries. For example, if a table is overloaded with items, it could fall over or collapse while you're browsing through the sale. The dangerous conditions could make the home owner negligent and liable for any injuries that have occurred. Images and witness statements can often be used as valuable proof when something like this occurs.
Manufacturer Liability
In many cases, it's hard to determine how well a product works when you're purchasing it from a yard sale. Product defects in items like electronics, appliances, and sports equipment could all lead to injuries after you've purchased them and used them at home. Just because you bought them at a yard sale doesn't mean that you cannot seek damages for the product defect. In a case like this, a personal injury attorney will often seek a product liability case against the manufacturing company rather than the person who sold it to you.
Even if you are not purchasing the product brand new, you are still protected through product liability protections and may have a settlement case for any injuries that have occurred. During this type of case, a lawyer will use the item to showcase why the defect occurred and how it was due to the manufacturing process and not just wear and tear on the item.
Third-Party Liability
Yard sales can get crowded quickly and unlike a retail store, there is often not a lot of off-street parking available. When parking along the side of the road or at the edge of a driveway, you are often in a dangerous position that can lead to an injury through a negligent driver, poor parking by other drivers, or bad markings by the yard sale hosts.
If you're involved in a car accident or some type of parking injury, then your lawyer will often determine who the guilty party is before proceeding with a settlement case. For example, if you were trying to get out of your vehicle and a car came zooming by, it may hit your car door or you. That driver may be held liable in the case. Poor parking conditions or dangerously labeled parking areas could make the yard sale hosts liable in the case. For example, if you park in their driveway and a car hits you while you are parked, the home owners may be liable because it occurred on their property.
Yard sale cases can become complicated due to multiple factors. By working with a personal injury attorney, you can break down the case and your injuries to make things more clear-cut and move forward as needed.
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