Over the years, our law firm has represented hundreds of clients who were injured in “slip and fall” or “trip and fall” cases, otherwise referred to as premises liability claims. Unfortunately, in recent years, the Republican Texas Legislature and the Republican Supreme Court of Texas have changed the laws to make it much more difficult for an injury victim to pursue a slip and fall case.
Many of the people who contact us about such a case do not realize that the mere existence of a defective condition in a store or public place of business does not make the owner liable for an injury caused by the defective condition. The burden is on the injured party to prove that the owner is liable under the law.
The general rule in a slip and fall case is that to succeed you must prove that there was a dangerous substance, that the owner or operator knew or should have known about the dangerous substance, and that the dangerous substance wasn’t obvious and easily avoided.
As an example, if a grocery store customer slipped on a small puddle of clear liquid on the floor, the store probably would not be liable for the injury unless the customer could prove that a store employee actually knew the liquid was on the floor and did nothing about the situation.
The length of time a substance must remain on the floor before the owner should have discovered it will vary with each case, depending on the nature of the business, the size of the store, the number of customers, and the nature of the dangerous condition.
If you have questions about slip and fall injuries, please contact our law firm.
