Legal Question in Personal Injury in Texas

I walked into a guitar store 4 days ago to browse and left only minutes later with possible permanent hearing damage. With me close by and me unaware of what he was about to do, another customer (I assume he was not an employee) turned up a huge guitar amplifier in the display area and with a guitar started playing at extreme levels so loud it made my ears hurt. This was intentional blaring and continued playing of the guitar at extreme levels and not an accident. When I say loud it was incredibly and unbearably loud and painful not just an annoyance. I was close to the amplifier at the time in the room and I immediately and reflexively turned and rushed to leave to escape the noise. If I had shouted no one would have heard me yelling over the noise. As I was leaving towards the entrance I passed an employee behind the counter and I protested to her but she just laughed and shrugged. It is now 4 days later my ears are still ringing and my hearing is affected. I have not seen an audiologist / doctor or taken action to authorities. Should I have called 911 at the time and for what charge? Assault and battery by noise? Is the store or the customer liable at all for my injuries and how do I go about taking action? Is this a criminal matter or civil matter only? I am very upset and concerned that my hearing may be damaged or permanently affected. What are my options for taking criminal and/or civil action and against whom? The store or the customer or both?


Asked on 11/13/12, 3:13 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Roger Merrill Merrill & Associates

The customer is the main culprit. It will be difficult to show that the store is responsible. However, if your ringing in the ears (tinnitus) should prove permanent, then your damage claim will be large enough to justify tyring to get the store to pay a portion of your damages. You could argue that it should have had signs warning/instructing patrons to not turn the amps up above a certain level. You could further argue that customers should not have been allowed to work the amps without a sales associate present to make sure that the amps were not set at too high a level.

Contact me if the condition lingers since I have worked in the past on a tinnitus claim. I handle claims throughout Texas.

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Answered on 11/13/12, 3:34 pm


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