h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Gosho- the Up All Night doctor was in new Jersey.

i'm finding it hard too, to see the justification for suing in this situation (but i could be missing something). sometimes there are just accidents and no-one is at fault. but then i live in a country that has accident compensation legislation that mostly barrs people from suing and the government (mostly) pays lost wages and compensation to people hurt in accidents.

Hhhmm.
If the entrance is difficult to get through without injury I say sue. Don't listen to people who tell you it'll put everyone's premiums up and be put off. If you don't take action against negligence then it won't be rectified. Business despises anything hitting it in the pocket, and sometimes it's the only way to jerk management out of their indiference to the general public and strike a blow for common decency.

On the other hand, your dad may just be a clumsy t**t for all I know.

I may not have this right due to differences in the law, but in order to win a case you must prove that the fall came about due to negligence... that is, you'd have to show that the flooring they use is hazardous when wet, the carpeting was unsufficient to properly dry customers' shoes, and that the floor was being neglected to the point that it had become covered in tracked-in water.

Your father would have to objectively consider the situation to determine if there was genuine negligence involved... especially since this can sometimes be very difficult to prove in court. He should also take a look at the shoes he was wearing, to see if the soles might not have worn so smooth that they were at least partially to blame.

If he feels there is genuine negligence here, and the accident has affected his livelihood, then by all means, he should sue them.

My place of employment recently expanded the first floor and retiled the entire thing, and the new tiles are slippery even when not wet. While at the elevator, I overhear conversations among women talking about slipping all the time. It's probably only a matter of time before someone hurts themselves, and the people who chose such inappropriate flooring will be to blame.

There isn't a law governing standard entrance carpet lengths. Therefore the carpet cannot have been 'not long enough'.

Frogbit, think about small businesses who merely want to sell things and worry about some fool doing something daft which was not specifically proscribed on the product information? (as it is I don't have to have product liability but is a concern.)
If negligence was present, by all means fight it.

"If you don't take action against negligence then it won't be rectified"

Suing isn't the only course of action open to someone - if it's a small business, then a friendly word with the owner or manager that they might have overlooked something will go a long way. Suing and getting lawyers involved just p****s people off.

If it's a larger business... I'm not sure what would be the best thing to do there. The store manager might be unable to do what s/he feels is the right thing because of budget constraints from the blank-faced accountants who run the company. And if you go to his or her superior - usually the area manager, then the AM is likely to come down on the mananger like a ton of bricks for something s/he might have no control over.

I hate corporations, not the people who work for them on the front line.

"Business despises anything hitting it in the pocket"

Suing businesses is not a viable deterrent, just as prison doesn't stop people breaking into other peoples' homes and the death penalty doesn't stop people comitting murder.

"On the other hand, your dad may just be a clumsy t**t for all I know."

Yeah... tactful.