7-Eleven Injury Lawyer: Slip and Falls, Storefront Crashes, Robberies and Parking Lot Injuries in California, Texas and Washington (Updated November 2026)

By Michael Shemtoub, trial attorney, Beverly Law. Updated November 2026.

Beverly Law is not affiliated with 7-Eleven, Inc., Speedway or Stripes.

What to do after an injury at a 7-Eleven

1. Get medical care first. Go to urgent care or the ER the same day if you can. A gap between the injury and the first visit is the first thing an adjuster points to.
2. Report it before you leave. Ask the clerk to write an incident report and give you a copy or the report number. Write down the clerk’s name and the store number on your receipt.
3. Photograph everything. The spill or ice, the curb, the missing sign, the broken pump, the car in the window, the lighting in the lot. Take wide shots that show where in the store it happened.
4. Get names and numbers. Other customers, the driver and the driver’s insurance if a car was involved, and the police report number if officers came.
5. Ask for the video in writing, fast. Send a letter to the store and to 7-Eleven, Inc. asking them to keep the inside and outside camera footage. Stores record over old video, so days matter.
6. Do not give a recorded statement to the store’s insurer before you talk to a lawyer, and do not sign anything.

How people get hurt at 7-Eleven

Most claims we see fall into four groups. Each has its own page with the law and the reported cases.

• Cars driven into the store. A driver pulling into a space in front of the doors hits the gas instead of the brake. CBS Chicago reported that over a 15-year period, 6,253 cars crashed into 7-Eleven storefronts in the U.S. (CBS News Chicago).
• Robberies, shootings and assaults. Late hours, cash and alcohol make convenience stores targets. Whether the store owed you more protection depends on what it knew about crime at that location.
• Slip and falls. Spilled coffee and soda at the drink stations, ice from the cooler, rainwater at the door, mopped floors with no sign.
• Parking lot and gas pump injuries. Cars backing out, broken curbs and wheel stops, poor lighting, fuel spills and pump hoses.

Burns from coffee, hot water taps and food warmers have their own page: 7-Eleven burn injury lawsuits. Falling merchandise, collapsing shelves and broken doors are handled the same way as a slip and fall. The question is whether the store knew or should have known about the danger and had time to fix it.

Who you can sue

The franchisee that runs the store. 7-Eleven, Inc. is based in Irving, Texas, and says it operates, franchises or licenses more than 13,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada (7-Eleven). In January 2026, C-Store Dive reported that franchised stores made up 56.5% of 7-Eleven’s North American store count (C-Store Dive). The franchisee hires the clerks, runs the shifts and cleans the floors, so it is usually the first defendant.

7-Eleven, Inc. The company is liable for its own corporate stores, and it can be liable at a franchised store when it controlled the part of the business that caused the injury. The test differs by state:

• California. In Patterson v. Domino’s Pizza (2014), a harassment case, the California Supreme Court held that a franchisor answers for a franchisee’s staff only if it kept or assumed a general right of control over things like hiring, supervision, discipline and day-to-day workplace conduct (Patterson). Brand standards alone are not enough.
• Texas. In Exxon Corp. v. Tidwell (1993), an attendant at a station Exxon leased to an independent operator was shot in a robbery. The Texas Supreme Court said liability turns on who had specific control over the safety and security of the premises (Exxon v. Tidwell).
• Washington. In Folsom v. Burger King (1998), the Washington Supreme Court held that a franchisor owes a duty only if it kept the ability to make decisions about the daily operation of the restaurant (Folsom).

This is a real fight in 7-Eleven cases. In Boutahli v. 7-Eleven, Inc. (D.N.J. June 17, 2020), a federal judge granted 7-Eleven summary judgment in a suit by a clerk shot during a 2014 robbery in Pennsauken, New Jersey, finding the company did not control the store’s day-to-day operations (Daily Voice). So we collect the franchise agreement, the operations manual and the security and maintenance rules 7-Eleven actually imposes on the store before we decide who to sue.

Others. The driver who hit the building, the property owner or landlord who controls the lot, a security company, a maintenance contractor, the attacker, and the maker of a defective cooler door, shelf or fuel nozzle. 7-Eleven also owns Speedway, about 3,800 stores bought in May 2021 (7-Eleven), and the Stripes stores it bought from Sunoco in January 2018, most of them in Texas (7-Eleven via Franchising.com). The same rules apply there.

Reported 7-Eleven injury cases

These are cases we found in court records and news coverage. Some are allegations that have not been decided. Past results do not predict the outcome of another case.

The law in California, Texas and Washington

The same fall or the same robbery can come out differently depending on the state. These are the rules that decide most 7-Eleven cases.

The Texas 50% rule matters most in parking lot and slip-and-fall cases, where the store will argue you should have seen the hazard. In California and Washington, your share of fault only reduces what you recover. Texas cases are handled by the firm’s Texas-licensed attorneys, Joyce Ondich and John Efstathiou.

Evidence that disappears

• Store video. Inside cameras, the camera over the register, and the outside cameras on the lot and pumps. Ask for all of it in writing to both the store and 7-Eleven, Inc.
• The incident report and the clerk’s statement. Written the same day, before anyone talks to an insurer.
• Cleaning and inspection logs. In California a missed inspection can support an inference that the store should have known about the spill (Ortega v. Kmart). In Texas you usually need proof of how long the hazard was there (Wal-Mart v. Reece), and the logs and video are where that proof comes from.
• Police calls to the address. In crime cases, the history of calls and incidents at the store is how foreseeability is proven. Washington courts generally require prior similar incidents on the premises (McKown v. Simon Property Group).
• The driver’s insurance and the car’s data. In a storefront crash, the driver’s policy, the police report and any event data from the car.

Related pages

• 7-Eleven storefront crash lawsuits
• 7-Eleven robbery, shooting and assault lawsuits
• 7-Eleven slip and fall lawsuits
• 7-Eleven parking lot and gas pump injuries
• 7-Eleven burn injury lawsuits
• Store slip and fall lawyer (Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowe’s)
• Parking lot accident: who is at fault?

Common questions

Important: This page is general information, not legal or medical advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different; talk to a lawyer about yours. Texas cases are handled by the firm’s Texas-licensed attorneys, Joyce Ondich and John Efstathiou. Last reviewed: November 6, 2026.