Broken Chair Injuries

Broken chair injuries can be severe and debilitating and occur in various settings, including workplaces, schools, and public spaces. At Fiore Legal, we understand the impact a broken chair injury can have on your life, and we are committed to helping you seek justice and compensation for your injuries. Our experienced attorneys have the knowledge and resources to investigate your case, identify liable parties, and pursue the compensation you deserve.

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Fiore Legal Seeking Justice for Broken Chair Accidents

In the US, thousands of people end up in emergency rooms due to severe injuries from broken or defective chairs, such as fractured skulls from collapsed chairs and crushed fingers from rickety chairs. Seating in all establishments should be safe and constantly checked to ensure that it is in good condition for the users it was designed for. When establishments fail to ensure they maintain good seating or manufacturers produce defective chairs, they can be held responsible for their oversight.

The medical issues resulting from broken chair accidents will often be financially significant, especially considering the rising costs of medical care. This expense can cause unanticipated difficulties, putting many families in financial trouble. You should not have to bear this burden alone or suffer the consequences of someone else’s negligence.

At Fiore Legal, we have built a reputation for committed and successful representation of families that have been affected by the carelessness of others, including broken chair accidents. Contact our offices to set up a free and confidential consultation with one of our attorneys today.

Broken Chair Injuries Statistics

People of all ages are affected by broken chair injuries, which can occur in various circumstances. Older adults can be especially at risk due to their potential to look for more support in the chair than others.

Unfortunately, children can be just as much at risk as their parents and older siblings. Every 30 minutes in the US, an injured child has to visit the emergency room because of tipping and falling furniture, including chairs.

On average, a child dies every two weeks from injuries caused by falling or poorly constructed furniture, such as collapsing chairs.

Additionally, over 18,000 children sustain injuries in accidents involving high chairs, some of which are caused when an unstable chair tips over as the child attempts to get on or off the chair. The statistics are scary, yet, many producers of chairs and establishments where seating is provided fail to uphold their responsibility of providing safe and non-defective seating.

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Where Broken Chair Accidents Happen

These injuries occur in restaurants like national chains or “mom-and-pop” eateries. Often, the large chains impose strict standards on how they source their seating, who they buy from, and how these chairs are set up. Additionally, they typically require employees to conduct constant visual checks and immediately take action when they discover seating that presents a potential hazard. However, certain employees fail to do so, eventually leading to avoidable injuries.

Chair injuries can happen more frequently in smaller restaurants with older seating or hard-used furniture, and they may not maintain such rigid inspection requirements. As a result, chairs may break, collapse, or have defective parts that can cause injuries to patrons. Other places where broken chair injuries may occur include:

Salons
Movie theaters
Nightclubs
Bars

Common Injuries From Broken Chair Accidents

Broken and defective chairs have the potential to cause varying types of injuries for people of all ages, such as the following:

Crushed or pinched fingers
Torn skin leading to severe bleeding
Broken bones in the shoulders, arms, or wrists
Head and skull injuries resulting from falls
Back and spinal cord injuries, including fractured tailbones and herniated discs
Neck injuries, such as whiplash and trauma from falls
Muscle and nerve damage
Knee and hip injuries
Concussion

Such injuries may require emergency care at a hospital or urgent care. In some instances, there will be a need for ongoing medical care to manage recovery or rehabilitate the injured body part. In either case, the financial consequences will be significant, so speak to a personal injury attorney immediately to learn about your options for recovering compensation.

Who Do I Sue for a Broken Chair Injury?

In most cases, broken chair accidents occur due to a failure to maintain seating in an establishment properly. When patrons are injured due to this negligence, the responsible establishment may be held accountable under premises liability principles.

Premises liability is a principle of law that holds owners or occupiers of premises responsible when hazards in those premises cause injury to others. Restaurant owners and their staff are examples of owners or occupiers of premises. The premises liability laws obligate them to ensure that the premises are safe and do not contain any conditions that may harm people.

Where there are faulty chairs, they must be removed quickly, and if they cannot be removed before patrons arrive, a sufficient warning should be provided so people can avoid seating on those chairs.

In certain other circumstances, the establishment may not be responsible for the injuries you were exposed to. This may be the case if they had recently bought the chairs or had them fixed recently and expected that the chairs would be in good condition. In these circumstances, you may be able to file a product liability claim against the manufacturer of the chairs.

Filing a Product Liability Claim

Product liability principles hold that manufacturers or producers of goods must ensure they are safe for public use. They must take proper care to ensure their products do not harm people when used as they would typically be used. This principle is also called “the neighborhood principle.” Three primary defects can lead to a product liability claim:

Construction defects

Liability arises when the chairs are unsafe because they were not built correctly. The liability may be based on a failure to use adequate or suitable quality materials or allowing errors in construction to pass quality control.

Design defects

These defects occur due to flaws in the design of the chairs. Liability arises because the plan was flawed right from the start.

Marketing defects

Manufacturers are generally required to provide adequate instructions for the safe use of their products. While this is not generally a factor for chairs or other seating, it may lead to liability where there was a need for proper use instructions, and these instructions were absent, wrong, or incomplete.

The responsibility for these defects will usually lie with the manufacturer. But in some cases, the retailer that distributed these chairs may also be liable. An example would be if the retailer knew the chairs were defective but continued marketing and selling them to consumers.

If you were seriously injured in the accident, or your loved one suffered severe hurt, you should speak with an attorney about your case. Your broken chair injury attorney will likely work with experts familiar with the chairs that caused your injury, ensuring you have a solid personal injury case.

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Comparative Negligence & Broken Chair Injuries

In some circumstances, the restaurant or manufacturer of the chairs may claim that you were partially responsible for the injuries you suffered. For instance, if you were sitting on a collapsed chair, the defendant or their insurance company may allege that the accident occurred because you misused it. California is a comparative negligence state, meaning that if you played a role in your accident, you could still file a winning claim. However, your financial compensation is reduced by the percentage of liability assigned to you, so we work hard to limit your liability and maximize your compensation.

The Broken Chair Injury Attorneys at Fiore Legal Can Help

Being injured in a broken chair accident can not only be embarrassing, it may expose you to severe injuries and substantial financial harm. Give yourself the best chance of recovering the compensation you deserve by contacting our experienced broken chair injury attorneys for help. With our impressive track record of personal injury wins, you can rest assured you're in good hands.

Call Fiore Legal to schedule a complimentary, no-obligation consultation with our attorneys here.