Daugter Injured at Costco

As much as it hurts to hear, this isn't Costco's fault! Granted, she is 6 and not mature enough to look for the warnings- but we are the parents and it is our job to warn of the dangers that are present. If she had walked across a street without looking and a car driving under the speed limit hit her and knocked her to the floor, would you sue the driver because your daughter wasn't obeying traffic safety rules? (This is the exact senario of what happened years ago with my mom as the driver. The kid hit the side of her van trying to run across the street. It was detirmined at the time of the accident that it was the childs fault and that my Mom had zero blame, but the girls family tried to sue anyway.)

I thik this falls under the "McDonalds Million dollar Coffe Law Suit". Yes, perhaps you could win in the basis that a 6 year old can not comprehend the risk of doing such a thing. However- common (adult) sense says "Hey, this is used to keep the food I'm buying hot. Touching it is probably not a great idea!" If fighting for something that should be cammon sense to avoid is up your alley, then go for it. I personally would let sleeping dogs lie.

Years ago I believe that I DID have grounds for a law suit againt Carl's Jr, because I got a 2nd Degree burn just above my lip while biting into a crispy chicken sandwich. The sadwich had an oil pocket under the fried skin, and when I took a bite, the oil burst all over my upper lip, causing a blister the size of a quarter in less than 2 minutes. I thought about the Million Dollar Coffee, and that I could likely win, especially since I had no reason to believe there was scapding hot oil in the sandwich... but I also thought about the fact that Carl's Jr didn't intentionally allow it to happen either. My brother wanted me to contact them atleast to get a couple of free meal vouchers, but I didn't even do that.

I whole heartedly believe that the actions you take tward others will come back 10 fold. If I choose to extend grace to someone, 10 others will extend grace to me. If I choose to engage in pety confrontation with another, 10 others will engage with me. (I don't find your concern for your daughter pety!)

Before you take any action, consider if it is TRULY on behalf of the safety of "future victums" or out of anger that you didn't forsee the outcome before it happened. {{{Hugs}}} to both you and your daughter!

Hi E.!

I am sorry that your little one was burned, however I think it is our responsibility to take care of our own. Knowing that area is hot, I don't put my kids anywhere near it, because kids being kids, they are drawn to it. As soon as it happened, I would have taken my child right to a manager. They have a first aid kit available and could have given her something to ease the pain of the burn. Then I would have asked to see the store manager, not a floor sup who just runs the board for the front end. I would tell them what happened and make sure that they were aware so that they could go inspect the area. If there were signs missing, then I can see how that could be negligant. But those cases have been that way for a long time and knowing that, some precautions on your part would have made a difference. A reason for why the management was cold about it is probably because it happened a couple of days earlier. They were not aware or notified that an incident had happened and therefore no documentation to back you up. That, however, is no excuse for the way they treated you. I used to work for Costco and I know that when if something happened, an accident such as a fall, they would bend over backwards making things right.

As for a lawsuit, I would have to be careful. Costco is a WAREHOUSE. It's not pretty for a reason. Concrete floors, metal shelving, etc. Accidents happen and it happened with your little one. No one is to blame. You can either choose not to shop there or take more precautions when shopping with your little ones. I personally do not shop there if my little ones are with me. They are like kids in a candy store wanting to touch everything. However, if that happened to my daughter I would let them know ASAP. If not to change it but they have documentation IF something more serious came out of it (such as help to cover ER or Dr. bills). This is just my opinion and if you do need to know which departments to get in touch with, or higher management, you can email me. I believe I still have my numbers. Hope she feels better.

Hi E.!

You obviously care a great deal about your children - very admirable. I don't think you should take legal action at all. You might want to write to the president of Costco (who by the way is one of the coolest CEOs ever) and tell him your situation - that is if your intent is to help others from burning themselves on the chicken case.

However, what is notable about what you said is that your daughter is an "innocent victim". That's not really true. Unless an employee came over and randomly hit her with a chicken or the chicken case all of a sudden fell over on her - that would make her a victim. However, you should take a look at your responsibility. Have you given her the proper tools not to know that a chicken case might be too hot to touch? Could you have brought something warmer for her to wear after swimming? Did you dry her off enough? It's not always easy to look at our responsibility as parents as we can make mistakes, but when something happens to our kids it is ALWAYS our responsibility. Particularly in this instance. I would not blame Costco for this at all. Also, when all is said and done - it sucks, but she'll get over it and you will too. Not if you become litigious, though. Then you'll be living with it for quite a while.

Well, you could sue and teach your daughter that someone else is always at fault, or that everything must be modified to keep us from harming ourselves.

While the behavior was awful on the part of management they don't really care if you shop there or not. You will have to go higher to get someone that cares. Find someone higher up that responds if you want an apology. Keep going if you want someone to pay your bills. The bobo manager at most places is not responsive to customers at all. I had a roach on the shower wall in the gym and they just shrugged and said the bug man was coming.

If I were you I would press up the line and complain about the treatment you got. I am a business owner and if one of my customers is not happy I bend over backwards to correct it. Costco hires meat to run the store. You pay to shop there and get crappy service to boot.

Tell them you are going to call the health department, that should get some action.

I think that it is your responsibility to teach your children to keep their faces and other body parts away from hot things. Of course the chicken oven is hot!! I don't believe Costco is at fault. I also think it is sad that more and more people are rubbing their hands together with $$ signs in their eyes whenever somebody gets hurt. That said, I am sorry that your daughter was hurt and I hope she feels better soon.

