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Practice · premises liability
Slip and fall cases turn on one Florida statute
Since 2010 the law has put the burden on the person who fell. You have to prove the business knew about the hazard, or should have. That is a question of evidence — and most of that evidence has a shelf life.
Fla. Stat. §768.0755
“Transitory foreign substance” — the words that decide the case
Florida’s premises liability statute for slips in a business says that if a person slips and falls on a transitory foreign substance in a business establishment, the injured person must prove that the business had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition and should have taken action to remedy it.
Constructive knowledge, the statute continues, may be proven by circumstantial evidence showing either:
- the dangerous condition existed for such a length of time that, in the exercise of ordinary care, the business establishment should have known of the condition; or
- the condition occurred with regularity and was therefore foreseeable.
Read that twice, because it explains everything about how these cases are actually fought. Nobody argues about whether the floor was wet. They argue about how long it had been wet, and what the store did about it in that time.
Why the first week decides it
The evidence that proves “how long” expires quickly
- Surveillance video. Many retail systems overwrite on a rolling cycle measured in days. Once the recording of the twenty minutes before your fall is gone, the length-of-time question may be unanswerable.
- Inspection and sweep logs. These show what the store’s own procedure required and whether it was followed that day.
- The incident report. Written by the business, usually within the hour, and often the only contemporaneous description of the scene.
- Witnesses and staffing. Who was working, who saw it, and who no longer works there by the time anyone asks.
- Your shoes and clothes. Unwashed, unworn, in a bag. It sounds strange until the defence argues about your footwear.
None of that requires a lawsuit. It requires a letter, quickly, telling the business it has a duty to preserve those things.
An honest section
Not every fall is a case
It is worth saying plainly, because a lot of injury websites will not. A fall that genuinely nobody could have prevented, a hazard that had been there for thirty seconds, or an injury that resolves in a fortnight may simply not support a claim — and being told that on a free call is better than being signed up and quietly dropped six months later.
What tends to make a premises case real: a hazard with a history, a business that skipped its own inspection routine, an injury that needed genuine treatment, and a person who reported the fall before leaving the property. If you are not sure which side of that line you are on, that is exactly what the free conversation is for.
If it happened today
Report it to the manager before you leave and ask for a copy of the incident report. Photograph the hazard, the floor around it, your shoes and any warning sign — or the absence of one. Get names. Then get looked at, even if you think you are fine.
While the video still exists
The preservation letter is the urgent part.
If the fall was recent, the single most useful thing that can happen this week is a written demand that the business keep its footage and its inspection records.
Free case review
Talk to the lawyer who would handle the case.
Not an intake centre, not a call-screener working from a script. Tell us what happened and you will get a straight answer about whether there is a claim worth bringing.
- Call
- (727) 685-8000
- Office
- 1700 66th St N, Suite 203
St. Petersburg, FL 33710 - Hours
- Monday–Friday, 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Phones are answered 24 hours a day, every day.
Straight answers
Slip and fall questions
Is the store automatically responsible because I fell in it?
No, and that is the whole difficulty of these cases in Florida. Since 2010, a person who slips on a transitory foreign substance in a business must prove the business had actual or constructive knowledge of it and should have acted (Fla. Stat. §768.0755). A wet floor alone is not enough.
What counts as constructive knowledge?
The statute gives two routes: circumstantial evidence that the dangerous condition existed for such a length of time that the business should have known of it in the exercise of ordinary care, or that the condition occurred with regularity and was therefore foreseeable. In practice that means footage, inspection logs, sweep sheets and staffing records.
Why does everyone say to act fast on a fall case?
Because the proof is perishable. Surveillance video is often overwritten within days, the spill is mopped within minutes, the shoes you were wearing get worn again, and the employees who were on shift move on. A preservation letter sent in week one is a different case from one sent in month three.
What if I was looking at my phone, or the hazard was obvious?
It matters, but it is not automatically the end. Florida reduces recovery by your share of fault, and since 24 March 2023 bars recovery entirely in most negligence actions if you are found more than 50 per cent at fault (Fla. Stat. §768.81(6)). Expect the property owner to work hard on that number from the first day.
I fell at an apartment complex, not a store. Is that different?
It can be. §768.0755 is written about business establishments and transitory substances. Falls caused by a broken stair, bad lighting, a missing handrail or a long-standing structural defect are ordinary premises liability, governed by the duty owed to your class of visitor rather than by that statute.
How long do I have?
Two years for a negligence action accruing on or after 24 March 2023 (Fla. Stat. §95.11(4)(a)). If the property belongs to a city, county or other government body, §768.28 adds notice requirements on top.
How the fee works
The first conversation is free. After that this office works on a contingency fee: an attorney’s fee is charged only out of a recovery, so if there is no recovery there is no attorney’s fee. Case costs and expenses are a separate thing from the fee — filing fees, records, retained witnesses and the like — and how those are handled is set out in the written fee agreement before you sign it. Ask about them on the first call; you should never have to guess.