"But "liability"? I'm much
"But "liability"? I'm much more likely to get hurt wearing shoes than being barefoot."
And you are. See
here and
here:
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We believe that businesses legally have
nothing to fear from letting their patrons go barefoot. The risks of any potential injury are incredibly low and a barefooter would have a nearly-impossible time successfully suing if injured. This is due to the near impossibility of serious injury, structure of tort (civil) law and the societal norm that wearing shoes is a standard practice.
Dr. Daniel Howell, PhD, outlined in his book The Barefoot Book the four legal conditions that must be met in order for an injured barefooter to successfully sue a business.1 They are (with our italicized notations for each item):
1. A duty of care to the customer must be established -The business was responsible to keep the floor reasonably clear of things that can hurt you.
2. A breach of that duty must be demonstrated. - The business didn't keep the floor reasonably clear of something that can hurt you.
3. A causal link between breach and harm must be made. - Because the business didn't keep the floorreasonably clear of something that could harm you (their "negligence"), you hurt your bare foot.
4. Actual harm or damage must be assessed. - What harm did the business' negligence cause that must be remedied?
In most cases, the harm would be a cut to the foot which could be remedied by a simple bandage. A business' legal obligation would end with the bandage and no other damages could be awarded.
Any threat that would result in an injury greater than that which could be treated with a simple bandage -- like a broken foot from a falling box -- likely would not be preventable even while wearing some kinds of footwear like flip flops (and such an injury falls out of the realm of this FAQ)
or it would be considered easily avoidable -- like a broken toe stubbed on the leg of a clothing rack. That takes us to our next point:
Adult customers are legally responsible for their own actions or those of their minor children. That means that if we can perceive and avoid a threat, it's our responsibility to do so. Footwear is generally believed to be a way to avoid the threat of cutting your feet on a sharp thing on the ground or stubbing your toe on something like a clothing rack. That said, a court would likely dismiss a suit altogether or rule in favor of the business if a barefooter could have avoided harm by using footwear. The judge would likely say, "You took on the liability when you chose not to wear shoes or sandals" and/or "It's not the business' fault you weren't paying attention to what you were doing."
It should be noted that anyone who subscribes to a barefoot lifestyle understands the risks and believes the benefits of going barefoot outweigh the risks. Not only is it doubtful we'd actually get hurt, but it is highly unlikely that one of us would ever sue a business because we got hurt due to a lack of footwear.
Liability and legal matters aside, let's take a quick look at the actual risk of a cut to a bare foot in a typical business:
A barefooter could cut their foot only IF a glass object breaks on the ground and IF employees don't clean it up well enough and IF the barefooter doesn't see the remaining broken piece and IF the barefooter steps in that exact area of the floor and IF the piece is big enough to cut the skin and IF they step on it in such a way to cut the skin.
That's a lot of IFs. Too many to be concerned about, we think.
Disclaimer: Nothing in this post should be construed or used as legal advice and we make no claims to its accuracy. Because laws are different in each jurisdiction, consult with a licensed, practicing attorney if you have further questions regarding this subject.
1. Howell, L. D. (2010). The barefoot book, 126. Alameda, CA: Hunter House.
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Business management and security officials who are concerned about customer safety might want to focus more on patrons who wear dangerous shoes rather than those who go barefoot. High heels, because of their unstable nature, send about 20,000 women to hospital emergency rooms every year.1 Furthermore, the slick outer sole of many high-heeled shoes also puts women at risk of slipping and falling on the slick floors of many businesses.
Incidentally, bare feet have special skin prints that acutally help improve grip and can make feet more slip resistant than many shoes.2
1. D.P. Manning and C. Jones, "High Heels and Polished Floors: The Ultimate Challenge in Research on Slip-Resistance," Safety Science 19, no. 1 (1995): 19.
2. "Foot Anatomy 101 - The Special Skin of Your Feet" - The Barefoot Professor blog.
http://barefootprof.blogspot.com/2010/11/special-skin-on-your-feet.html
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Lawsuits for own injury from wearing high heels? I haven't heard of any to date.