Whereas restaurants are supposed to be joyous places, there are situations in which they can actually cause you injury. Below are some common injuries in restaurants.
Slip and Fall Injuries
Slip, trip, and fall injuries can occur in almost all public places, and restaurants are no exception. You can slip and fall in a restaurant if someone spills something and the restaurant cleaners don't act fast enough to clean up the spill. You can trip and fall on torn carpeting that you weren't aware of. You can fall out of your chair onto the floor if the chair is weak, damaged, or placed on an unstable or uneven base.
Scalding
Restaurant food is typically hot and can cause you serious burns. Scalding can occur from various quarters. For example, a server can trip and dump hot coffee on your lap, a fellow patron can lose their balance and send their hot food flying onto your face, and you can also scald yourself if you accidentally spill hot food on your body.
The restaurant's liability depends on whether it should and could have prevented the accident. For example, the restaurant may be liable if their employee is responsible for your burn injuries.
Puncture Wounds
Puncture wounds typically occur from sharp or pointed objects that arise out of poor maintenance of restaurant premises. For example, a sharp nail on an outdoor stool can cause you serious injury and pain.
Dram Shop Laws
Dram shop laws hold establishments liable for the negligence of the establishment's intoxicated customers. The liability hold is an establishment knowingly continues to serve alcohol to an intoxicated person. For example, if a restaurant serves alcohol to a drunken person and the person ends up knocking you over in the parking lot, you can hold both the driver and the restaurant liable for your injuries.
Food Injuries
Food injuries are some of the most common injuries people pick up in restaurants. Food injuries can come in various ways, such as these three.
Food Poisoning
You get food poisoning if you eat or drink contaminated food. For example, if a restaurant doesn't handle its food properly, the raw meat products can contaminate the raw salad products and poison the restaurant's customers.
Choking
Restaurants are normally not guilty if a customer chokes on food. You can only hold a restaurant liable for your choking injuries if the choking is caused by the direct fault of the restaurant. For example, you may hold a restaurant liable for your choking injuries if the choking is caused by an object that shouldn't have been in your food.
Broken Tooth
Lastly, you can also hold a restaurant liable for your broken tooth if you can prove it's the restaurant's fault. A pebble in your vegetable salad, for example, can easily chip or break your tooth.
You will have to file a strong case with relevant proof to get any compensation from a liable restaurant. Hiring a personal injury lawyer is a good way of ensuring that your case is strong enough to prevail.