Injuries on someone else’s premises
You were told it was an accident. Often it was not.
If you were hurt in a shop, a restaurant or a car park, the question is rarely whether you fell. It is what the business running that place knew, and what it did about it.
An information site. Not a law firm, and not legal advice.
What we cover
Three places this keeps happening
Premises liability turns on a duty of care: keeping a place reasonably safe for the people invited into it, and warning them when it is not.
Each article works through one situation properly, so you can see where your own case actually stands.
01
Shops and supermarkets
A wet floor, a spill nobody cleared, a broken step. Whether the business knew about the hazard, or should have, is where these claims are won and lost.
02
Restaurants, bars and hotels
Busy floors, poor lighting, stairs that do not meet code. What gets recorded on the night often decides what happens months later.
03
Car parks and walkways
Potholes, missing lighting, ice nobody treated. Responsibility here is often split between the occupier and a contractor, and that matters.
A business that invites the public in owes them a reasonably safe place to be, and a warning when it is not one.
That duty is the whole case. Everything else, the photographs, the incident report, the CCTV that gets overwritten after thirty days, is evidence about whether it was met.
After a fall
The first week matters most
1
Report it on the day
Ask for the incident report and ask for a copy. If they will not give one, note who you told.
2
Photograph the hazard
The spill gets cleaned within minutes. Your photograph may be the only record it existed.
3
Ask about the CCTV
Most systems overwrite in weeks. A written request early is what preserves the footage.
4
Say less to the insurer
The first call is recorded and the first offer is usually low. You do not have to answer then.
Latest
From the articles
Slip and fall accidents
How Walmart Handles Customer Accidents: The Unwritten Rules
Large chains deal with customer injuries every day and they have a process for it. Knowing how that process runs, what gets recorded, what gets offered and how quickly, tells you a great deal about where you stand before you say anything.
One thing to be clear about
This is an information site, not a law firm. Nothing here is legal advice and reading it creates no professional relationship. Injury law varies by state and your own facts decide your case. If you are weighing a claim, speak to a qualified attorney licensed where you live.