E.,

This isn't going to be what you want to hear, but why would you allow your daughter to do something like this? I would never allow my kids to lean over the warming area where they keep the chickens. For one - I would never let my kids get that close to something like that or get out of my sight to do something like this. I agree with the previous response and this is not Costcos fault. Unfortunately there are too many parents like you that are more concerned with making money off of a lawsuit rather than watching what there children are doing.

L.

I understand you are upset at the situation, and the people at Costco should have been more caring and understanding. when you say you are looking for legal representation, what does that mean? Are you trying to sue for money, or do you just want costco to "fix" the situation? If you are looking for money I feel you are Completly Wrong!! Your daughter is YOUR responsibility (no one elses)! Yes costco should fix the "Hot" part on the chicken display so that No One gets burned-of any age! How can you honestly expect them to put the chicken up high or in a glass case?? Kids can get hurt on just about everything so if we put everything up (high) or in cases it would be literelly impossible to shop!

We as parents need to hold some accountability for our kids actions! I'm sorry that she was injured, but you have got to take (at least) some of the responsibility. Obviously you weren't really watching her. I hope costco takes responsibility for their part and fixes the Hot part, but that to me is all that you should get. The satisfaction that this wont happen to anyone else again should be enough for you. Hopefully, you can talk with someone at Costco that is a little more understanding and compasionate!

Good Luck!!

You can probably sue and win, was there warning signs saying hot, or don't touch? we have to watch our kids very closy where ever they are at, I don't thibk it is anyones fault, just an accident. J.

I have 3 children. 7, 3, and 4 months.
We go to costco often. Occ. get a chicken. I always tell my girls to stand back! The chickens are hot! Do not touch!
I think, as a parent, you need to take responsibility for your child getting hurt. Their safety and well being is our responsibility. There are a lot of things in this world that can hurt our children, our job is to protect them and educate them to protect themselves.
Personally, I dont think a lawsuit against the store will solve anything, but teach your daughter that her actions can be blamed on somebody else.
Take Care! I hope your daughters chin starts feeling better soon. Heidi

E.,

I hope your girl is feeling better! :0)
I hate to say it but, I agree with the majority of the responses you have received so far. I think that if it’s a "hot" display case then it’s your job to make sure your 6 year old isn’t putting her hands or face (any body parts) on or around it. I don't understand why you didn’t take her directly to a manager/employee for some sort of medical assistance? I think if you had followed through at the time of the accident that you would have gotten a different response from the floor manager instead of a couple of days later. Yeah I think you have to chalk this one up to a life experience....she wont put her face next to hot stuff anymore that’s for sure, and you will now make sure to let the kids know that its hot and to stay back. Hope everything works out.

Peace~Love~Light
V.

I am so sorry that your daughter got injured. Hopefully she will heal without further complications. If anything, just complain abut the unsympathetic response you received. Often times parents put their guilty feelings off on to another so they feel it wasn't their fault. As a parent, you know that those cases are hot and need keep your child back. The Costco near me has several large caution signs posted at the cases-hard to miss. Were there no signs? Was this your first time there? At warehouse type place, you must be aware of all the risks and assume responsiblity.
I'm also a girl scout leader. One of the main program aspects is safety and helping people. Instead of going the legal route, why not try to team up with Costco to work on community awareness regarding burn prevention, safety in the community places, etc. Your 10 year olds troop could possibly do it for their Bronze Award. Your 6 uear olds troop could earn their safety try-it.
Instead of getting defensive, get proactive. Turn this bad experience into something that can benift others in many ways.

I understand that your little one was hurt by this incident and there should be no reason for concern beyond caring for her burn which will be fine with proper care. Things happen with kids and you just have to remember that. As for legalities, most hot cases have warnings posted on them stating "Caution: Hot" and that's where you would lose your case. With that warning it has now become your responsibility to keep your child away from the hot case. If you did by some chance win the case, stores would no longer offer cooked foods for fear of legal disputes. She's 6 so she didn't know what she was doing but the prosecution would lay the blame on you for letting her get so close knowing the hot case was in fact hot. It sucks that the staff at Costco couldn't have been more caring about the situation but I don't think they could have offered you guys anything to make the situation better beyond thanking you for bringing it to their attention, making note of it and trying to find a safer way of keeping warm foods warm without having a hot case.

I agree with some of the other ladies, I dont think legal matters will help. Costco is at no fault here. They see it as somebody's child leaned into something they had on display, and unfortunatly got hurt. We as parents just have to pay close attention to our children in stores and other public places when they are still young. But on another note,I hope your daughter is doing better.

I tend to agree with Julie, it was an accident and I know my kids are always very drawn to the chicken case as well. But just like the stove at home, we need to keep them away from things that are hot. I would go back to Costco and ask to speak with a manager. If you don't like the response you get make a phone call to the headquarters. As Julie said you probably would win in a lawsuit; however, if your main concern is getting the safety concern corrected started going up the chain of command until you get someone to help.

Did you speak with the manager? I can not believe they wouldn't be right on top of that and doing anything they could to help you. That's ridiculous that no one said what can I do to help, is she okay, oh my goodness.

I will tell you that I burned myself before at Costco as well. I picked up a chicken and the lid wasn't completely on and the grease burned me. If you have a lawsuit state that you know it has burned other people as well.

I'm so sorry for your daughter's injury, it always hurts me when my little ones are injured.
As for the liability, what should have happened was an immediate incident report when she was burned in the store. If that would have happened the employees would have been more receptive to your daughter's injury. When you call after the fact it might lead the manager to believe that it wasn't actually that severe when it hapened, or it didn't actually happen in their store.