Customers, tenants, vendors, and other visitors generally expect commercial properties to be reasonably safe when they enter them. Unfortunately, dangerous conditions can develop in restaurants, stores, hotels, office buildings, parking areas, and other commercial properties, sometimes resulting in serious injuries. Florida premises liability law can allow an injured person to pursue a claim when a property owner, operator, or other responsible party fails to reasonably address a dangerous condition. However, simply being injured on someone else’s property does not automatically make the business responsible. Establishing liability depends on the circumstances surrounding the accident, the nature of the hazard, and what the responsible party knew or reasonably should have known about it.
What Is Premises Liability?
Premises liability is an area of personal injury law involving injuries caused by unsafe or dangerous property conditions. Commercial property owners and those who possess or control a property may owe legal duties to people who are lawfully on the premises.
The exact duty can depend on the circumstances, including why the injured person was on the property. For customers and other lawful visitors, businesses generally must exercise reasonable care concerning dangerous conditions and, when appropriate, take steps to correct hazards or provide adequate warnings.
A premises liability case therefore usually involves more than proving that a dangerous condition existed. The circumstances surrounding the property owner’s or operator’s knowledge and response can become central to determining liability.
What Types of Conditions Can Create a Premises Liability Claim?
Dangerous conditions on commercial properties can take many forms. An accident might involve damaged flooring, defective stairs, inadequate lighting, unsafe walkways, falling objects, broken railings, structural defects, or other hazards.
Some of the most common claims involve slips and falls caused by liquids or other substances on the floor. Florida has a specific statute addressing these incidents in business establishments.
Under Florida law, when someone slips and falls on a transitory foreign substance in a business establishment, the injured person must prove that the establishment had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition and should have taken action to remedy it.
What Does Actual or Constructive Knowledge Mean?
Knowledge of a dangerous condition can become one of the most important issues in a premises liability case.
Actual knowledge generally means that the business was aware of the hazard. For example, an employee may have observed a spill or received a complaint about a dangerous condition before an accident occurred.
Constructive knowledge addresses circumstances in which the business may not have directly acknowledged the hazard but reasonably should have discovered it. For slip-and-fall claims involving a transitory foreign substance, Florida law provides that constructive knowledge may be established through circumstantial evidence showing that the condition existed long enough that the business should have known about it or that the condition occurred with enough regularity to make it foreseeable.
This distinction can make evidence about inspections, employee observations, prior incidents, and the length of time a hazard existed particularly important.
When Failure to Repair a Dangerous Condition Causes an Injury
Not every premises liability case involves a temporary hazard such as a spill. Some accidents result from conditions that develop over a much longer period.
A damaged staircase, deteriorating walkway, defective railing, or other property defect may present a continuing danger to visitors. When a business or responsible property owner knew or reasonably should have known about a dangerous condition but failed to take reasonable steps to address it, that failure may become important evidence in a negligence claim.
Maintenance records, repair requests, inspection reports, photographs, and previous complaints can help establish whether a problem existed before the accident and whether the responsible party had an opportunity to address it.
Who May Be Responsible for a Commercial Property Accident?
Determining who is legally responsible is not always as simple as identifying the owner of the building.
Commercial properties frequently involve several parties. A property may be owned by one company, leased to another, managed by a separate property management company, and maintained by independent contractors.
Determining liability may require examining leases, maintenance agreements, management responsibilities, and other evidence showing who actually possessed or controlled the area where the accident occurred. Florida’s premises liability statute concerning transitory foreign substances expressly preserves common-law duties owed by persons or entities possessing or controlling business premises.
What About Injuries Caused by Criminal Activity?
Some premises liability cases involve injuries caused by the criminal conduct of another person rather than a physical defect in the property. These cases can raise separate issues concerning security and the responsibilities of commercial property owners and operators.
Florida law specifically addresses claims against owners, lessors, operators, or managers of commercial or real property when a person lawfully on the property is injured by a third party’s criminal act.
Because negligent security claims involve different legal considerations, the circumstances surrounding prior incidents, security measures, and the particular criminal act may all require careful investigation.
Why Evidence Should Be Preserved Quickly
Premises liability cases can depend heavily on evidence that may disappear shortly after an accident. Surveillance footage can be overwritten, temporary hazards can be cleaned up, defective conditions can be repaired, and witnesses can become difficult to locate.
Photographs of the condition, incident reports, witness information, medical documentation, maintenance records, and surveillance footage may all help establish what happened and whether the dangerous condition should have been addressed.
Preserving this evidence early can be particularly important when the business disputes how long the hazard existed or whether it had notice of the problem.
Protecting Your Rights After an Injury on Commercial Property
Businesses and property owners are not automatically responsible whenever someone is injured on their premises. However, when a dangerous condition causes a serious injury and evidence shows that a responsible party failed to take reasonable action, Florida premises liability law may provide a means of pursuing compensation.
If you or a loved one has suffered a serious injury because of a dangerous condition on commercial property, the personal injury attorneys at BRILL & RINALDI, The Law Firm can help evaluate the circumstances and determine what legal options may be available. We understand that premises liability cases can involve complicated questions regarding property control, notice, maintenance, and responsibility, and we are prepared to thoroughly investigate serious injury claims.
Schedule a consultation today by calling (954) 876-4344 or filling out the online form. We have offices in Weston, Coral Gables, and Daytona Beach.
Disclaimer: The information above is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every case is different, and results are not guaranteed.