What Is a Premises Liability Claim?
Premises liability is the area of law that covers injuries caused by unsafe conditions on someone else's property. Slip-and-fall accidents are among the most common, but premises cases also include:
- Trips and falls over uneven floors, cords, or debris
- Falls on broken, loose, or poorly lit stairs
- Falls from ladders, balconies, and decks
- Injuries from falling merchandise or objects
- Elevator and escalator accidents
- Swimming pool accidents
- Assaults and other crimes made possible by inadequate security
These cases can arise almost anywhere: grocery stores, restaurants, retail stores, hotels, apartment complexes, parking lots, office buildings, and private homes.
Common Causes of Slip and Fall Accidents
- Spilled liquids, food, or produce on the floor
- Freshly mopped or waxed floors with no warning sign
- Rainwater tracked in at entrances
- Cracked sidewalks, potholes, and uneven pavement
- Handrails that are missing, loose, or broken
- Torn carpet or loose floor mats
- Poor lighting in stairwells, hallways, and parking areas
- Cluttered aisles and walkways
What You Have to Prove Under Florida Law
The property owner's duty
How much protection the law gives you depends on why you were on the property. Customers, invited guests, and anyone else the owner invited in, directly or by opening the property to the public, are owed the most: the owner must keep the property reasonably safe and warn about hidden dangers it knew about or should have known about. People who come onto property only for their own reasons without being invited, like cutting through a private lot, and trespassers are owed much less.
Spills and other substances in a business
If you slipped on a spill or other foreign substance in a store, restaurant, or other business, Florida law requires you to prove that the business knew, or should have known, about the dangerous condition and should have taken steps to fix it. You can show the business should have known by proving the substance was on the floor long enough that the business should have found it, or that the condition happened regularly and was foreseeable.
This is why evidence matters so much in slip-and-fall cases. Surveillance video, cleaning and inspection logs, and records of earlier incidents can show how long a hazard was there and whether the business was paying attention.
Shared fault
Property owners and their insurers often argue that the injured person should have been watching where they were going. Under Florida's modified comparative negligence rule, your recovery is reduced by your share of the fault, and if you are found more than 50% at fault, you generally cannot recover anything. A strong investigation helps answer these arguments.
Deadline to file a lawsuit
For falls that happened after March 24, 2023, Florida generally gives you two years from the date of the injury to file a lawsuit. Falls on or before that date generally have four years. If you miss the deadline, you can lose your claim entirely. Claims against a government agency (for example, a fall on a city sidewalk or in a public building) come with extra notice requirements and limits on damages, so it is important to act quickly.
What to Do After a Slip and Fall
- Report the fall: If you are hurt, get medical help first. Then tell the manager, owner, or landlord what happened, and write down the name of the person you told.
- Photograph the hazard: Take pictures of what caused your fall before it is cleaned up or repaired, along with the surrounding area and your injuries.
- Get witness information: Write down the names and phone numbers of anyone who saw the fall or the hazard.
- Get medical care: See a doctor right away, even if you think you are only bruised. Some injuries take time to show up, and medical records connect your injuries to the fall.
- Keep your shoes and clothing: Keep what you were wearing, unwashed. The property owner's insurer may claim your footwear caused the fall, and residue on your shoes can show what you slipped on.
- Be careful what you say: Don't give a recorded statement to the property owner's insurance company or sign anything before talking to a lawyer, and avoid posting about the fall on social media.
- Call a lawyer quickly: Surveillance video can be recorded over within days or weeks. A lawyer can send a letter putting the owner on notice to preserve it.
What Compensation Can You Recover?
Depending on the facts of your case, compensation can include:
- Past and future medical expenses
- Lost wages and lost earning capacity
- Pain and suffering
- Mental anguish and emotional distress
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Scarring and disfigurement
Fall injuries are often more serious than they first appear, especially for older adults. We work with your doctors to understand your future medical needs before discussing any settlement.
How We Build Your Premises Liability Case
We move quickly to request and preserve the evidence a property owner controls, including:
- Surveillance video of the fall and the time before it
- Incident reports and employee statements
- Cleaning, inspection, and maintenance records
- Records of earlier complaints or falls in the same area
When needed, we work with engineers and other experts who can compare the condition to building codes and safety standards for stairs, railings, and lighting and explain why it was dangerous. Then we present your claim to the insurance company, and if it won't make a fair offer, we are prepared to take your case to court.