Is Chevron liable if a person is injured at a chevron gas station?

Question

My Mom was hurt pretty bad at a local chevron gas station.When I contacted the chevron co. they told me that because it was a franchise only that owner would be responsible.But I think thats BS,Chevron is Chevron.Now they just keep blowing us off.Where can we find a lawyer that gets paid when we do? It's a legitamate claim!

Answer 1

If you can't find a lawyer willing to take this on contingency, it's because you don't have a strong case, or it isn't worth much.

The mere fact that your mother was injured at a location, does NOT automatically make the owner of that location "liable". And the fact that Chevron is NOT the owner of the location, well, that's like you trying to sue ME for the damages, because I commented on your case. Sure, you can sue, but you're going to lose - which is why you can't find a lawyer willing to take this on a contingency basis.

If you're so convinced that you're right, and everyone else is wrong, then put your money where your opinion is, and hire the lawyer with money up front.

Answer 2

The basis of legal liability to a third party (your Mom) is that there has to be negligence that was the proximate cause of your mother's injury. The mere fact that your mother was hurt at the gas station does not mean that the gas station or Chevron are liable.

Your lawyer would have to prove that Chevron or the gas station did something or failed to do something that turned out to be the cause of your mother's injury AND that a reasonable person could have foreseen that the action or inaction could result in injury.

Because you give no detail as to the circumstances and extent of your mother's injury we really can't answer your original question - Is Chevron liable?

Answer 3

Even though this scenerio reinforces a suing culture that I don't support I will provide you with some advice.

1. It don't matter if it is Cheveron or its franchise; the owner has to have some major policy limits in place. (Afterall it is a "combustable" gas station that posses some signficant risks to everyone)

2. Documentation is the key to any third party claim. Don't catch yourself without any. Most jurisdictions require formal notice given within a specific time after the occurance. (Police Report, Witnesses, Certified Letters to the franchise owner etc... )

3. Get a lawyer. (One that specializes in slip/falls etc.... presuming that is the case)

Summary: The information you provided does not nearly give anyone the ability to measure your claim. Also, most claims resulting from personal injury actually result in settlement from some non-standard sources. For instance, lets say your mothers accident resulted from a faulty pump. The franchise owner may be leasing those pumps thus transferring liability to the manufacture.

You should be limited to establishing the claim. The attorney will focus on finding the viable third party with liability.

Answer 4

Thie is how the gas industry works... Chevron for example does not own the gas station... they are the fuel supplier. The properity owner or the buisness owner would be the responsable party.

Another example would be... Filing a claim aginst Pepsi for her injury at this station... They have Pepsi signs... they have Pepsi products... The Chevron signs on the property are there to advertise a product being sold...

Just turn your tv on when those stupid court shows are on.... Most of the commercials you will see are for injury lawyers in your area.

Answer 5

If you are injured at a car dealership selling Chevrolet's, do you expect General Motors to be liable ? Same concept applies here. A privately owned business is selling gasoline provided by Chevron, and accordingly, Chevron has no liability for your mother's situation.

Chevron is quite correct in 'blowing you off'. You need to ascertain ownership of the station involved and proceed against that owner accordingly.

You don't state the nature of your mother's injuries, but I venture you're looking for a huge settlement, given that you wanted to target Chevron.

Good luck.

Answer 6

I would contact your treating physician and advise the injury is the result of an injury at the place of a business. Give them the full details of the responsible party, and they will be served or sent with medical bills to be paid. This will start them to notify their insurance agent, and open a claim. You will be contacted by their representative, and asked to settle. At that point, I would consult with a personal injury attorney for representation. Don't sign or attempt to negotiate a settlement without an attorney. You'll need to have a Doctor would agrees your injury are related to the injury at the store, and not something else. Check your yellow pages under attorney, and under peronal injury or accidents. Select 3-4 firms, call each one, and select the one that will accept your case, and don't agree to any less than 75 percent of the award. They will want 33 percent, if you have a good case, they will be happy with 25 percent, or call another attorney..

Answer 7

You can find a lawyer in the phone book. Or ask your friends who they have used. Or call the local bar association.

If its a franchise location, Chevron doesn't own it.

Answer 8

thanks for the giggles.
a "Chevron" station may not belong to Chevron. it may belong to a 'franchise' or an independant comapny. as such Chevron has NO legal liablity.
as for ur mom's injury that is dependant on the circumstances , if the location has a liablity issue.
contact an attorney for a consultation - don't be surprised if u are turned down.
welcome to real world business.

Answer 9

This year's litany of complaints about gasoline prices is a re-run of the same program from years past: Gasoline prices in the USA are too high; gasoline is a unique commodity whose price isn't subject to the usual market forces of supply and demand; OPEC and greedy American oil companies secretly manipulate the market to keep prices artificially high; and a simple boycott of a couple of brands of gasoline will rectify all this. Unfortunately it's not even a little bit true. Oil companies can manipulate their prices somewhat by controlling how much gasoline they produce and where they sell it, but they can't alter the basics of supply and demand: prices go down when people buy less of a good, prices go up when people buy more of a good, and prices go way up when demand outstrips available supply. The "gas out" schemes that propose to alter the demand side of the equation by shunning one or two specific brands of gasoline for a while won't work, however, because they're based on the misconception that an oil company's only outlet for gasoline is its own branded service stations. That isn't the case: gasoline is a fungible commodity, so if one oil company's product isn't being bought up in one particular market or outlet, it will simply sell its output to (or through) other outlets: Economics Prof. Pat Welch of St. Louis University says any boycott of "bad guy" gasoline in favor of "good guy" brands would have some unintended (and unhappy) results. . . . Welch says the law of supply and demand is set in stone. "To meet the sudden demand," he says, "the good guys would have to buy gasoline wholesale from the bad guys, who are suddenly stuck with unwanted gasoline." So motorists would end up . . . paying more for it, because they'd be buying it at fewer stations. And yes, oil companies do buy and sell from one another. Mike Right of AAA Missouri says, "If a company has a station that can be served more economically by a competitor's refinery, they'll do it." Right adds, "In some cases, gasoline retailers have no refinery at all. Some convenience-store chains sell a lot of gasoline — and buy it all from somebody else's refinery." A boycott of a couple of brands of gasoline won't result in lower overall prices. Prices at all the non-boycotted outlets would rise due to the temporarily limited supply and increased demand, making the original prices look cheap by comparison. The shunned outlets could then make a killing by offering gasoline at its "normal" (i.e., pre-boycott) price or by selling off their output to the non-boycotted companies, who will need the extra supply to meet demand. The only person who really gets hurt in this proposed scheme is the service station operator, who has almost no control over the price of gasoline. The only practical way of reducing gasoline prices is through the straightforward means of buying less gasoline, not through a simple and painless scheme of just shifting where we buy it. The inconvenience of driving less is a hardship too many people apparently aren't willing to endure, however.