Slip and fall injury intake

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Slip and fall claim intake

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Premises liability - what you need to prove

A slip and fall claim requires proving 4 elements: the property owner owed you a duty of care, a dangerous condition existed on the property, the owner knew or should have known about the condition, and the condition caused your injury. The duty of care owed depends on your status as a visitor - invitees (customers, tenants) receive the highest duty, licensees (social guests) a lower duty, and trespassers the lowest.

The "knew or should have known" element is often the hardest to prove. Courts look at how long the condition existed, whether regular inspections would have revealed it, whether the owner created the condition, and whether prior incidents put the owner on notice. Surveillance footage showing how long a spill sat on the floor before a fall is often decisive evidence.

Notice is everything

For slip and fall claims, preserving evidence immediately is critical. Take photos of the hazard, your injuries, and the surrounding area before the property owner cleans it up. Get the names and contact information of witnesses. Request that the property owner preserve surveillance footage - many systems overwrite footage within 24 to 72 hours. If you don't request preservation quickly, that footage disappears forever.

High-value slip and fall targets

The best slip and fall cases involve large commercial defendants with significant insurance - grocery chains, big box retailers, restaurants, hotels, and apartment complexes. These defendants have deep pockets, established insurance programs, and a track record of similar incidents that can be discovered in litigation. Government property falls have special notice requirements and shorter deadlines.

Frequently asked questions

Comparative fault applies in most states, reducing your recovery by your percentage of fault. Defense attorneys routinely argue the plaintiff was distracted by a phone or not paying attention. Your attorney argues the hazard was unreasonably dangerous regardless of the plaintiff's attentiveness. In most states you can recover something even if you were partially at fault, though a few states still use contributory negligence which bars all recovery if you were even 1% at fault.

Not necessarily. A wet floor cone shows the owner knew about the hazard, but the question is whether placing a cone was sufficient to meet their duty of care or whether they should have cleaned the spill sooner, blocked off the area, or taken more protective measures. The presence of a warning cone can actually be used against the property owner - it proves they knew the floor was wet and dangerous. Whether a cone was adequate depends on the specific circumstances and jurisdiction.

Yes, but with important nuances. Commercial property owners have a duty to maintain safe exterior walkways including snow and ice removal. Residential property owners have more limited duties in many states. Natural accumulation rules in some states limit liability for naturally occurring ice and snow. The key facts are: what was the property owner's snow removal policy, when was the last treatment, was the hazard artificial (e.g., from a roof drainage issue), and how long had the ice been present? These cases are viable but fact-intensive.

The "open and obvious" doctrine is a defense in some states - if a hazard is so apparent that a reasonable person would have avoided it, the property owner may not be liable. But this doctrine has been significantly limited in many jurisdictions and doesn't apply when the property owner created a situation that distracted visitors from obvious hazards. A store that creates an attractive display near a wet floor, for example, can't claim the wet floor was obviously avoidable when their own setup directed foot traffic through it.

Personal injury statutes of limitations for premises liability claims typically run 2 to 3 years from the date of the fall. Government property claims (city sidewalks, public buildings, schools) have much shorter notice requirements - sometimes as short as 60 to 90 days from the incident. If your fall occurred on government property, contact an attorney within days, not weeks. Missing a government notice deadline permanently bars your claim.