Hurt in a grocery store parking lot in California: trips, falls, and cars
Grocery store parking lots are busy places: shoppers pushing carts, drivers backing out, delivery trucks, and children walking between cars. Injuries happen when people trip on uneven pavement, fall in poorly lit areas, or are struck by a vehicle. Because parking lots are often owned or maintained by someone other than the store, figuring out who may be responsible can take some work.
Common parking lot injuries
- Trips on potholes, cracked or raised pavement, broken curbs, and wheel stops placed in walking paths
- Slips on oil, spilled liquids, or wet paint and stripes after rain
- Falls in areas with burned-out or missing lighting
- Being hit by a car backing out of a space or cutting across the lot
- Being hit by runaway shopping carts or carts pushed by employees
- Injuries from damaged cart corrals, signs, or speed bumps that are hard to see
Who may be responsible for the lot
The grocery store may lease its space in a shopping center whose landlord controls and maintains the parking lot. The lease may split maintenance duties between the landlord and tenants, and a property management or sweeping contractor may be involved. Depending on the facts, responsible parties may include the property owner, the store, a management company, or a maintenance contractor. Each generally must use reasonable care to keep the areas they control reasonably safe and to fix or warn about hazards they knew about, or should have discovered with reasonable inspections.
If the hazard was on a public sidewalk or street next to the lot, a city or other public entity may be involved, and a written government claim is generally required within six months.
If a car hit you
A pedestrian hit by a car in a parking lot can generally make a claim against the driver’s auto liability insurance. If the driver was uninsured, underinsured, or drove away, your own auto policy’s uninsured motorist coverage may apply even though you were on foot, depending on the policy. Lot design problems, such as missing crosswalk markings or blocked sightlines, may also raise questions about the property owner’s responsibility. Under California’s comparative fault rule, if you were partly at fault, your recovery may be reduced but not necessarily barred.
Evidence to gather
- Get medical care and keep all records.
- Report the incident to the store manager and, if a car was involved, to police. Write down names and report numbers.
- Photograph the hazard before it is repaired, with something for scale, such as a shoe or a key, and from far enough away to show where it is in the lot.
- If a car was involved, get the driver’s name, license, plate, and insurance information.
- Ask in writing that video be preserved from the store and from neighboring businesses. Many stores have cameras covering the lot and entrances.
- Keep your receipt or loyalty-card record showing you were there.
- Be cautious about giving a recorded statement to an insurer before getting advice.
For a general checklist, see what to do after you get hurt in a store, and for cart-related injuries, hurt by a shopping cart at a grocery store. Most California personal injury claims must be filed within two years; see our California statute of limitations guide.
Have questions about your situation? An attorney can review the facts with you for free and with no obligation.
General information only, not legal advice. Every situation is different, and no particular outcome is guaranteed.
Related articles
- Slip and fall in a grocery store: causes, evidence, and next steps
- Hit by falling merchandise in a store: what to know
- What to do after you get hurt in a store: a checklist
- Who is liable for a slip in a grocery store?
- What to do after getting hurt in a supermarket
- Hurt by a shopping cart at a grocery store in California: who may be responsible
- California statute of limitations for personal injury