Hurt in a slip
and fall.
A fall on someone else's property typically becomes a legal claim when the owner had a fair chance to find and fix the hazard and did not. That question of notice decides a large share of these cases, and the video that answers it can start disappearing within days. The sections below cover how these claims work and what personal injury counsel does.
This page is general information, not legal advice for your situation. It does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every state's rules are different, and timelines can be short, so anyone with specific questions should consult a lawyer licensed in their state.
When is a property owner responsible for a fall?
A property owner is generally responsible for a fall when the owner failed to take reasonable care with a hazard and that hazard caused the injury. Liability turns on the owner's conduct before the fall. A wet floor or a broken step becomes a claim when the owner created the condition or knew about it in time to act. The same applies to a hazard the owner should have found through reasonable inspection.
Responsibility rests with whoever controls the property, which can be a tenant or a management company. Why the visitor was there also shapes the duty owed. Many states still sort visitors into categories, with shoppers and other business visitors owed reasonable care that includes inspection, and social guests commonly owed a warning about hidden dangers the owner knows about. Other states apply a single duty of reasonable care to lawful visitors, and some extend it to trespassers as well.
What does notice of a hazard mean?
Notice means the owner knew about the hazard, or should have known, early enough to fix it or warn about it. Actual notice is direct. An employee saw the spill, or a customer reported the loose tile. Constructive notice covers a hazard that was visible and present long enough for a reasonable inspection to find it.
Timing sits at the center of notice disputes. A puddle crossed by footprints and cart marks suggests it had been there a while. Inspection and sweep logs, along with surveillance video, frequently settle the question.
Some states relax the notice requirement in particular settings. Where an owner knew a hazard kept coming back, as with a roof leak that puddles in every rainstorm, courts in several states treat that knowledge as notice of each recurrence. A minority of states apply a mode of operation rule to self-service stores. Under that rule, a store whose way of operating makes spills foreseeable may be held responsible without proof that it knew about the particular spill.
How are falls on snow and ice handled?
Snow and ice claims turn on timing and on how the hazard formed. Some states follow a natural accumulation rule, under which an owner owes little or no duty for snow and ice left by the weather alone. Liability in those states tends to focus on conditions the owner made worse, such as meltwater from a downspout that refreezes across a walkway.
Several states apply a storm in progress rule. An owner in those states generally owes no duty to clear walkways while the storm is underway and has a reasonable time after it ends to clear and treat them. Certified weather records showing when the snow or freezing rain started and stopped are routinely part of the file. A snow removal contractor hired by the owner may share responsibility in some states.
Who is responsible for a fall on a public sidewalk?
Responsibility for a sidewalk fall depends on who maintains the sidewalk under local law. Some cities keep the maintenance duty themselves. Others shift it by ordinance to the owner of the adjacent property. In many states, that owner answers to an injured pedestrian only where the ordinance expressly imposes liability or the owner caused the defect.
Claims against a city or other public entity carry extra requirements, and in many jurisdictions the first is a formal notice of claim due within a short window after the fall. Some localities also limit liability to defects the government knew about beforehand. In parts of the country, that knowledge has to take the form of prior written notice of the specific defect. A pedestrian hurt by a crosswalk defect faces these requirements too, and they recur in pedestrian injury cases that involve a public entity.
How does comparative fault affect a fall claim?
Under comparative fault, which most states apply, an injured person's recovery is reduced by their own share of responsibility. The majority of those states cut off recovery at about half. A handful of jurisdictions still apply contributory negligence, under which even a small share of fault can bar recovery.
Property owners and their insurers routinely point to the injured person's own conduct: a phone in hand, or shoes unsuited to the surface. In some states, an open and obvious hazard can defeat the claim outright. Others weigh it as one more fact in the comparison of fault. Either way, lighting and sightlines become evidence.
What happens in the first days after a fall?
The first days produce the records a claim later rests on, starting with the medical record from the first visit. Wrist and hip fractures are common in falls, while head injuries can surface hours after an impact that seemed minor. Insurers look closely at any gap between the fall and the first medical visit.
The business typically writes an incident report that day, and its insurer may call within the week. A recorded statement given on that call becomes part of the claim file, and such statements are frequently declined until counsel has reviewed the facts. Meanwhile, the spill gets mopped and the broken step gets repaired.
What evidence matters most in a slip and fall claim?
Photographs of the hazard are strongest when they were taken before anyone cleaned or repaired it. Wide shots fix the location, and close shots show the condition itself, down to the edge of a torn mat. The shoes worn in the fall matter too where traction is disputed.
Witness names come next, including employees who responded. A remark from staff at the scene can bear directly on notice, particularly a comment that the leak had been reported before.
Video tends to decide contested falls. Store systems and neighbors' doorbell cameras keep footage only briefly, and bicycle crash claims involve the same scramble to secure it. Maintenance logs and earlier complaints about that spot complete the picture.
What does personal injury counsel do in a slip and fall case?
Counsel sends a preservation letter in the first days, asking the owner and its insurer to hold the surveillance video and the incident report. Inspection logs and maintenance records for the area go on the list as well. Without that request, footage on a rolling cycle is commonly overwritten within days or weeks.
Counsel then identifies who controlled the property, and that party can differ from the name on the storefront. Leases and maintenance contracts answer that question. Where a public entity is involved, counsel files the notice of claim within its window.
From there, counsel builds the claim from the medical file and the photographs. Insurer calls are directed to counsel's office. How injury claims are evaluated more broadly is set out in the personal injury overview.
How long do I have to bring a slip and fall claim?
Deadlines depend on the state and on who owns the property. A lawsuit against a private owner is generally due within a period measured in years, though the exact length varies by state. Claims against a public entity frequently carry a much shorter notice window, sometimes weeks or a few months after the fall, and missing it can end the claim while the lawsuit deadline is still open. At the first conversation, counsel calculates each deadline from the date of the fall.
Common questions
Many stores decline to hand over a copy at the scene, because they commonly treat the incident report as an internal document prepared for their insurer. Whether it can be obtained later depends on state discovery rules. A written account of the fall made by the injured person that day covers much of the same ground. Counsel's preservation letter names the report specifically and asks the business to keep the original.
A short gap before the first medical visit rarely ends a claim on its own, though insurers use it to argue that something else caused the injury. Delayed symptoms are common after a fall, particularly with head and back injuries. The medical record answers the insurer's argument when it ties the symptoms to the fall, which is why the history given at the first visit carries weight.
Against the employer, a fall at work is generally a workers' compensation matter. In most states, that system is the exclusive remedy and pays benefits without regard to fault. A separate injury claim can still run against someone else, such as the owner of the building or a contractor whose work created the hazard. Counsel evaluates the two together, because the compensation carrier commonly holds a lien on any recovery from the injury claim.
Landlords are typically responsible for the parts of a building they control, such as common stairways and hallways. A broken stair tread or a loose handrail in a shared stairwell is ordinarily the landlord's to fix, subject to the same notice rules that apply to any property owner. Inside a tenant's own unit, responsibility depends heavily on the lease and on what the landlord knew. Housing and building codes in many places add repair duties of their own, and their handrail and lighting requirements often become part of the evidence.
Accepting medical payments generally leaves the injury claim open, though amounts paid can be credited against any later recovery. Many business liability policies include this coverage, which pays a limited amount of medical expenses without any finding of fault. A check or form that arrives with a release is a different matter. Signing a release typically ends the claim for good, including any injury that has not yet been diagnosed, so counsel commonly reviews the paperwork before anything is signed.